Austins
Do you know that feeling of going somewhere every day and being so familiar with it that you don’t see something special or obvious about it – and then feeling delighted when you notice it? That’s what I want to do with my art. I’ve been sketching again in Newton Abbot, in Devon, this time it’s the old Globe Hotel, which is now one of the many buildings occupied by the fabulous Austins Department Store.
It was previously a hotel called the Globe Hotel and was the venue for the horribly delayed reception for Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s failed Atmospheric Railway journey to Newton Abbot. Brunel’s genius was to imagine a railway system in 1840 where he powered the line rather than the engines and the tracks were wide apart so trains could go fast around curves. The limiting factor was the steam technology of the time. He developed a vacuum tube system which sucked the carriages along. The only problem was that the valves leaked, air made its way into the tube, and the carriages stalled.
The train arrived horribly late (some things never change) and Brunel’s ambitious experiment failed. He had to admit defeat and move the rails closer to each other. It’s why we have to limit our line speed or tilt our trains to go around curves so our trains don’t topple over from their narrow rails.
Where are our visionaries now?
Part of my Postcards from Newton Abbot series of postcard-sized ink and watercolour sketches.
Ink: Platinum brun sepia pigmented ink
Pen: Sailor Fude de Mannen fountain pen
Watercolour: Derwent Graphitint watercolours
More Postcards from Newton Abbot
Newton 76 Sketching my home town in Devon is a joy. I've discovered so many buildings, so much history and so many… read more
Hannah’s Time for a quick postcard-sized sketch of Hannah's, a charity shop in Newton Abbot. It's a place I regularly give… read more
Teeth-straighteners I'm never that keen on using Latin or Greek when good-old Anglo Saxon words will do fine. Orthodontics means 'ortho'… read more
Splash in the underpass There's an art project which fascinates me next to a Sainsburys, the A380 flyover and a small stream called Aller… read more
Olde Forde House again I've already sketched Olde Forde House. It's a lovely place to spend an hour wandering the gardens, despite the noise… read more
Yellow Umbrella Yellow Umbrella Gifts is a gift shop in Newton Abbot that I've enjoyed sketching on a postcard. It's full of… read more
Mortuary Alley I'm not sure anyone's ever sketched this alleyway in Newton Abbot before. It's a commonly used cut-through filled with industrial… read more
The Abbot I’ve been sketching in Newton Abbot again – this time on East Street and a historic pub called The Abbot. read more
Bill Opticians This is the gloriously Art Deco building which houses Bill Opticians in Wolborough Street, Newton Abbot. Fabulous, isn’t it? read more