‘Pontcysyllte Aqueduct’
Watercolour sketch looking up from the river Dee at the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct. The aquaduct carries the Llangollen Canal, in the northeast corner of Wales. It is the highest canal aqueduct in the world. The stone uprights support a cast iron structure, with a towpath running along it and a trough for the water. It seems very exposed on this ‘stream in the sky’.
Materials Used
For these sketches I was using Clairefontaine, Bamboo aquarelle, 115 lb paper in a pad. This was the first time I had used this paper and I really liked it. Winsor & Newton, watercolour paints (half pans), with a No.6 round brush. The pen used is a waterproof fineliner, a black brush pen and a 6B pencil. Also, on the last sketch I used some watercolour pencils too.
The Sketches
‘Ludlow Castle’
Driving up to North Wales, we stopped off at the historic, medieval town of Ludlow. It’s a lovely place to wander around, we ended up at the very impressive Ludlow Castle. In the castle we loved exploring all of the different rooms and areas, with lots of steps, climbing up to higher floors. Great stuff. This sketch is of the bridge from the Outer Bailey to the Great Tower.
Fineliner Pens, black brushpen and Winsor & Newton markers.
‘Castell Dinas Brân’
Castell Dinas Brân a medieval castle, built on the steep hilltop above Llangollen. The present day ruin was probably built in the 13the Century.
Dinas Brân has been translated as the “crow’s fortress” or “fortress of Brân”. It also, looks a lot like, how I imagine, ‘Weathertop’ to look, from Lord of the Rings. We walked along the canal first, before starting to gain some height. Walking along the quiet road below the Trevor Rocks you get fantastic views of Castell Dinas Brân. Then climbed up through the fields to the ruins. Before descending down to Llangollen, from the south side.
Here I tried to capture the misty receding plains between the trees, by letting different watercolour washes dry. Before starting the next one.
‘Llangollen Canal – working horse’
Walking along the towpath of the Llangollen canal Here’s a pencil sketch the engine being sorted out on the horse drawn boat. Lovely seeing the boats travelling along, pulled by the working horses.
‘Llangollen canal bridge, no. 48AW’
Still walking along the Llangollen Canal. Watercolour sketch of the Ty Craig Bridge, crossing the canal.
‘Lastly, Pistyll Rhaeadr waterfall’
On our last day we drove to Pistyll Rhaeadr waterfall. Which is a beautiful spot, but a depressing amount of litter around. It’s quite a winding lane to get there, but lovely walks around the waterfall when you get there and a cafe too. On this picture I started it with watercolour pencils, to get everything drawn in first. Coming back over it with water washes and then normal watercolour paint.
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