Northampton Skyline Near Smith College

Click image to enlarge

This drawing is of the Northampton skyline near Smith college. The tower with the flag is the bell tower at the entrance of the college. The view is from State Street, near the corner of Button street,  looking west.  The drawing measures 7.25" x 10.5" on 8.5"  x 12 " watercolor paper, and is drawn with sepia wax pencil. The  paper  has a slightly rusticated surface do to its being painted first and some fine brick dust pressed into the surface.  I prepare the paper this way for several reasons. First it makes the surface stone like, as is the subject matter, secondly it gives the paper a beautiful tint.  Also, a drawing done this way is unlike any reproduction of which we see billions. The surface has an identity, like a fingerprint, or like the texture of the surface of polished marble.  I have included a detail of the surface below.  This is just the sky in the right hand top, though there is nothing there, you can see that it is lively with fine textures and tints like an abstract painting. The drawing is signed and dated along the bottom, Richard Britell,  2002.