A struggle

A Saiq window. Pen & ink 260x 260 mm. ©Sue Pownall 2011

This piece, which I finally finished Saturday, was the piece I started at the beginning of the year and boy have I struggled with it. For such a simple subject matter it has given me a huge headache. I guess because I knew exactly how I wanted it to be.

I must give a BIG THANK YOU to Cathy Holtom of Down a dusty lane as she provided me with some fabulous reference photos for the rope. The little bit of rope tired to the window bar, such a little detail in the whole drawing, has been the reason the drawing stalled. After receiving the photos from Cathy I amalgamated two of them a drew in the rope in pencil, then got scared, and stopped work on it. It then remained tacked on the wall for a long time. Earlier this week, I inked it in and drawing resumed albeit slowly. On top of this mental drawing block, the paper, which is a little old, but has worked fine with the last few A3 drawings, has begun to degrade. This degradation has led to clogging nibs and ink spots. Good job the subject could take them.

Finally, a question: Does it count as urban decay if it has always looked like that?