38 Timber Frame Painting Meditation

Old buildings have a tendency to sag with age. Especially buildings as old as this one. Like everything, they age and these signs of age have appeal. Of course, the sagging is a sign of wear, and structures, once solid and firm, are affected by weight, use, infestations, fires, etc. All contributing to decay.

At some point work will be required to repair the worn supports and straighten the roof, Until then, “There’s life in the old place yet”, as the saying goes. It gives it character, to quote the cliché.

The timber frame building has taken a rakish feel with the escaping paint into white walls. White walls always present me with a unique challenge. In the real world, nothing is every truly white and to mask the whole area would have left a large, rigid, stark white area.

Instead, I chose to cross hatch the white walls during the masking phase. That’s allowed me to hint at the colours with the wash and give the façade a softer appearance. The black timbers laid out regimentally and mark the apex of the gable end.

In between the erratic lines of the roof, hints of the colour peak between shades of mossy green, deep red and terracotta roof tiles.

The white timbered wall curves around to an irregular join with red brick and a smaller roof below a lattice window. One of 2 visible in the painting. Above, another roof joins the main one but is lost behind the chimney which just makes an appearance at the far left of the painting.