Hello! Welcome back to my blog. As part of my current project I produced a suite of four ink drawings. I decided to draw perspectives of four different castles in Wales. This meant I could further develop my theme of Welsh history and folklore by exploring the history of the castle ruins. I used a dip pen and a pot of ink to create my drawings. With ink I can achieve various marks and textures I can’t with my paintings, like small details and textures in the stone work.
The first drawing I completed was the remains of a 13th century castle, Skenfrith. I desired to created a sense of depth at the entrance with darker tones. Being inspired by the Welsh artist Mary Lloyd Jones, who uses Ogham and bardic symbols in her work , I decided to incorporate some of these symbols in my drawings in a subtle way. In this drawing I used two symbols, the first one was a symbol meaning peace and the second, was blessings. I decided to draw Raglan castle which was built in the 15th century, for my second image. The castle was the grandest ever built by a Welshman. I intended to capture the impressiveness of the structure in the drawing. I was able to further explore my mark making and use of textures. I also included the symbols for grief and hope in this drawing as I was going through a bereavement at the time.
My third drawing captures an aspect of Chepstow castle which stretches along a cliff above the River Wye. This castle was one of the first Norman strongholds in Wales. I included the symbols for spirituality and the earth in this drawing. I wanted to capture a particular aspect of the castle I found interesting. My fourth and final drawing depicts an aspect of Caerphilly castle, with the distinctive leaning tower. I enjoyed creating the darker scratchy marks in this drawing.
I think the my last two sketches are definitely more simplistic compared to the first two. Overall I enjoyed creating these drawings and find that I like using the dip pen to sketch. It was interesting seeing all the marks and textures I can create with it.
