The 5 orders of Architecture

I am been intending to do this for years and years and years.
Despite a total lack of interest in Classical architecture as an architectural student, I did decide in my first year of working that I really should one day draw the five orders... well here is a pathetically loose and inaccurate sketch of all 5.

These orders (often just 3- Doric, Ionic and Corinthian) are used in classical architecture. Each one has its own proportional and special decorative system. If you want to sketch classical architecture it is good to have a basic understanding of these.
Stay tuned (you might have to wait a while) for more on each order and how the orders are used in buildings and how an understanding of this helps in sketching complicated buildings.

How loose can I go?

On Saturday I went into the city (downtown) for a bit of sketching. I felt the urge to do some architecture sketching and that is what I ended up doing! This was how I started.... A very complicated building in Martin Place.

After a good cup of tea and some yummy scones I decided to sketch this little gem on George St in the Rocks. I have sketched it before but never had the sun on it like this. It is only a small building but delightfully complicated
I tried to draw the line work as loose as I possibly could – without any regard (well, without much regard) to accuracy. As I have sketched this building before I already have a relationship with it so didn’t really need to study it much before I started scribbling. I was rather pleased with how it turned out

I then splashed on colour. I am trying to get lively washes – particularly in the shadow areas- trying to capture the warm glow that occurs in the shaded areas of the Sydney sandstone. Although I am a little happy with the effect in the archway- overall I wasn’t that keen with the end result... Maybe I added too much watercolour and the excitement of the linework is lost.

Anyway... The process got me thinking and I am going to experiment a bit more..... Stay turned!