Silverpoint

Bakehouse Close

Bakehouse Close, Edinburgh, Forrest, c. 1908 to 1934
William Shannon Fine Art

Forrest, Bakehouse Close, Edinburgh, c. 1908 to 1934. etching, signed and titled in pencil.

Pins mark where to look before you draw.

William Shannon Fine Art · Scan courtesy William Shannon Fine Art (originalscottishart.com). The etching is in the public domain (artist d. 1943).

Master studyLineThe Edinburgh closes · c. 1908 to 1934

Bakehouse Close

A pend arch under a crow-stepped gable

Bakehouse Close off the Canongate, one of the best-preserved closes in the Old Town (it stands beside the Museum of Edinburgh). Forrest's tall plate (11 by 21.5 centimetres) shows a crow-stepped gable, a tall chimney, small windows, and at the bottom a pend arch with figures in its shadow. The arch is the darkest thing on the plate and the whole design leans on it.

Difficulty
Time
about 2.5 h
You draw with
H, HB and 2B graphite, fine pen optional
The round archThe window as a voidTone from lineFigures for scaleMasonry coursing

Why this one

  • The pend arch is a round arch in perspective with the deepest shadow of the plate inside it.
  • A crow-stepped gable against sky: the Scottish silhouette.

From your kit

The whole kit →
  1. 1Grafwood H, HB, 2B H, HB for layout and line; 2B for the darks. Long points from the Blackwing on everything up to B.
  2. 2Grafwood H for the lay-in; a fine pen if you have bought one, else a needle-pointed Grafwood F the pen studies are about the broken line, not the ink.
  3. 3Kneaded eraser and the Mono Zero press-and-lift corrections only; the Mono Zero for a single sharp light.
  4. 4Alpha sketchbook 9 x 6 draw at the book's size and keep the proportions; date the page.
In general, this study asks for
  • Drawing pad or smooth cartridge
  • 2H and H with long points
  • HB for accents
  • Kneaded eraser
  • Sandpaper block

Watch first

All videos →

Structure first, then tone, on a real stone building. The method of the Architecture studies in a modern hand.

YouTube
How to draw a Gothic archehow · Two centres, two arcs, in ninety seconds.How to draw realistic textures with pencils: brick and stone wallAsif Rasheed Art · Stone and brick texture; use it for the near courses only and let tone do the rest.

The plan

4 stages · ~140 min
  1. 1

    Envelope and gable

    20 min

    Portrait. Envelope the whole block. The gable's crow-steps as a staircase line; chimney plumb.

    Checklist0 / 2
  2. 2

    The pend arch

    30 min

    Construct the arch: springing line, centre, semicircle in slight perspective. The opening behind it is a void.

    A semicircular Romanesque arch with its centre on the springing line, radiating voussoirs and a keystone, over an impost and a pierROUND ARCH · CENTRE ON THE SPRINGING LINEcentrekeystonevoussoirs radiate fromthe centreimpostEvery joint in the arch points at the centre. Draw three joints that do, and the eye believes the rest.
    FigureCentre on the springing line.
    Checklist0 / 1
  3. 3

    Windows and masonry

    40 min

    Windows as voids with reveals and lit sills. Courses as broken horizontals; stones only at the quoins and openings.

    Checklist0 / 2
  4. 4

    Tone and figures

    50 min

    Wall one layer, shadow side two, under the gable three, inside the pend four. Figures as silhouettes in the pend. Squint. Box.

    Checklist0 / 3

What it should look like

  • A Scottish gable in light over a black pend with people in it.

Where it goes wrong

  • Pend drawn as grey as the wall. Fear of the dark. Four layers. It is a hole.

Log this session

Start the clock when you pick up the pencil. Stop it when you put it down. Log it. Every session counts toward the box.

00:00of ~150 min

Status

How did it go?

Up nextChancellor Court (Chessel's Court)

Before this, ideally

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