Ink Sketch of the Orangery

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This image was a little tricky to photograph so I will try and describe the process as clearly as possible.

The Orangery is situated behind Kensington Palace - it is a beautifully proportioned, elegant building and a must if you love painting architecture. Once again, being a perfect day, the shadows were dramatic by mid afternoon and having found a shady spot I got stuck in.

I used a sheet of tinted canson pastel paper and a fine dark brown ink pen to do most of the artwork. I put down a few construction lines in light pencil and then went in boots-and-all with the ink. Once again, if you focus on the shadow shapes and not necessarily the outlines then something complicated can be achieved. I made sure that I kept my eyes on the subject and the pen in constant contact with the paper so that the flow remains uninterrupted.

I loved this exercise. I have been drawing for such a long time and I still get such a lot out of it. The only stress I had was trying to dodge pigeon droppings from time to time.

When I got home, I decided to apply a touch of colour using coloured pencils being careful not to affect the balance of the piece.