Day 31 – Temple of Hephaestus, Athens

Welcome to Day 31 of my sketching journey—and Day 1 of my second 30-Day Challenge: Classical Architecture. Yes, classical architecture!

Challenge 2 begins with a new 30-day journey through classical architecture. The aim is not to produce polished architectural illustrations or painstakingly record every stone, column and decorative detail, but to use what I understand about these buildings to decide what matters and what can merely be suggested: Understand → select → suggest. Day 1 takes me to Athens and the Temple of Hephaestus, one of the best-preserved ancient Greek temples and a particularly fine example of the Doric order. Doric architecture is the simplest and most robust of the three principal classical orders, with sturdy columns, plain capitals and a sense of strength and permanence. I drew this with a Sailor 1911 Standard fountain pen with a fine nib and Jacques Herbin Terre d’Ombre ink, adding a little black ink to strengthen parts of the foreground colonnade. The ambitious viewpoint gives the temple a strong sense of depth, while the disappearing columns along the left side are left incomplete and suggested rather than fully described. The front of the temple becomes rather congested, however, as the capitals, columns, shadows and repeated lines begin to compete with one another. The added black ink helps bring some of the columns forward, but the more useful lesson is to preserve a few light areas and establish the pattern of light and dark before adding further detail. A lively and recognisably personal beginning to the new challenge, with the next step being to carry some of the restraint seen along the side of the temple into the main focal area. Score: 7/10.