Goodwood Revival

Found out on Thursday that I'd have Friday free so I got a last minute ticket for the Revival - only Friday tickets were available so I didn't manage to get a huge amount of drawing done. It was pretty chilly too and I didn't do too much watercolour this time as I hadn't packed my big waterbrush. Still, I had a fantastic time, jaw-droppingly beautiful cars abounded and I managed to get a few nice photos in as the sun set too. I'll be posting some images on flickr shortly.

First up is the 1959 Maserati Birdcage. It was fun trying to capture the curves of this beautiful car. I thought I'd done alright but Cathy said it looked like an A level piece. Perhaps it is a bit stiff - first one of the day, the cold etc etc...


I like a challenge so I had a go at the BRM H16. They had a beautiful selection of BRM's there...


This is a very quick sketch of a supercharged Austin Special - Mrs JoJo...


This is a rather stunning Bugatti Type 54 from 1931...


You'll notice that I've drawn a lot of these from the same angle - I didn't have a paddock pass so mostly I was restricted to drawing these from over or through the fence. Unfortunately this famous ERA had had its engine removed - you can see part of it on the ground next to it...


I quickly tried to get this last sketch in as the light disappeared. It's a beautiful car with a wonderful, well used look...

Bloodhound

Next door to where I work is a small building that used to be the Maritime Heritage Center. It's currently being used by Richard Noble's Bloodhound team - who are hoping to build a car that will exceed 1000mph. Here's a quick sketch of the full size mock up which is used to raise money and excitement for the project at various shows and events. It looks stunning and I can't believe my luck at having something like this going on so close to home...

Kilve

Kilve is on the Somerset coast. It's very interesting geologically - with a beach made of large sloping shelves of rock and some shaly cliffs behind. It's quite a good spot for fossil hunting too with lots of ammonites. It's only about an hour from where we live so we went for a picnic. Here the shale cliffs have eroded to leave the silhouette of a face...


... and it would be silly to go this close to Devon without stopping for a cream tea. These ruins are in the gardens of the Chantry Tea Gardens. The scones were excellent - should have only had one though...

Dragster

Went to a small local car show at Mark Moor. I was with the family but managed to get time to do a quick sketch of this Dragster - "The Canon Reloaded"...

Devon

Went camping in Devon for a few days. Didn't rain but there was a cold wind - which put us off sending much time on the beach. Still, we had a fun time exploring the area and had a nice view of Burgh Island from the tent. Here's a couple of quick sketches.

Burgh Island - with it's famous Art Deco Hotel...


Newton Ferrers and Totnes. Some of the architecture was very interesting - particularly in the back streets of Totnes - but there wasn't enough time to draw it all unfortunately...


and Dartington Hall - went a bit wrong with the windows...

VSCC Prescott

I went to this event last year and decided that day to try drawing the cars instead of just photographing them. I was really pleased with the sketches I came away with and it led to many more car drawings in the following months - I don't think I've stopped. When the same event came round again I decided I would camp so that I'd get the full two days to draw in.

I spent just over an hour on most of these (apart from the really quick ones). I'm enjoying experimenting with the watercolours. I ended up selling quite a few of these to the owners of the cars and got a couple of commissions too. Hope you like them.

I did this the evening I arrived. It belonged to someone from Holland and was a very impressive sight in the camping area. The back part of it was beautifully finished in wood...



Theophile Schneider. My first sketch of the day. It's quite tentative and light but I quite like that - I managed to stop myself doing too much and going in too heavily...


Stinson Special. This was originally an American Sprint racer...


Semmence Special. I did this one for the owners. I know very little about it - I thought it was a Lagonda Rapier at first - but it has some beautiful details...


Hudson Super Six. This car had fantastic proportions. The sketch was supposed to be a warm up piece for a more polished work but when I finished this I didn't think I could do a better one...


When I'd finished the other one I thought I'd have a quick go at sketching from a much closer position and it ended up becoming an action picture...


Wasp. I did this while being buzzed by actual wasps - the car was parked under a cherry tree. That's my excuse for it being a bit wonky anyway...


GN Gnat. Another of my favourite hillclimb cars. I have a sketch of this from last year too...


GN Spider II. Can't beat twin rear wheels - and the exposed chain driven gears too - what a fantastic car...


This was a stunning car. The body work was a modern recreation but it really looked the part. The satchel on the side was a nice detail. It's great to be able to see these great beasts in action...


This amazing car is a 200hp Darracq land speed record car from 1905. 25 litre V8 (possibly the first V8). It has two speeds. First is good for 90mph, second takes it to 120. The chap who owns it drove it to the circuit on the motorway! I didn't envy him having to start with a handle though...


A couple of quick front views of the 200HP Darracq and GP Mercedes...


Becke Powerplus. I love these specials. They're great to draw, full of interesting details and textures...


This well proportioned car had the most beautiful patina and all the details I like - rivets, oil, wood, brass, leather - perfect...


I did these Alfas in my tea break - not overly happy with them as they're a bit heavy - I probably drew them too small...


Very quick sketches mostly done while the cars were waiting to go up the hill. These vintage cars have such an interesting array of sizes and shapes...


I've not really looked at an Invicta very closely before but it's certainly worth it. Very crisp lines delicately edged with red pinstriping - it must have been quite a fancy car in it's day...


Panhard Levassor. 13.5 litre engine, a chair and some wheels - and something to hang on to. What more do you need?...


I'd like to have drawn this some more. It had some great angles and was very imposing...


The last drawing of the weekend. It 's a stunning car - the body is no higher than the wheels. Supercharged Jap engine provides the power...

Yorkshire

Went up to visit relatives who live on the edge of the North Yorkshire moors. I damaged my knee in a space hopper race so wasn't able to do much walking. Still, it gave me a bit of time to sketch.

Helmsley is a small town to the north of York with some very interesting buildings and a castle in cross-section. There's also a small, picturesque stream running through it...


I was really pleased with these two - perhaps I should just stick to one or two colours...


This is a longer one done at the remains of Jervaulx Abbey. They were great to explore. I could easily spend a month drawing there...

A very quick sketch of an interesting architectural feature in a doorway at the abbey...


We had a bit of time before our train left so we visited the train museum in York. This is a very quick sketch...


Our return train sat just outside Birmingham station just long enough for us to miss our connecting train. We had a bite to eat and I quickly sketched this tall building. (I've since found out it's the Nat West tower - and it's due to be demolished)...

Who do I think I am?

I've been trying to trace the origin of my name and it seems to have come from Norfolk. I recently spent a few days there in the records office and visiting the beautiful flint churches where my ancestors were baptized, married and buried. After my four hour drive I needed to sit outside and relax a bit so I drew this little church in Hellesdon...

I liked this jumble of different styles in this street in Norwich. It's not the best drawing, I was slightly distracted by a multitude of insects falling out of the tree I was sitting under...


This is the church at Pulham Market. It has some beautiful paintings inside and the roof is also very nicely done. Joseph (my GGGG Grandfather) was originally from Pulham and I did find quite a big family living here through the 1700's but I've yet to find out which of William and Mary's children was Joseph's father...


The next church is at Blofield. It has a very impressive tower - probably twice the height of most others in the area. Mary and Joseph Marjoram were married here in 1808 but they didn't stay in this village for long.

The second drawing is of St Mary's South Walsham. It shares a graveyard with another church - St Lawrences. It is here that John and Ann (my GGG Grandparents) were Baptized and buried - I've sketched the stone in another drawing.


The final church is Burlingham St Andrew. Mary (78) and Joseph Marjoram (82), my GGGG Grandparents were buried here, they died in 1858 and 1861. There are two Marjoram stones in the graveyard but they're not my direct ancestors.

The stone below is in South Walsham and is that of Mary and Joseph's son and his wife - John (72) and Ann (77). They died in 1891 and 1903.

They lived to a good age and both Joseph and John were gardeners. There are a few large houses nearby - South Walsham Hall and Burlingham House (and Hall) and I think they probably worked at one or other of these.

It's a very strange feeling to come across a gravestone with your name on - as they were labourers I really didn't expect to find one...

Burrington Fete Classic Cars

We had a village fete at the weekend which featured a small gathering of classic cars. The first is an impressive Jaguar XK150...
The cars lined up...
A nice little 1931 Morris. The actual car was a bit more symmetrical than my drawing...

Burrington Church

This church is in a lovely little village in North Somerset.

More Watercolour Tests

Here's a few quick watercolour thumbnail doodles done on ordinary paper and a more finished painting of the GN SPider hillclimb car. For the GN I managed to find some hot pressed paper (The Langton by Daler-Rowney). It is indeed much smoother than the cold pressed paper I'd been using up to now - much better to draw on...

Duck Racing - Plume of Feathers

There's a lovely pub near us - The Plume of Feathers. It sits in a cul-de-sac by a little stream and each year they have a duck race to raise money for local schools. There's a BBQ, refreshing drinks, live music and all afternoon plastic ducks are tipped into the top of the stream and gathered up at the bottom again. Gangs of children splash down the stream too. The water comes out of the ground in a pond called Rickford Rising and nearby are various interesting buildings presumably containg pumping gear and things to do with the sluice. This is one of them...

Auto Union - Work in Progress

I wanted to do a larger work of Hans Stuck racing his C Type Auto Union up the Grossglockner mountain on his way to becoming German Hillclimb Champion in 1938. My Grandfather was there and took this photo of him at the start...
www.pbase.com/smarjoram/image/3472160
I made a basic model in Maya and exported a wireframe - mainly to get the wheels right but it also allowed me to quickly experiment with camera angles.
This pencil sketch is A3 (pretty big for me). I tried one twice the size - transferring it to some card - only to find that the card wouldn't take any sort of paint or crayon without going wrinkly or showing the ridges in the card.
Next stage is to try again with a more suitable paper - perhaps using some charcoal. I may also try a digital paintover on this pencil sketch.

Went to the City Museum and Art Gallery today. There's a new exhibition of 'Art from the New World'. It's works by Coop, Todd Schorr, Gary Basemann and the like. It was fun and plenty of people were coming to view it which is good. I think I preferred looking at the old paintings though. Some terrific views of Bristol from the 1800's and some with all sorts of hidden messages and lectures on the dangers of drinking, gambling, joining the army... What really stunned me though were some cut paper art works. Tiny illustrations made by cutting holes into white paper. The cuts were miniscule - perhaps 1-2mm long and 0.1mm wide! The images depicted coats of arms, text, trees with every branch visible - it was astonishing. I had to sit down and have a brownie after that. Here part of the main hall with some New World art at the bottom and a dinosaur roaming about upstairs...

Boatyard

Another quick lunchtime sketch. These are the boats to the left of the one I did before under the scaffold. These are all quite small - about 5x15cm. The sketches, not the boats...