Day 47: Once a river ran here

Near to where we are staying there is, somewhat weirdly, a sturdy, stone bridge which goes nowhere and crosses nothing but an earthen path down to the river-bank. So it's hard to know why it exists unless, perhaps, there used to be a road or stream here; either way it's constructed with care and rather attractive to look at.

So, on a sunny morning, I wandered down, perched myself on a side of the bridge and focused on a few stone blocks across from my position. The light caught them attractively, deepening shadows within the mortar cracks and throwing the top surface into relief; a scene with plenty of detail and strong architectural lines.

Bridge picture

Restricting myself to just a fine pen I rather enjoyed going all out for strong outlines and geometric shading; in this medium there's no second chance and so every stroke needs to count (or be in a place where it can be over-written). In the end I think the drawing reflects this decisive approach with the structure of the blocks coming across quite strongly in addition to the shadowed areas adding depth. It would have been nice if I'd remembered to take a photo of the bridge but I guess that you can't have everything!

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