Sunday 17 July 2016

Who’s what in Margate in 1839 and a couple of Canterbury paintings started today.

Beautiful day, I know, however daughters can mean shopping and so to Canterbury for me, as it was I arrived when the cathedral was between services and believe it or not it was raining. So into the cathedral where I found a seat in front of a pillar – I didn’t have the confidence to deal with people looking over my shoulder while I painted today – watercolour sketching is a tenuous business and the cathedral is a very complex bit of kit.


Anyway here is my watercolour impression of Canterbury Cathedral, I hope it conveys something that a photograph wouldn’t. I would think it took about an hour, I stopped when they started clearing the nave for the next service. I am none to certain of the rules about painting during services, nor do I know what the theological position is on painters or what exactly god thinks about impressionist sketches.


I did get a passing priest to hold the picture up for me so I could take this picture, I think the most mistakes are at the top, which is where I started, as one goes on something of the building sort of takes control, sort of making it not my fault gov.  


On to Chocolate Café and another go at sketching the view looking across at La Trappiste that I had a go at the other week, see http://thanetonline.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/watercolour-painting-of-la-trappiste.html Some improvement? Not really sure.


I took this picture from where I was painting, one for the art critic? Next a few progress pictures.




Then on to the Margate directory for 1839, I believe there is an even earlier one for Margate which I will look for and publish. The street numbers will be different and you would need to use the other directories I produce in book form, see http://michaelsbookshop.com/catalogue/index.htm to have any hope of deciphering which building is which.


Looking back down history is always very difficult, I think Margate was a successful port from about 1100 to about 1500 then from about 1500 to about 1735 I think it went through a bad time. I think the recovery from about 1735 was caused by London doctors prescribing a cure of drinking seawater and being ducked in the sea for pretty much every illness. The first reliable transport from London to Margate was the paddle steamer service which started in 1815 and by 1839 Margate was fairly well established as a holiday destination, with railways starting to appear around 1839.

Here are the pictures of the pages of the directory which will expand if you click on them






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