Peregrine in SE10

How cool is this. A Peregrine Falcon, sitting on a window ledge opposite my house.

Can't quite believe it. It's still sitting there now. Was talking to the builders working nearby who had also seen it, and apparently a pair are living on top of the old Mumford Flour Mill adjacent to Deptford Creek, and are feeding on seagulls and pigeons.

In 1962, only 68 breeding pairs were left in the UK, but since the abolition of certain crop pesticides (the crops being eaten by their prey), numbers have increased.

Only the second time I've seen one so I'm pretty excited!

Dickie

Visual Impact

Strong colours leap out of the page, attracting attention and drawing you in.

Mondays Session

Some great stuff on display today, and interesting to learn that a 'visualization' could be an image/model/collage/whatever, which best expresses the merits of the design and your vision. I hadn't been sure about whether this should be a perspective, something that you would actually be able to see in reality (i.e. the primary real view), rather than an axonometric or a section so it was useful to get clarity on this point.

So anyway, just in case the sheet on display gets trashed by passing traffic, here are the section and plan drawings.


Dickie

Visualization Courtyard 14

Design Considerations

Big Brother

Here's another feeling I got from the courtyard.

Remember how quickly someone came out to shout at those on the roof?

Dickie

Courtyard 14

More diagramatical info....


Dickie

I Love Courtyards

I'm really enjoying this project. I love courtyards. Here's one (and a roof terrace) I designed earlier this year in Richmond. Only made about £400 but it was fun!

Dickie

Sketch Design 4

Slow going on the sketch design front. Just doing some research into the shadows falling into the courtyard at various times of day.

Dickie

Gale in Courtyard 14

I just like the image...

Dickie

Model Making

Model making in "Courtyard 14" today.

One cut from Stanley knife and fingers burnt from glue gun, but some quite nice images produced.

"Mist" effect produced by putting a piece of white card right in front of the camera so that it goes out of focus when the camera focuses on the model.

Still doesn't quite look "sauvage"...

Dickie

Inspired by beaver country

I saw an article on the reintroduction of beavers to the uk in the weekend magazines.

Love the image of the dam in the wilderness . Would love to recreate this look within the courtyard.

As moss and lichen grow well on the surrounding roofs it would provide a great groundcover for the area.

Dickie

IMPORTANT NOTICE

Re the photo on my previous post

From a health and safety point of view , please do not check out the 'wild garden' on the roof!!

Dickie

Liberate Me!

Have decided to follow Jamie's advice and have fun and experiment with this one so... big felt tips, no rubbing out and see how it goes!

I'm finding that using bigger pens is liberating in itself!

My key word is 'sauvage', something 'courtyard 14' certainly isn't at present!

Preliminary sketch and some sample thought process details attached.

Off to the travel agent to get some brochures now (I'm not going on holiday, just need some blue skies for my collage!)


Dickie

How the garden was in September

To contrast with my last post and sketch, this was how the garden looked two months ago.

Can't wait for next year!

Dickie

Woodpeckers Everywhere

I didn't realise woodpeckers were so common!

It seems everyone has one on their lawn! I guess coming from London I still get excited when I see or hear one - they must be more commonplace in the country.

Anyway, the green woodpecker is unusual in that it does obtain most of it's food on the ground, leatherjackets and worms in winter, and ants and other insects during the summer.

Pictured here is a not too good perspective of my (undesigned) small London garden


Dickie

Greenwich Park 18th November 2005

Back to Greenwich Park this morning. Finally saw the green woodpecker that had been calling, and heard a great spotted woodpecker from within the deer enclosure.

Three mute swans flew overhead on their way to the Thames, lovely to see them against the cloudless blue sky. Finally, a shot of one of the ancient sweet chestnuts which, according to Tom Turners English Garden Design "may be the oldest surviving forest trees to have been planted within a garden wall"

Birdwatching 17th November 2005

Cold in Greenwich Park. Was hoping that there would be more birdlife around but nothing of interest apart from what looked like fieldfares flying overhead (but too far away to be certain) and a group of goldcrests (Britain's smallest bird), feeding alongside a group of blue tits.

Avery Hill seems such a ecological desert, but whilst up there to collect some books this morning, I heard both green and great spotted woodpeckers. There is a line of lime trees adjacent to the old stable block in the car park area. The trunks are pitted with woodpecker holes and this is a good place to see them.


Dickie

Christmas at Hadlow

Looking forward to going back!

Monday's Session

It was interesting to see all the survey stuff on Monday and to get feedback on the same.

I wonder what Hadlow has in store for us all next week!



Dickie

Trees

I've been trying to distinguish between the different tree shapes - not that easy and quite tricky to get the different colours.

I should be researching for my powerpoint presentation on Monday, but this is much more fun!

Cast of Characters

Have been working on a new population! A whole cast of characters to populate new drawings.
Sketches of people, enhanced on photoshop. Didn't take too long, and hopefully they don't all look the same!

Dickie

Movement in Pictures

Having looked at my sketches from the last design, the thing that strikes me is how static the drawings appear. I've been working on how to try to suggest a sense of movement and atmosphere into them - I guess it helps if you draw something such as a car that you associate with movement!

It also does help using the different line thicknesses, the thicker the line the nearer the object appears to be!

Taking a break

I try to be disciplined workwise, but find the lure of leaving the computer and having a look outside too great......

Here are a couple of images from the garden. Possibly the last Welsh Poppy of the year ( it's been flowering since April) and Euphorbia rigida, spiralling on itself and getting ready to flower in December/January.

Back to work!


Dickie

Duality Garden

Now that I'm back up and running I can comment on Mondays session. I must admit that I find it very difficult to maintain the required attention level in a class of over thirty - I'm afraid that I rather lost the will to live, as well as the ability to talk, by the end of the session!

I missed the point as far as the montaged sketches were concerned. I must get over the belief that the perfect A1 presentation would be devoid of text altogether, and that the clarity of the drawings would be sufficient to get every nuance of the design across! In reviewing the session I think that the light may have finally come on for me. Every one of us sees things in a different way, and so the visuals have to be reinforced both verbally and with clear annotation, in order to drive home the message you are trying to convey to the client.

The photos are of the original model, the key qualities being Rough, Balanced, Solid, the theme of Duality contrasting these with Smooth, Unbalanced and Liquid, the second sketch model, the sequential sketches -the journey through the garden (I WILL ANNOTATE NEXT TIME!) and the final presentation.

Dickie

I'm Back

After a week of not being able to publish my blogs, I think I'm back up and running!

It was the internet browser that was the problem so I've switched to Mozilla Firefox and this seems to have done the trick.

I've become completely addicted to blogging so have been cold turkeying all week!

Dickie