Chirton, Wiltshire

B and I went to the Grayson Perry tapestry exhibition at the Victoria Art Gallery in Bath today. It was Amazing. This is not particularly the place to get carried away about it. But suffice to say we were thoroughly rejuvenated by his work. Such amazing colours and detail, and reflecting truths about modern society while being firmly rooted in art from previous eras. So much to think about.

The creative urge rubbed off and we went home to get on with something. What could we go and draw? (the family selling a car at the petrol station? another bit of Norman sculpture? NO. We ought to actually finish something and make a bit of art from one of our many many sketches.)

B is writing an article about Chirton for a local magazine, but it needs photos or illustrations. I made up my mind. I took my sketch here (which doesn't look much like that in the flesh) and the above is the result. It's cut mountboard (a long standing favourite technique of mine... maybe I even invented it :)... dark green really because that's the colour I had... and size A1.

I am very chuffed with it. I am currently in that glorious state of mind where I am very pleased with it and am enjoying looking at it. I know from previous experience that this will wear off and the anxiety and dissatisfaction with one's efforts will return :) but that is the curse of the creator of bits of art. In the meantime I'm going to enjoy it, and use my new-found positive energy to get on with some Moss-Dissertation-Related very necessary work tomorrow.

Hurrah for inspiration and getting on with something. And down with wasting time fiddling on the internet (oh the irony). More must be done. And to think this morning I was feeling particularly Januaryish and unable to see anything to look forward to.

You can see a photo of the font here, in fact the figure on the right could be the very figure (St Peter with his key to heaven) that I originally drew. It makes me realise that it's been quite a transformation! but I feel like I've remained true to the original carver's intentions in some way.

Chirton, Wiltshire (the return)

The church of John the Baptist in Chirton is home to beakheads and a carved font, both from the Norman era. Beakheads can't be beaten, and there aren't too many in Wiltshire.

The beakheads are quite small, but they're very varied - not just animal heads but hands and little figures. The columns featured a slightly less grand version of the 'hinges' we saw at South Cerney.

The font has twelve arches containing what you'd imagine is the twelve apostles. They were all reasonably individual in how they looked. In fact the more you looked, the more you realised that the designs that framed the figures weren't mechanically repetitive either. Most if not all the figures were carrying books but the one I drew also had a key - and that, it seems, would be Peter.

The design around the top was the very sort of thing that I like to draw. It's got some logic but it's also unpredictable. And it's organic and planty. The sketch below has two layers because I just ran the drawing on. What's drawn is probably about half the circumference of the top of the font.

There were also some very nice designs on the capitals within the church. They also looked pretty Romanesque in style, though they were so beautifully crisp that it was easy to wonder if they were really so old. I think they probably were though, they had a certain unsymmetrical bold look about them

Images © Rhiannon 2014

Chirton, Wiltshire

 

 

 

I visited specifically to see the Beaky Creatures of the superb main doorway.

But luckily someone had come to clean the church and I was also able to see the figures carved on the font.


 Images © Rhiannon 2012