Leisure Painter — June 2017

http://www.painters-online.co.uk JUNE 2017^17

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central block was pretty much two

side-by-side squares. I also found that

the left wing was a similarly sized square,

set a little higher and that the right wing

was slightly narrower.

When planning was done, I used

the steps shown below to produce two

sketches; one a simple line drawing,

one with hatching, and the third with

loose colour washes added.

The sketches aren’t a perfect rendering

of the photograph, but I didn’t intend

them to be. Instead they’re my impression

of Mottisfont Abbey and, most importantly

of all, I had fun doing them. LP

Part 2Follow Tony Underhillstep by step as he produces two

sketches from last month’s photograph of Mottisfont Abbey

Pai nting project

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

nIdentify and position the big

shapes

nCapture character rather than

detail

nAdd form and shadows with

hatching or washes

Youwillneed

nSurface

l300gsm NOT

watercolour paper

6 x12in. (15x30cm)

n Sennelier Aquarelle

watercolours

See colours, below

Miscellaneous

lRound No. 8 brush

lSoft pencil

lDrawing pen (0.5mm or

similar) with waterproof

black ink

lSoft eraser

lWhite gel pen

DemonstrationMottisfont Abbey

Step 1 Positioning the big shapes

Holding my pencil loosely and away from the point, I lightly sketched

the big easy-to-draw shapes I’d already identified at the planning stage.

I adjusted the shapes until I was happy the building would fit my paper,

knowing that if the big shapes were about right the smaller ones would

fall into place later on.

t

Yellow

ochre

Primary

yellow

French

ultramarine

Quinacridone

red

tColours used

I

hope you enjoyed sketching

Mottisfont Abbey from the

photograph I presented last month,

and that some or all of my tips from part

one proved helpful. I purposely took my

reference photograph ‘front on’ so as to

minimise any perspective issues, but the

wonderful shadow pattern was a lucky

bonus.

I started by thinking through what

I most wanted to capture in my sketch

and how best to achieve that. I was

intrigued by the general character of the

abbey – rather than every detail – and

the raking shadow pattern that made

the central door such a natural centre

of interest. So I decided to leave out

most of the sky and lawn, at the same

time effectively moving the door a little

more off centre than in the photograph.

Next I identified the abbey’s main

proportions and big easy-to-draw

shapes. By moving my thumb along my

pencil to measure the height of the

central block, from the tip of the gable

to the bottom of the door, and checking

that against the width, I found the

Your reference photograph of Mottisfont

Abbey. Permission was granted by the

National Trust to reproduce the photograph

used for this project. Find Mottisfont Abbey

at Mottisfont Lane, Romsey SO51 0LP (

340757; http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk)

t

Line & wash

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