Silverpoint

Sawley Abbey

Sawley Abbey, Seymour Haden, 1873
Cleveland Museum of Art

Seymour Haden, Sawley Abbey, 1873. etching.

Pins mark where to look before you draw.

The Cleveland Museum of Art · In memory of Ralph King, gift of Mrs. Ralph King; Ralph T. Woods, Charles G. King; and Frances King Schafer

Master studyLine + Mass

Sawley Abbey

A ruin the size of a thumb in a sheet of sky and field

An 1873 plate: a wide flat valley, the Ribble, and the small ruin of the Cistercian abbey in the middle distance. Haden gives the ruin almost nothing and the field and sky almost everything. A study in how a landscape holds a small building.

In pencilAn etched line is a drawn line. Copy it with hard grades and long points: tone from the spacing and direction of lines, cross-hatching only in the darkest third, no smudging anywhere.

Difficulty
Time
about 1.5 h
You draw with
H, HB, 2B graphite
Format and horizonThe receding groundAerial perspectiveThe ruin's silhouette

Why this one

  • The low horizon and the big sky: the Daubigny format in an English valley.
  • A ruin drawn in five lines that still reads as an abbey.
  • Field texture that changes with distance.

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. 2Kneaded eraser and the Mono Zero press-and-lift corrections only; the Mono Zero for a single sharp light.
  3. 3Alpha 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 →

Five hills, five values, in graphite.

YouTube
How to sketch buildings and architecture: Greek ruinsPhil Davies Artist · A ruin blocked in from the envelope. Ink and wash, but the construction is identical in pencil.

The plan

3 stages · ~50 min
  1. 1

    Horizon low

    10 min

    Measure how low the horizon sits: about a third up. Draw the envelope, the horizon, the river band.

    Format and horizon: a landscape format with a low horizon for a big sky, a landscape format with a high horizon for a big ground, and a portrait format for a tall subject; never the horizon in the centreLOW HORIZON · SKYHIGH HORIZON · GROUNDPORTRAIT · TALL SUBJECTCENTRED · CUT IN HALFDecide what the picture is ABOUT.Sky? Horizon low. Ground and buildings? Horizon high.One tall thing? Turn the paper.The first decision on every page is where the horizon goes. Make it before the first mark.
    FigureA low horizon in a wide field.
    Checklist0 / 2
  2. 2

    Three planes

    30 min

    H for the far hills and the ruin; HB for the middle field and river; 2B for the near grass strokes. Spacing opens toward the horizon.

    The ground plane graded from darker and textured near the viewer to lighter and smoother in the distance, with cast shadows anchoring objects to itdarker+ texturecast shadow glues it downNear ground: more texture, more contrast, darker. Far ground: a flat pale wash. Nocast shadow = floating.The ground is a plane that recedes, not a backdrop. Draw it going away.
    FigureSpacing opens with distance.
    Checklist0 / 3
  3. 3

    Compare

    10 min

    Did the ruin grow? It should not have. Note, date, box.

    Checklist0 / 2

What it should look like

  • A landscape with a small ruin in it, not a ruin with landscape around it.
  • Sky as paper.

Where it goes wrong

  • The ruin grows. It is the named subject. Measure its height against the sheet before you draw it, and again after.

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 ~90 min

Status

How did it go?

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