Rogation Days

Dublin Community Church, May 2018

This week, we come once again to Rogationtide*, when clergy and members of the English church historically "beat the bounds" of the parish, both to pray for God's blessing on the crops and to remind people where the perimeter lay. Contemporary observances may be found on Youtube.

Given the time of year, it was fitting to focus on a church when I joined local urban sketchers downtown, a few days ago. (Note to self: next time, bring a chair.)

Below is an earlier sketch of the building, done from a different perspective.

*These are the dates observed by the Western Rite Orthodox Church. Since western Catholics and Protestants celebrated Easter a week earlier this year, rogation days (set just before Ascension Day) will be found May 7-9, on their calendar.

Dublin Community Church, July 2014

Dublin Green, November

This is a quick sketch of the west side strip of the new Dublin Green shopping center being built. I over worked it once I got home, losing some of the tonal gradient, getting too busy with the bricks. The windows became too dark. Sometimes you just enjoy laying down lines and pigment, even when you know you're done.

Churches

Fellowship Baptist Church, after the rain, 6/23

St. Brigid's Catholic Church, 6/26

Northwest Presbyterian Church, 6/28

First Presbyterian Church, Ada, Ohio
7/2



I find the churches in this area the most interesting buildings to draw, because architects seemed to place a higher value on beauty than with other modern buildings.

As usual, when I change sketchbooks, I find it difficult to adjust to the new paper. I liked the large Stillman & Birn Alpha I used a few years ago. The size of this Stillman & Birn A5 feels a bit cramped, and the paper doesn't take as much water as the Pentallic Nature Sketch I had been using. I used a little colored pencil over the watercolor on St. Brigid's, and a little pastel pencil on Northwest Presbyterian. (It was difficult to add watercolor layers, to get an even wash with a water brush, and to get pages to lie flat while photographing.)

I have learned from ArtTutor.com, that in order to improve my sketches, I will have to:
(1) Use heavier weight watercolor paper
(2) Give up the water brush
(3) Dedicate larger blocks of time to a piece
(4) Sometimes practice specific techniques working from photographs, where I can focus on difficult elements of a scene, over a period of time.
(5) Stay out of art supply stores; use the time to practice and improve
(6) Clear a space on my art table to actually work
(7) Get over my fear of masking fluid
(8) Become more comfortable working wet-in-wet
(9) Reduce dependence on ink lines to establish form
(10) Hold mark making tool further from the tip
(11) Try mixing more on the paper and less on the palette
(12) Experiment with glazing
(13) Consider negative shapes
(14) Try to fit sketching into a time of day when there are more shadows
(15) Draw thumbnails before sketching; consider options
(16) Experiment with limited palettes
(17) Be willing to sacrifice a great deal of pigment in the Pencil sharpener and the water jar.
(18) Work larger
(19) Use fresh paint

St. Brigid's Catholic Church, in the wind

The perspective here is off, a bit more than usual, I think. I was becoming re-oriented to the earth beneath my feet, after nearly falling over while gazing at the steeple with clouds scudding past behind it. The sensation of movement resembled that of being on a ship or a slow moving vehicle. For a brief moment, I felt I had glimpsed an unseen reality, of some nature. The church and I were moving through time.

I was unable to find a parking spot with a view of the whole church. The bells rang. Congregants soon came pouring out, maybe from a wedding. I thought, this may be a moment, a day, a couple will remember for the rest of their lives.

St. Brigid's, thumbnail sketches

Church at Mill Run, Lutheran

Drawn quickly from observation, light wash; layers added from memory, later.

Cross, Hilliard United Methodist church

"In the cross of Christ I glory, towering o'er the wrecks of time...."  

                                    (From the hymn by John Bowring)

Golf Club

Elevation view.

St. Brigid's (thumbnails)