Hamilton Sketches – the 1853 Central School Canvas Sketch.
To create larger works, I use a field sketches and photographs.
The strength of photographs is that it captures every detail but that is also its weakness. By capturing every detail you get too much information. While the human eye sees everything, we are only become aware of the details that are important to us.
This is why photographs become dated and paintings less so. The artist is capturing the essence of the subject.
In addition to sketches and photographs, I also try to understand the history of the building.
I want to stress the historical parts of the building rather than more recent additions. In the case of the Central Public School, there were major renovations in the 1890s and 1960s.
Here is the canvas sketch after my second session.
On Day one, I rough out a sketch of most of the building. This is hard to see in this photograph. On Day two, I started working on the clock tower. I first work a section with pencil and then re-trace the pencil lines with black ink.
FCSD Studio 