Gallery: Drawn Concepts and Paintings

Understanding Through Drawing

I have always drawn potential projects as a precursor to model building.  The act of drawing ideas or concepts allows a deeper understanding of potential structural issues to be made.  For any project I will produce many sketches and detailed drawings to narrow down the potential options, test random ideas, and expose potential construction questions.  Once I am satisfied with the main options, I then test further by model making.

Understanding existing historical structures helps in this process, especially when they are grounded in similar technological of cultural traditions.

Summer 2019 saw a long awaited trip to Greece.  I couldn’t help but be inspired by the incredible architecture of Mycenaean and Classical Greece.

Below are some of my watercolours (with coloured pencil and gouache) of some of the highlights.

Ancient Corinth 2019
A perfect niche in the bedrock to sit and sketch The Lion Gate.
The Lion Gate at Mycenae 2019.

The following three images show the build up of watercolour washes and pencil work to produce a picture of the Backdoor at Mycenae.

Stage 1: Under painting rock texture and basic shadows.
Stage 2: More work on the middle ground and a second shadow wash.
The Backdoor at Mycenae 2019
A Corinthian Capital in the museum at Epidaurus
The incredible steps and seats at Epidaurus. Each seat, foot well and foundation for the block behind are carved from a single piece of stone.

Below are some of my concept sketches for some current and future projects.  They are based on specific evidence sets from particular locations.

A Roman workshop concept, based on the incredible evidence from the Poultry Excavations at Gresham Street in London.
This is a Medieval concept for a reconstructed staircase to access the upper floors of the Keep at Beeston Castle.
This is a Bronze Age concept for a roundhouse. It is based on generic evidence for post and stake constructed buildings and was modified heavily to utilise specific excavated evidence from Beeston Crag.
One of the many initial drawn concepts for the Beeston Roundhouse – the actual excavated postholes can be seen – although not all were from a relevant time period.
A tinted final version of the same concept (note the change from 4 to 3 internal support posts) showing the main structural elements in position.