Week 18, Keys

The 3 keys were of different ages, found locally.

Week 17. Roman glass and other glass fragments

The piece of curved blue-green glass is Roman - amazing! The bluey-green was a beautiful colour and there was a tiny hint of rainbow-like iridescence on the surface which I tried to capture in paint.
The fluted greeney-brown bottle neck is 18th century.
I'm not sure how old the other coloured fragments are, I enjoyed trying to mix the perfect match of blues, browns and greens. The glass pieces each have a reference number written on them but I ignored that.

Roman and C18th century glass. watercolour and pencil

Week 16. Stone axe hammer heads

These axe hammers found in Nofolk may be Neolithic so could be over 4,000 years old (from the late Stone Age or early Bronze Age?). They're very heavy so whoever wielded them was super strong. I enjoyed drawing the shapes - like a Barbara Hepworth sculpture - and looking for the subtle colours in the stone. I prefer the first drawing with more energetic marks which seem to reflect the movement of the axes when used all those millennia ago.

Watercolour, charcoal pencil, conte crayon, graphite and ink

Pastel, charcoal pencil, graphite and pencil

They remind me of two bird's heads!

Week 15. Oyster shells and jawbones

These were found at a dig in Great Bircham, Norfolk. The English didn't bother eating oysters unless they had no other seafood, but when the Romans came consumption of oysters increased rapidly - they loved them! So wherever a dig reveals clues to Roman life (or later, as in the Saxons here) you'll find lots of oyster shells.
The jaw bones are animal I think but I'm not sure what animal.

brown conté pencils and graphite

brown conté and 2B pencil

Week 14. Medieval brooches and spoon

I looked through a magnifying glass to draw these - I found beautifully detailed decoration on the round silver brooch. The spoon made an interesting shadow, like a face! I drew them life size - the round one is about 2cms across.

Silver brooch enlarged to show detail

Week 13. Medieval roof tiles (fragments of)

Each one was a subtly different colour with some having inner strata of darker material. I did a watercolour wash on all then completed each with different drawing media - pen & ink, conté crayon, pencil etc.

Week 12 - Medieval shoes

These remains of Medieval leather shoes were found at Grimston near King's Lynn, Norfolk and must be at least 500 years old.  (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1539 AD)
I really enjoyed drawing them and used a Derwent crayon in 'chocolate' colour then a waxy black chinagraph then a black pencil to achieve the texture.

Week 11 Medieval Pottery sherds and Display

These fragments of medieval pottery were found locally. I was fascinated by the 'petal-shaped' pattern in relief on the dark brown glazed pieces. The other piece is part of the base of a large pancheon with swirls of an ochre coloured glaze. 

Morgan created a lovely display of my drawings and the artefacts which are on show at the museum until November 7th.

Week 10 Roman Pottery Sherds

Roman Pottery with interesting patterns punched into the clay 

Part of a Roman pot

Week 9 Medieval metal chest

I wonder what was kept in here?

Week 8 Wattle and Daub

This piece of old wattle and daub was fascinating to draw and to spend time studying - you can see the thumb prints of the builder as he moulded the clay and dung around the reeds and animal hair to create this ancient building material.

Week 7 Egyptian vessel

Beautiful vessel from Ancient Egypt, the sandy colours of the desert