Most communities grow and change with time.  Some would have us freeze such forward movement.  Generations over the years have maintained that the look of a place is as good as it can ever get.  ‘Let us hold onto what we have as change can never improve upon what history has created!’

Yet that same history would teach us that such a view is incorrect.  It is the ages alone that can arrive at such assessment.  The best will indeed remain, best by the standards of the onlookers, the passers-by over the years.  Communities in the long run cull out what they consider inappropriate, while they continue to add to the fabric – for others who follow to treat in the same way.  Thus it is that in many an old city we find buildings of widely differing antecedents cheek by jowl with each other.

Some might say that I am an optimist in trusting in the historical perspective.  At the same time I did not wish to run the risk of losing the opportunity of putting my pen to paper and recording my surroundings.  I did not do it with a camera, because I believe that drawing an object, a tree, a landscape makes me really look at what is there while I create an impression of what I see.  And that in the final analysis is all my drawings are – a personal view.  We, every one of us, see things in a different way.  Try as we might to reach consensus still gives no guarantee that we see all things in an identical manner.

So it is with my drawings and sketches.  They represent my view of Lincoln over the past few years, selecting buildings and perspectives of what pleases me about this wonderfully casual town with its vestiges of an agricultural past.  You will not find all that you may be looking for in these pages.  The selections are personal, though I have tried to include some of the more important structures.  Another point you will discover is that, even in such a short space of time, some of the buildings have changed and thus they may look different today from the time I drew them.  But I can assert that they are a fair representation of the current picture and hopefully will provide some future reader with a reasonable ‘snapshot’ of what was here at the end of the 20th century.

I have also tried my best to give a brief description with each drawing.  It is not always easy to discover the details of any building.  Many go back to colonial times;  most have been remodeled and changed through the years by their several previous owners.  In some instances, the core of the house is just that, no longer recognizable within the surrounding newer structure. I have attempted to give the date of the building when I could find a source, and also provide some anecdotal information where appropriate.  But the words are few – I prefer for the drawing to speak to the viewer.

I first visited Italy, on vacation, in 1969.  It is a country whose cultural history was critical to the development of architecture, going back to the days when the Greeks established their colonies on Italian soil and subsequently, with the Roman genius, with their seemingly inborn sense of engineering and their use of the arch and later the dome, refined and brought these elements to maturity during the Renaissance.

It is a country of beautiful landscapes and a variety of different visual perspectives, inhabited by people, friendly and welcoming to visitors, and possessing a multiplicity of historical remains probably more numerous per square mile than any other place I can think of.  Having yearned for the ability to get a better understanding of Italy ever since my first visit, my opportunity came in the late nineteen seventies, when I was offered a position with an American architectural firm in Rome.  Initially intending to work there for a few weeks, my stay turned into an eight year sojourn!

I carry a sketch book with me wherever I go.  I could simply take photographs of what I am seeing but it is only by stopping and drawing the scene – be it a building, a fountain or some other feature – does one really absorb in detail the object of one’s interest, embedding it more securely in one’s memory.  At the same time, I concentrate on exploring what the light does to my subject of the moment, and how high-lights and shadows modulate the physical form I am trying to represent.  This necessitates a certain speed in the execution to ensure that there is only a minimal change in the quality of the light between the beginning and completion of the sketch.  Thus it also requires a choice of what is the most significant detail I should concentrate on in my approach.

There are many facets to the country.  In spite of these many years, I have still not visited every region and thus you may not find all you are looking for in these pages.  The sketches are a personal record of where I have been and are a selection of some of my favorites.  I have added a few comments to each sketch in order provide some anecdotal information as appropriate, but the words are few.  I prefer for the drawing to speak to the viewer – let him or her hopefully gain the same pleasure I experienced in the execution of the sketch.