Since I wrote my article on Red roofs as part of the landscape last month, I’ve been looking with different eyes at buildings – and paintings of them. So many artists over the years have taken architecture as their subject, including red roofs (Camille Pissarro) and even blue roofs (Paul Gaugin). So let’s have a go! This is my interpretation of a view over the rooftops in Vrboska towards sunset. We were walking out to the fields for a happy evening with friends – fresh food cooked on the grill, and served with homemade wine from their own vineyard. Now there’s a lovely glow!

Red roofs in the sunset glow, Vrboska

This second piece is a pencil sketch of an old stone roof just along the street from there. The trouble with stone as a roofing material is its sheer weight, and the timbers in this sad little building are sagging, about to collapse. The stark black and white is all I need to tell the story here.

Roof falling in

I’ve started to use Pinterest to collect works of art that inspire me. For this project, I set up a board for buildings in art – either as the only subject or within a landscape. While it should come as no surprise that the vast majority of the artists on that board use glorious colour, others are rather restrained. Liking black lines and earth tones – me? Well yes, but they all have something creative and imaginitive to them and I’d love to have any one of them on my wall! Take a look and see what you think: Visit my Pinterest board of Buildings in Art

The quote in the title comes from a poem published in The Sunday Magazine in 1889. It seemed very appropriate.

The red roofs in the sunset glow
A quiet night draws near

From “After a Long Time” by Sarah Doudney