Left, Version 4, glass panel 270mm square. Right, Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery - currently closed.
I was working on a series of painted glass panels called Theme and Variations while planning our exhibition at Norwich Cathedral. It was only when I looked back at this photo of the castle (above right) that I saw the connection to the rows of arches in my series, even down to the inverted concrete arch of the horrendous glass lift exit in front of it. So I added the castellations to the top of the last in the series (above left) in the hope that a local visitor to the exhibition may notice the link.
Left, Norwich - from Castle Meadow to the Royal Arcade. Right, Stained glass inside the arcade.
Most of the buildings in Norwich I’d earmarked to visit to see the best examples of old stained glass were closed. With covid restrictions in place, the city felt like a half empty stage set so I wandered around and found interesting architectural details everywhere. The rounded arch, filled with fresh floral stained glass, made another appearance in the Royal Arcade (above).
Left, King’s Lynn - the locked doors of St Nicholas’ Chapel. Right, beside the locked doors of King’s Lynn Minster
By the time we got to King’s Lynn and found that absolutely every building that wasn’t a shop, cafe or pub was shut, we had begun to get fed up, despite the beautiful locked doors and interesting architectural features - more arches on top of arches.
An outdoor visit saved the day. Nearby are the ruins of Castle Acre Priory, a Cluniac monastery from around 1089 to its dissolution in 1537, with the most magnificent set of arches you could hope to see (below). The enormous west front has a solid base of round arches around the original west door, and a large pointed mid 15th century window inserted above. Wonderful to see the combination of the two types of arches combined in the elaborate architectural detail and to find inspiration on how to take my painted series forward.
The West Front of Castle Acre Priory, Norfolk.