Harlaxton Manor

Following on from my last post, I thought I'd try and do an A4 drawing. And for that I needed a really big, fiddly house. Where better than one of my old obsessions; Harlaxton Manor. 

I've never been there. I'm not even sure you can visit as it is owned by the University of Evansville. But it is the first house in my much loved architecture tome 'The Victorian Country House'.

I love the big, rambling, weird, extravagant, even ugly Victorian houses with their endless wings and millions of rooms devoted to obscure activities such as boot polishing or oil lamp filling. Harlaxton was built between the 1830s and 50s (it took a while) and is both Elizabethan and Baroque in style. This enormous house was built for a single gentleman brilliantly named Gregory Gregory.

This also marks the official end of my fifteen year creative block. After I left art college every creative atom had been exhausted and I didn't draw or paint again for that fifteen years. It was like having an arm cut off.  But I'm back. Incidentally, this drawing is inspired by the amazing drawings of the autistic artist Stephen Wiltshire.