Under Lock And Key
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“Under Lock And Key” is the darkest painting I’ve ever done. The lock belongs to doors in Lincoln Cathedral, which I visited recently. I thought it looked amazing. The surrounding wood was so dark with age it looked black, but the metalwork glowed with a brassy sheen. I took a photo and moved on. Back home, I realised the photo was fuzzy. Even so, I wanted to paint the doors around the lock. It was a new subject for me and I hoped I could rise to the challenge. Avoiding the lock, I flooded my paper with washes of Indigo, Vandyke Brown and Ivory Black and let them mix. This provided a good, dark underpainting. Later I painted the metalwork with Yellow and Gold Ochre and added details in dark colours, using Vandyke Brown and Ivory Black again. The painting came together better, and more easily, than I’d originally expected. Apologies to anyone who knows the cathedral if I got some details wrong (which I’m sure I did). You know I’m going to blame that fuzzy photo!
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