Blog post: 15 August 2024

Drawing inside Dumfries House

29th July - 8th August 2024, Dumfries House, Scotland.

In July 2024, I had a fabulous opportunity to join alumni from the Royal Drawing School on a print residency at Dumfries House. This was to include precious time in the print room, an opportunity to draw en plein air on a stunning estate of 2,000 acres and as an Artist in Residence in the 18th-century house.

During my stay it would have been impossible to do justice to all the inspiring and iconic things to draw and I spent most of the days drawing en plein air either in pencil or with my iPad.

However, following an excellent tour of Dumfries House earlier in the residency, it became obvious to me that although I don't normally consider interiors as fertile ground, it would be a waste not to spend some time working in Dumfries House itself. It was beyond my wildest dreams to have the opportunity to draw in the King's Scottish mansion.

I wanted to draw the Pink Dining room, due to the overwhelming richness of its decor that includes cornices and stucco friezes, a renaissance painting and fine porcelain. The room is a favourite of King Charles and its mantle is dominated by a portrait of the 5th Earl of Dumfries who commissioned Dumfries House.

The Collections Manager Satinder Kaur, offered to slightly lift the blind at the window to enable me to draw the view looking out to the Ivory Avenue at the front of Dumfries House, on the route of my concertina sketchbook drawings. It was in fact the King's pull cord that first became the object of my attention, followed by the Pink Murano Chandelier. The hand-blown glass chandelier, that has real candles that balance waywardly, is the centrepiece of the ornate room. Oh and wyverns. Always wyverns.

Concertina & digital drawings from the Pink Dining room, Dumfries Hse.

Working in the splendour of Dumfries House and its estate and then in the evenings watching the marvellous achievements of Olympic athletes everywhere; it would be very easy to forget that the world is currently a very troubled place. I realise that I've been lost for ten days, drawing in a very privileged bubble and I'm incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity.

On the last day of my residency I chose to make a study of the Flemish tapestry Minerva and the Arts in the magnificent Tapestry Room. Whilst working on my digital drawing, I was introduced by the House Guides as an Artist in Residence, which was a complete thrill.

Digital study of Minerva and the Arts

More about the residency 1 ‎| 2 ‎ | 3 ‎ | 4 ‎|

Artist in Residence at Dumfries House.