Buildings
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Two Statues
This unlikely pair are to be found in front of the Hungarian Parliament Building in Budapest. The rather casual and lanky Attila Jozsef in the foreground was a very popular local poet writing between the 1st and 2nd World Wars. The more classical equestrian statue behind is of Ferenc Rakoczi, who fought against the Habsburgs…
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Nikko II
The temples in Japan are extremely elegant – none more so than this example in Nikko called Rinno-ji (輪王寺). I suspect that I could have painted a more accurate picture of this building using brushes, or drawn it more cleanly using a pen, but I have to say that spreading these rich colours across the…
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Vittoriosa
The old town of Vittoriosa was once an important place. Originally known as Il-Birgu, it became the headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller when they established themselves on Malta, and following the successful repelling of an Ottoman siege in 1565 it gained the name Città Vittoriosa (Victorious City). Today it is much quieter, and there are…
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Stonehenge
These stones have been here for a very, very long time, and hence exert a fascination on many people. The A303 main road, which passes close by Stonehenge, has only existed for a relatively brief time but already exerts a horror to many drivers because of the seemingly permanent traffic jams near the stones. I…
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View from Blackfriars
On our way back home recently, after visiting a Van Gogh exhibition in London, we found ourselves waiting for a train at Blackfriars Station. The view from the southbound platform (which spans the Thames) is always inspiring, and on this occasion at dusk the view was more than a bit like Vincent’s painting “Starry Night…
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Bruges – Steenstraat
Here is another picture of Bruges, this one of a baroque Flemish building that is now a clothes shop on Steenstraat. I have attempted a degree of what I think is called geometric abstraction – and whilst the amount of abstraction that I have achieved is rather limited, nevertheless the overall result is quite pleasing,…
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Plaça Nova
Despite the name. Plaça Nova (New Square) is rather old, as are several of the buildings around it. However, this view is looking resolutely the other way at the newer buildings, in particular the building of the Architects’ Association of Catalonia, which sports a large Catalonian themed frieze designed by Picasso (which I have rather…
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Back Door
I’m really not sure about this one! The original pen drawing was done in the back garden of a cottage in Longtown, more or less an exercise in capturing perspective and different textures. So far, so good – except that the original drawing is rather pedestrian. Therefore, as I have already done with other so-so…
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View from Chartwell
Chartwell was the family home of Winston Churchill, who as well as being a renowned wartime leader was also a prodigious artist – indeed many of his paintings are on display at the house and in various outbuildings in the grounds. I think that here I have managed to pick a view from a window…
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Dunster Yarn Market
Just down the hill from Dunster Castle is the village, which contains a very fine 17th century Yarn Market. Given the weather that we had when we first arrived in Dunster I can only imagine this building was erected primarily to keep the cloth in the market dry! The angles of this building seemed well…
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Dunster – Entrance
A stone archway can often be relied upon to make a good frame for a picture, as long as there is something interesting visible through the arch. In the case of the entrance into Dunster Castle (or more precisely the exit as this is the vista as one leaves the castle!) the view through the…
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Stained Glass – Christ Church
A while ago we showed some American friends around Oxford. Their reaction to all the old buildings was of course quite predictable, but what I hadn’t expected was that their awe would also make me appreciate again buildings that had become all too familiar. One of these, the cathedral in Christ Church, was an oasis…
Doodling ... 