View over River, Amsterdam

 

A view of Cathedral Tower, Amsterdam, December 2014

 

Watercolour on Board

 

www.nickhirst.co.uk

Street in Amsterdam Canal District

 

 

 

Old Street near Cathedral in Amsterdam

December 2014

 

Watercolour and Pencil on board

 

www.nickhirst.co.uk

Church Window, Wet Afternoon, Amsterdam

Church Window, Amsterdam

 

 

A very wet afternoon in Amsterdam December 2014

 

Watercolour Sketchbook

 

www.nickhirst.co.uk

Roof Structure, Amsterdam Townhouse, Sunhead 1617

Study of Roof Structure, Amsterdam Townhouse Sunhead 1617

 

 

This sketch shows the roof structure behind a gable of an Amsterdam townhouse. Many of the townhouses are built with front façade leaning out over the street by a few degrees, so that furniture can be winched up to the windows more easily. The winch is fixed to an extension of the ridge beam of the roof behind, which projects through the façade. This is the 'Tulip Room at Sunhead 1617, a small hotel in the UNESCO world heritage area.

 

Watercolour sketchbook.

 

www.nickhirst.co.uk

 

Proposed Health Clinics, Sub-Saharan Africa

Proposed Health Clinics, Sub-Saharan Africa

 

Drawn to describe a concept for a local health clinic compound.

Drawn on a Wacom Cintiq tablet in Photoshop.

www.nickhirst.co.uk

Hospital and Health Masterplan in Africa

 

Proposed Hospital in Sub-Saharan Africa

 

 

 

This drawing was prepared on a tablet, working over a watercolour base layer.

 

Watercolour and Photoshop

View over Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo, Japan

A very quick pen sketch from the aircraft window of the first glimpse of Mt Fuji, as I left Tokyo after 2 days of blizzards and wading through snow in the city in February 2014.

Coloured on the tablet on return.

Kon Ombo, Nile Valley, Egypt

 

 

The temple at Kom-Ombo, Egypt. The boat arrived early in the morning and we were on the site for sunrise. The maze of columns and beams when viewed from below were memorable - the reason for selecting this unorthodox view.

 

Watercolour on Mounting Board



 NH www.nickhirst.co.uk

Abu Simbel, Egypt

 

A short flight from Aswan in Egypt, South over the desert following the tourist trail, takes one to Abu Simbel, where some enormous stone sculpture, threatened with destruction during the creation of the Aswan Dam, were moved to safety on higher ground.

 

This sketch was made very quickly in one of the few patches of shade, close to the main entrance to the complex. As usual I was out numbered by hundreds of photographers!

 

Watercolour and Pencil on Mounting Board.

 

NH www.nickhirst.co.uk

 



Nevsky Prospect, St Petersburg, Russia

 

The original pencil sketch was done in -9 deg one evening in St Petersburg. In that temperature the 10 minutes it took was almost too long without gloves. I then scanned the pencil sketch and coloured the image in photoshop, under the pencil layer in 'multiply' mode, when back home.

The light was added either under or over the drawing layer depending on the effect needed. This was a very satisfying way of getting a solidly coloured sketch quite efficiently. The second view above was done the same way. The fascination with this view was the half-frozen river channel, with snow and ice lying on it.

Pencil and Photoshop.

NH www.nickhirst.co.uk

Battersea Power Station, London

This painting was made from sketches and photographs after a quick tour around Battersea Power Station courtesy of Treasury Holdings.

 

The Power Station is a fantastic building - arguably more interesting as a relic than either in its original use, or in its new form as the site is redeveloped in the years to come. 

 

Watercolour on Mounting Board.

 

NH www.nickhirst.co.uk

 

Woodland

This quick sketch was drawn on a Wacom Cintiq tablet, as one of the first times I had used it. Having always worked in watercolour, building a drawing from light washes to darker shadows, and finally highlights, drawing straight into the computer, I have found that the computer allows for much more freedom in building a drawing.

However I have found that this freedom can make drawing and colouring more difficult, as the instant choice of any brush size, degree of opacity, texture and colour, when all thrown together, can quickly over-power the image. So I tend to try and restrain the palette, as in this case.

This drawing became the cover of a children's story, set in dis-orientating dense woodland.

PShop and Wacom Cintiq

NH www.nickhirst.co.uk

Equestrian Statue, Kremlin, Moscow

During a 48hr business trip to Moscow, I was able to visit Red Square & The Kremlin very briefly. This sketch was made at about 2am, after a dinner, in about -5 deg.

The lighting was great, with both a good moon, and a strong spotlights.

Painted in the Winsor & Newton colour - Neutral Tint over a quick pencil sketch, on HP 140lb watercolour paper.

NH www.nickhirst.co.uk

Main Amphitheatre, Leptis Magna, Libya

Whilst working in Libya in 2009, I was able to spend a few hours at Leptis Magna, on the coast of Libya, about 2 hours from Tripoli. The project on which we had been appointed , was the development of a first phase of infrstructure to support a growth in tourism in Eastern Libya.

This site, along with two others in Libya, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and would be a principal attraction to most tourists visiting the country. The site is enormous, and some of the extant remains are stunning - its hard to now how, or where to start drawing them from to get a sense of the scale.

This viewpoint appealed because of the backdrop of the Mediterranean, and the fact that whilst drawing, it was possible to sit in the shade from this position.

Watercolour on Mounting Board

NH www.nickhirst.co.uk

Main Square & Cathedral, Prague

This watercolour sketch was drawn in an uncomfortably prominent position within one of the main squares in Prague. A very hot day, the paint was drying very quickly, and I therefore was able to paint on site without having to wait the 30 minutes for the washes to dry.

It was painted over a fast pencil sketch on Daler Rowney Cream COloured Mounting Board.

NH  www.nickhirst.co.uk

Building a Watercolour Perspective

Building a Traditional Watercolour - (5 stages)

 

This sequence of five drawings will hopefully show how a traditional watercolour can be built up. Apologies for the colour variation in the sequence as the photographs were taken in a different light.

 

The drawing is an aerial study of a new extension to a Listed Hospice Building in Clapham, which has since been completed. The purpose of the drawing was to set the new proposed extension into the the established landscape and demonstrate the sympathetic relationship between the new building, and the existing structures.

 

This viewpoint was selected because the green roof in the central part of the wing roof planes could be used to reduce the apparent width of the new element from this viewpoint.

 

Painted on 140lb Bockingford.

 

NH www.nickhirst.co.uk

 



Stage (1) - Basic Drawing

Stage (2) - First Washes

Stage (3) - Heavier Washes

Stage (4) - Architectural Detail & Colour Balancing

Stage (5) - Final Details, Shadows & Highlights

Aerial View of Northampton

This abstract image was to draw attention to the new life possible in a less active part of the existing town of Northampton as a result of a new pedestrian link proposed to better connect the station to the city centre.

The image was intended to evoke the night lights on the streets from above the town. The street pattern was clearly expressed to allow some chance at orientaton when labelled.

The drawing was made in pencil and light watercolour washes on white paper, and then digitally inverted in photoshop.

NH  www.nickhirst.co.uk

Construction Site by Terence Cuneo

Terence Cuneo was a famous illustrator whose work I'm always delighted to come across. Trained at the Slade, he was renowned for his railway subjects, and was appointed official painter to the Queen in 1953.

There are many examples of his work to be found in various compilations of railway posters of the SE of England. This image particularly appeals - the unorthadox angle gives a lot more interest to a complex subject and a great sense of intrusion.

Have a look at www.terencecuneo.co.uk for more examples of his work.

NH www.nickhirst.co.uk

Door Latch at Goddards, Surrey by Lutyens

A study of a very simple door latch by Lutyens at Goddards, his house hidden in the North Downs at Abinger Hammer, Surrey.

Hosted by The Lutyens Trust, I was given the chance to spend a few days studying and drawing the house whilst staying. This door had an elegant simplicity. The challenge was to find a way in one drawing of illustrating a section, and the two opposite door elevations. I find this quite a pleasing composition.

Pencil on cartridge paper, sketchbook.

NH www.nickhirst.co.uk

Lime Kilns, Staffordshire

Sketches of old and new lime kilns in Staffordshire. The top image shows the remains of the original brickwork lime kilns, whilst the lower image shows a contemporary lime kiln that has been constructed on the same site, pleasingly to assist in the repair and conservation work of the original brickwork structures.

Taken from the SPAB Sketchbooks. Find out more about the SPAB and its work conserving historic buildings at www.spab.org.uk

NH  www.nickhirst.co.uk