Glasgow Tram at the National Tramways Museum

 In terms of art, I’ve really had two big projects on during the last week or so. One has been continuing to produce my beautiful Britain ink sketches, and the other has been to try to resurrect my Etsy shop. I’m quite pleased with what I’ve achieved in the last couple of days, and I was particularly pleased when I got up yesterday morning to see that I’ve sold a print of my Berlin tram sketch. “Yum yum,” says I, “that’s an excuse for another tram drawing!” Not that I need an excuse. 

A fortnight ago on the Tuesday I took a day off to go and visit the National Tramways Museum in Crich in Derbyshire. I had a good day out – although entrance to the Museum is NOT cheap, but then it did include a ride upon a tram. I’ll come back to that. To cap off the day, when I finished in the museum I drove into Nottingham to ride the Nottingham NET trams. 

Coming back to Crich, I did take photographs with a view to making some pictures at a later date. In particular I photographed the number 22 Glasgow tram, which was the one I got to ride upon. As it happens I painted this particular tram three or four years ago, in acrylic, and sold it, which led to one of my favourite commissions as well.

 

Using my photograph as a reference, I sketched the tram in pen yesterday. Here’s the finished sketch. I didn’t take any production photos – sorry about that. Trams are something I enjoy sketching very much. I usually complete the tram before I add any background. I drew the outline of the front of the tram from the top of the bottom deck downwards, and filled in all of the detail and shading. Then I drew in the side of the bus from the same level down. I usually do all of the bodywork of the lower deck before tackling wheels and all the gubbins underneath. They’re usually an area of a tram or train where a little suggestion and judicious use of shading can get you a long way. 

Basically it was a case of repeat what you just did with the upper deck. The upper deck is always quicker and easier, because I’ve already done all of the working out for the bottom deck – things like window spacing for example. Then when the whole tram is completely drawn and shaded I start to think about the background. Normal principles apply – the further away an object, the less detail it needs to be sketched in. Because the tram is so large and dominates the picture, it really didn’t take long to put in the background, and there we are, the sketch was finished.

 

I wasn’t at all unhappy with it either. However, I got up this morning, looked at it again, and thought – you know, it might look good with a touch of watercolour. So I scanned it before applying any colour, and then got weaving. Here’s the result.

You might be wondering why I didn’t paint in the sky. Good question. Sometimes even someone who knows as little as I do about Art can give a technical explanation for what I do. More often, though, it comes down to a feeling. I felt that this was enough – that if I pained in the sky, which was a light, fine cerulean blue on the day, it wouldn’t improve the picture, and actually might make it worse. I liked it as far as I’d taken it, and that’s enough.