Painting local churches...

I'm not terribly clued up on the way the Church of England organises itself, but there are three churches in our local group. There's St Mary's (Kingsclere), St Paul's (Ashford Hill) and St Peter's (Headley)

It sounds a bit like a 60s folk trio.

But these are the churches. Norman St. Mary's, squat and sturdy; Victorian St. Pauls, elegantly be-spired; and miniscule St. Peter's, also a Victorian building, represented here by a pair of sketches.

On Saturday, I was at a charity event at St. Paul's, and I was there to demonstrate my knife-painting techniques. I had a gazebo, which was fortunate, as it rained quite a lot.

I had my acrylics...

40 x 40 cm, painted in the morning, when
there was a glimmer of blue sky and sunshine

 ... and I had my oils ...

41 x 33 cm, painted in the afternoon, when
the sun had disapeared but the roof was shiny

Both paintings were auctioned for charity on the day.

Oh, let me in, the soldier cried

It's a cold, haily, windy night.
Let me in, he says
Oh, but I can't. My parents wouldn't be happy.
I'm going away. I might not see you again.
Oh, alright then.

....

Ooh. Shouldn't you marry me, now?
No. 'Bye.

The words in the song are more poetic. But the soldier is still a cad.

A Green Man, or the Sleeping Giant

30 x 40 cm, oil on canvas

An imaginary figure, part of his environment. Painted quickly from imagination using a restricted palette that included no white and no yellow, but that nonetheless included more colours than I often use... 

£75

St Leonard's in Oakley

It was raining, so I sat under the lych gate to make this sketch.

Curious about the unusual name of this church (many a church is named for saintly Peters, Pauls, and Marys - although I'm not aware of any dedicated to Puff the Magic Dragon), I discovered that Leonard was a sixth century frenchman known for freeing prisoners.

Given the dedication, I was assuming that I would find a definite assertion that the church building was (underneath all the additions and alterations) of Norman origin, but there seems to be no such statement to be found online. It is, however, believed that a Norman chuch stood on the same site.

The history of the building seems vague until the 16th Century, so it seems reasonable to state that the church is medieval with distinctive Victorian additions. It is, however, charmingly quirky.

St Mary's, Kingsclere

St Mary's, Kingsclere, oil on linen canvas, 30x40cm

A little plein air oil of the parish church, painted yesterday. It's been much altered, but underneath it all, this large edifice is a Norman church.

His name is Jock Stewart

I'm a man you don't meet every day
(Mixed media on Bockingford Not paper, A3)

A folk song, known to me cheifly via the Caitlin O'Riordan voiced version by The Pogues. I do like a bit of gender switching in songs, but I decided to play this one straight as an image. That is the Stewart hunting tartan, by the way. Approximately.