Category Archives: sculpture

Gothic horror

Here’s the amazing C15th statue of George and the Dragon in Stockholm’s Storkyrkan. It’s huge, gruesome (body parts are scattered on the ground beneath the dragon) and made of wood and deer antlers (the spiky bits on the dragon). That’s the … Continue reading

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American artefacts

A couple of speedy sketches from the highly recommended American Museum in Bath, “The only museum of American decorative and folk art outside the United States”. First a small bronze version of the famous 1909 statue ‘Appeal to the Great Spirit’. Then … Continue reading

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Busts

Sketches from last weekend’s USkBristol/South West sketchcrawl in Bath. Fourteen of us started inside the Abbey (it was too wet to go up the tower) where I sketched a memorial bust and inscription. We then moved to the Guildhall market where I drew a … Continue reading

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Oxford faces

I’ll follow Stuart’s advice and post something cheerier and less morbid (mostly). So here’s a range of faces seen on a day trip to Oxford, most from the wonderful Ashmolean Museum, which I’ve posted about before. They span the whole history of portraiture, … Continue reading

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Oxford Museums #2

After graveyards and guns I’ll lighten the mood with some cheerier items from the Ashmolean, “the oldest public museum in Britain, and the first purpose-built public museum in the world”, which grew out Tradescant’s Ark, a C17th ‘cabinet of curiosity’. First there’s a … Continue reading

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Oxford Museums #1

During a Summer trip to Oxford we spent an afternoon at the best museum in the world. First there’s a Haida ‘Raven Transformation’ mask from British Columbia; the mask is designed for storytelling dances, and opens when the wearer pulls a … Continue reading

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Stone faces

Twelve of the fifty stone heads that gaze down on an original Magna Carta in the Chapter House at Salisbury Cathedral. They were carved in the 13th century, seem to be based on individuals, and capture a range of expressions that … Continue reading

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mostly Greek

More sketches of classical statuary, mostly from the ongoing ‘Defining Beauty‘ exhibition at the British Museum, which is so full of wonderful stuff that I ended up doing very fast drawings with a marker pen, out of sight of the … Continue reading

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68 feet

Commenting on my recent cafe sketches Chris said “How about a focus on feet and shoes for your next post? They drive me mad, and can make or break a quick sketch.” Be careful what you wish for… Here are all the … Continue reading

Posted in brush pen, cafe, coloured paper, Feet, from life, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, objects, sculpture, sketching, urban | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Japanese shrines

Four shrines in Japan, where many of the statues wear red bibs (‘yodarekake‘), placed on them as a sign of devotion and usually faded to a soft pink in the sun and the rain. The second sketch is looking down one section … Continue reading

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