rooftops

Drawing from the roof, Stopnica by Sasha Ward

Glass panel beautifully installed in internal window & view from sitting room showing all 3 panels

Glass panel beautifully installed in internal window & view from sitting room showing all 3 panels

In a departure from my usual working methods, I made some windows in 2015 without knowing exactly where they would go - I described the commission in a previous post here www.sashaward.co.uk/blog/2015/7/8/transformation  Last year, I made a third window for the house in Stopnica, Poland and this year we visited. It was a massive relief to see the windows fitting in so well with their surroundings and in particular with the colours used in the local vernacular architecture - of the old variety.

Fanlight windows, Transformation I & II installed in the house in Stopnica

Fanlight windows, Transformation I & II installed in the house in Stopnica

Drawing station on the roof: looking towards mansion no 1

Drawing station on the roof: looking towards mansion no 1

The architecture of the new variety is equally fascinating, with mansions springing up on plots all around my friends' modest ochre house. I took a chair on to the roof, my favourite type of drawing station, and drew in each direction. All my drawings are dominated by the distinctive bulbous roofs and dormer windows of the new houses that are bordered by undulating concrete panels - the shape uncannily echoed in the lines on my glass.

View towards town & mansion no 2: a favourite local colour combination, ochre & plum

View towards town & mansion no 2: a favourite local colour combination, ochre & plum

The best view looks west into the setting sun, where the road goes past a nice pair of decorative gates and into town. This area (south central Poland, just north of the river Vistula) is full of wooden architecture - more about the painted houses later.

View of the house: view from the roof showing mansion no 3 & site of future mansion no 4 behind workshop

View of the house: view from the roof showing mansion no 3 & site of future mansion no 4 behind workshop