On a rainy, drizzly day I drove up to Warwick and to Leamington Spa.

Firstly searching for a vegetarian breakfast and around the charity shops in Leamington. Failing a breakfast I settled for a pastie and tea in Jephson Gardens before heading over to Warwick. My aim here was to do a drawing of the old and rather marvelous collection of half-timbered buildings that is Lord Lycester’s Hospital – a medieval courtyard building next to the Westgate.

Here’s a view of the hospital and the Westgate (with church above). This was pretty much the view I had intended to sketch but found that the only way to sketch this was to either sit in the middle of the pavement or sit in the middle of the road – neither are particularly recommended. After a little wandering around I settled on drawing the main courtyard entrance while hoping that the drizzle would hold off for a while.

Here is my view and sketch in-situ.

Below is a better view of my sketch – after a scan and some clean-up. I particularly liked the ‘cut-out ‘ figures here but there was also a lot of other detail that could have been included – like the bear and porcupine incorporated into the decoration of the building at the back.

So even though it was a murky and drizzly kind of day, it was still a successful sketch. This is a building – and town- that I will definitely be aiming to go back too, just perhaps when the weather is slightly better!