Southwell Carving

This month I’ve recreated a design found carved into a wooden screen at Southwell Minster in Nottinghamshire. I visited a few months ago and gathered lots of inspiration from around the building. I went there on a mission to find the stained glass design included by Owen Jones in his Handbook of Decoration, and I did find it (and made a video in the process).

The minster is most famous for its lifelike leaf decorations carved into the stonework of the medieval chapter house, and I have included photos from around the cathedral in a gallery below.

This carving though was found in a screen that separates the choir stalls from the aisle. I liked the strong geometric structure combined with leafy and botanic elements and thought that after last month’s pattern also being a six-fold design with botanic curls, this would be a good follow-on project, plus it gives me the chance to do something different when painting; namely reproducing the 3d elements in watercolour by adding layers of colour.

You’ll find downloads below for the underlying structure of this design which you can use as a starting point, plus the full outline as a traceable or print and paint file. For Pattern Lovers this month, you’ll find two videos; one for constructing the design, the second for painting.

I hope you enjoy painting this one!