Landscape sketches.

 Sketchbook studies made from Sherwood Forest, Clumber Park, Oxton, and Newstead Abbey. All using Faber-Castell Pitt pens.

All text, pros, photos, poetry & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

Newstead Abbey.

 

I find it hard to make something creative out of formal gardens. Hence converting my Newstead Abbey observations to moonlight.

All artwork copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

Piper at the Gates of Dawn.

"The dew of the morning
Sunk chill on my brow,
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now."
(Byron).

When my Scottish grandmother retired, her fellow nurses bought her “The Complete Works of Byron”. I don’t know if it was Byron’s work she liked or his legend. When I got my hands on it many years later it looked like it had never been opened, and yet its spine still promptly fell apart in my hands. What really got me into Byron was a combination of Byron’s long poem “Manfred” and the Tchaikovsky symphony which it inspired.

Newstead Abbey carries a similar “deception”. Although the property was owned by the Byron family for many years, he only lived there for two, just six months of which were of a permanent nature. But because of that brief residence the place continues to be a favoured tourist attraction in the county. And, as a fellow Gordon, that’s good by me.

 The statue here is often mistaken by visitors to be a devil. No. It is of course Pan, God of the Wild, companion of the nymphs, as well as a brief co-star appearance at the Gates of Dawn, in Wind in the Willows.
 

All text, pros, poetry, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

Pastels in Newstead.

I haven't wanted to get involved with any serious painting projects for quite a while now. But I do seem to be rather prolific when it comes to observational studies. This month's favoured medium was oil pastels, the location Newstead Abbey.

 

All text, pros, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

Newstead Abbey Fountains

 I returned to Newstead Abbey, where I came two years ago to make studies for a painting. (THIS LINK). This time I didn’t choose the building as my subject, but rather one of the fountains instead. I think the result is much better. I really like painting with acrylics on stretched brown wrapping paper, but then worry that, if it sells, it might be rather too frail to last through the years in someone else's possession.

All text, pros, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.

Newstead Abbey, first attempt.

 Newstead Abbey, one of my first locations as a subject for painting after leaving full time employment. I am struggling with colour.

The oil pastel studies below (one showing the view from behind the waterfall), were more successful.

All text, pros, photos & artwork, copyright Ian Gordon Craig.