Freemasonry, religion, art and politics in Canterbury.

My intention today was to go back to Canterbury Cathedral and finish off the sketch I started last week, see http://thanetonline.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/a-pen-and-ink-sketch-inside-canterbury.html

The sketch so far was drawn sitting at the back of the nave, and yes you guessed today the nave was closed, when I went to enter the nave whoever was on the door explained the nave was closed and on my explaining that I had told my children to meet me there, said to me. Are they pilgrims? It is this sort of question that is beyond – I would have thought of something witty to answer later – and it hangs around in the back of the mind all day.

Anyway I went into the crypt for a bit and looked at the remaining painted walls that were left by Cromwell and contemplated the “free stone” after which freemasonry was named.

On to Kent Museum of Freemasonry, where I took the photos below.

Oh well, Lapis reprobatus caput anguli, and all that, I went off to Brunch for lunch, and sketched there instead.

 This is the first one, there is a frission associated with sketching other people in public places, I sketched the ceiling and windows, the started sketching the people from left to right. You can probably see how my nerve is affected until I lose myself in the task.

the second sketch went a little better, perhaps.

On to The Beaney where they are displaying a sculpture which is a bit of an elections special.

Having finished reading Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea Quartet, only marginally marred by it saying “Rowling can type, but Le Guin can write” on the cover. I am now onto, Voyage to Siam 1685.

I was particularly interested in the bit on calculating the longitude of The Cape of Good Hope assuming the prime meridian runs through Paris, photos of the pages below.    

The sharp end of technology only around 300 years ago.