St. Bavo's Cathedral, Ghent, Belgium

[Balaji]

This is a ten minute 4" x 5" pen and ink sketch, done with a black ink gel pen. I sketched this in May 2024 when my hand was very unsteady and I was just starting on my ten minute sketches in the hope that it would help steady my hand.

It did, but only after I had spent many weeks doing five or six such pen and ink sketches each day.

I added the watercolour washes a few day ago, about nineteen months after doing the ink sketch.

 

[Joy]

Wonderful sense of depth and spot in with the figures. Amazing that you did that in such a short time. Your hand must be a blur to the observer when sketching!

 

[Balaji]

Thank you Joy.

Ten minutes is actually a lot of time if you choose an uncomplicated image, concentrate on the major shapes. avoid too many details, and keep your drawing small. These quick sketches that I did were all only 4" x 5" or 5" x 6". To an extent the number of lines that you have to draw determines how long the sketch takes.

 

[Joy]

The architecture you choose would sure be complicated to me!