Bovey Tracey church service drawing

Here’s an A3 drawing I was commissioned to do for the local vicar. Happy birthday, Graham!

I tried to fit as many things as I could of the interesting and quirky things about the Parish Church of St Peter, Paul & Thomas (not Peter, Paul & Mary like you’d think): the graveyard mermaid, the bee door, the Green men, the strange (under-seat carving) misericords, the painted figures on the medieval screen, the little flying unicorn in the carved pulpit, the eight bells and more… not to mention the community aspects like the after-service teas and coffees with plentiful cakes and a few things about the congregation: Michael on the guitar, the little kid who always makes a break for it to run around in the chancel during the service, the one who loves wearing a crash helmet (is it the same kid? I can’t quite remember), Jane at the piano making a point that one of the keys needs fixing, the notice sheet, etc.

No one’s an exact lookalike, and the architectural features aren’t precise, but hopefully it gives the general gist of the scene, in a folk-art sort of way. It’s such a lovely church; I love the old carved features, the bells, and the slanting light beams that come in when the sun breaks through the clouds.

If anyone would like to download and colour the black and white version of this, this link will work for a year. (It’s a PDF, 3mb in size.) There are so many more colours in the real-life scene!