Tuesday 24 April 2012

Be It Ever So Humble, There's No Place Like Home.

When I was drawing this picture, two sayings came to mind. The first saying you can see in the title to this post - you can imagine the Baron safe and snug in his castle and the peasant snug in his hovel. Secondly, "An Englishman's home is his castle," which equally fits the scene. I'm Welsh, by the way, but heck who's counting?


When William the Conqueror came over from Normandy, France, in 1066, and conquered Britain, Alan Rufus came with him (aka Alan le Roux or Alan the Red). William gave Richmond to Alan as a reward for his part in defeating the people of Yorkshire. Alan became the Earl of Richmond and started building the Castle there in 1067, as a defence at the entrance to Swaledale.


Richmond Castle, Yorkshire, England   John Simlett 2012
Pen & Ink   16" x 9"


The castle is quite a large fortification, my picture shows only the keep, which is typically Norman. In fact if I stand in my garden and look South, I can see an identical Norman keep, Conisbrough Castle, which is almost the same distance and elevation as the keep in my picture. Incidentally, Sir Walter Scott used Conisbrough Castle as the setting of his book, "Ivanhoe". Consequently everything in our village is connected to the story: Ivanhoe School, Ivanhoe Community Centre etc..

Conibrough Castle, Yorkshire


Richmond castle has been drawn/painted/photographed so many times that I wouldn't have bothered with it until, however, I discovered a photograph of it that was taken in 1893 and I used that as my reference photograph.


The first recorded market to be held in Richmond was in 1155, and, by 1440 it was a market town trading in dairy produce, wine, fish, coal, lead-ore, copper and silk.

Here's how a Victorian Guidebook describes it:


The situation of Richmond is one of singular beauty, and the ruins are of exceptional interest. The town is perched on the summit of a plateau ... The river takes a bold curving sweep, so that nature has carved out of the plateau a bastion-like headland...From the market place a narrow and crooked street leads to the entrance to the castle ...


I think I've managed to capture that, 'narrow and crooked street,' winding its way up to the castle.


I've learnt about the shortfalls of photographing my work: some of the lines are only a tenth of a millimetre wide, so when I reduce the picture these lines are lost and the image appears much lighter than the original - clicking on the picture may help to darken it for you.


19 comments:

  1. It's an interesting view, with this narrow and crooked street leading up to the castle! Wonderful drawing, John! I love your English castles, I have visited a few, and I love how you keep your history alive!

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    1. Thanks Judy - the photography's the problem. I've edited the picture and darkened it, since you saw it, to make it nearer the original

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  2. This is a stunning drawing - so intricate and with such character that you could only get from such old stone. This must have taken you forever to do! And how you don't lose yourself in all the stones... Amazing :0)

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  3. Thank Sandra - the problem remains as it did in 'Poets Corner' (below):in reducing the size of the originals the finer lines disappear and not only make the picture too light, but expose the skeleton eg some of the stonework should be barley visible but stands out unshaded. I've tried darkening it in photo editing since you looked - its improved it a bit

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  4. Congratulations on this piece, John!! Your pen and ink is absolutely fantastic...when I zoom in I see your hard work and patience. Your post is quite interesting as well.!

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    1. Thank you, Hilda. I'm starting to pick up speed now. Sill a way to go yet.

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  5. This is a wonderful rendering, John. And thank you for the tip; it was indeed darker and more detailed when enlarged.

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  6. History and drawings are fine together, like fish and tomatoes,and like bacon and eggs !
    I like your drawing, John, it talks about time and in the the same (hmm...) time (it's difficult for me to say that with english words), it is like if it doesn't belong to time.
    Do you understand what I mean ?...

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    1. Your English is excellent, Anne. I think the phrase you are looking for is 'Time immemorial' which means "ancient beyond memory or record" ...and is a phrase that came into English from Norman French!!!

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  7. John your drawing is EXCELLENT! Really it is amazing, I don't know how you achieve such acurate details with buildings no less! Which are sort of my nemesis, too many straight lines for me, my buildings all look slightly tilted. :)

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  8. Always nice to see you, Crystal. Thank you for your kind comments. You don't need straight lines when you can paint as brilliantly as you can.

    I'm doing a dock scene circa 1925 at the moment which is great fun.

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  9. Oh you make me miss my pens John. I really do appreciate your fine details. Enlarging the picture did darken it, but large or small, it's a phenomenal drawing. Your sentence that began: "If I stand in my garden and look to the South, I can see an identical Norman Keep" made me want to pack a bag. How fortunate you are to live in such a historic spot---a very romantic spot to us Americans who live down the road from the Walmart.

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  10. The other man's grass is always greener, Linda. Rotring isograph pens, by the way - you asked and I meant to say.

    I live down the road from Walmart too. My daughter's American boy friend (Denver) was over here and loved it, but equally my daughter went back with him for three months and loved it in the States.

    I've spent a lot of time in the US (lots of short trips) and always loved it and been made to feel very welcome - the last time I was in Washington DC was to fly Prime Minister Maggie Thatcher there to see Ronald Reagan - 1979 ... another lifetime! another career!

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    1. and another WoW! LOL.............Wow!!!!!!!!!!

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  11. Wow, is it fun being blogging friends with you, John! Not only are we treated to fantastic drawings**, but we get history along with it and if one reads the comments too, we get to learn about your flying Thatcher to meet Reagan! Wow!
    ** You did indeed capture the lovely street and path to the structures. Beautiful!

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  12. Thanks, Celeste old men and their stories I'm afraid :0) ... I'll probably tell you the same story three or four times before long. Every part of my life happened by accident and I only saw the crossroads after I had passed them!

    I had no idea when I started this blog that it would be very social. I bumped into Carrie's blog (by accident) and ended up meeting the nicest bunch of people I could ever wish to meet - all painters ... and, given that I don't paint, that's strange.

    I make the perfect audience though, each day I sit gold fishing at how brilliant you all are!

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  13. Oh good, another excuse to come back here and so quickly. Thank you John for honoring me with a visit to my blog(s) today! Becoming a follower is such icing on the cake! I am just mind boggled by the ability we have now to make friends, meet other artists, from around the world with this ole internet thing. LOL Laughing at myself. but ain't it grand?

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    1. Lynn, I can't believe I missed this. I'm so sorry.

      You are quite right I have been fortunate in 'falling-in' with such a wonderful group of people hereabouts ... it makes blogging so rewarding

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