Aargh!! So busy!

I keep meaning to write this but always get sidetracked with more work!
Have just finished the Website design. Would have liked a bit more time to do it, but the result is reasonable. It can be amended and added to as I get some work experience. I must remember to take before and after photos.
Really busy with the detailed area now. Have got some good information about bridges and am going to tackle the technical drawings tomorrow. Also going to Errol to get some of the work printed out to save us a bit of time next week.
I've produced a site context sheet, a site analysis sheet, and hard and soft landscape stragegys. That will at least put my design in context. Am trying to work out how to display on the wall so it looks reasonable. There are so many bits to collate for this. I need to write yet another list. I reckon it'll take me at least a day to get it all together.
Also have to do the model. Hope I can make a better job of it than the last one!
Oh well, back to the grindstone.

Crit tomorrow

Thankfully, have just finished my last page. Have had two colds in 2 weeks, this last one making me ill with bad sinuses and a hacking cough! Not very helpful when you're trying to do tricky stuff with a model. Am not too happy with my work this time round. I've got it all done, I hope, but I wanted to be able to correct what I'd done and improve the quality. I know my sections are terrible! The scanner and printer at Avery Hill give images the strangest colours. Still, I know what's bad, and hope that the tutors understand. Being ill really mucks things up. Anyway, hope to be able to talk enough to get through tomorrow without coughing too much!

Work in progress

We are no on Easter Holidays, but not much of a break from work! A few of us are still meeting at College on Mondays to go through what we are doing, scanning work so far, and printing out our work. It works very well as we can give each other help on the technical aspects of Photoshop. We can also crit each other. When you are working intensely on something it really helps if someone else can give you an objective opinion.
My sequential sketches are coming on quite well. Got some good feedback today so can just tweak them and that's a tick in the box. Printed off the plan today so will spend this week rendering. Printed two copies, just in case I muck one up!
Planting plan is nearly finished, which is great. I need to get to grips with the drainage which may take some time. I need to think about it a bit first. Lighting should be ok as I know what I want to achieve, I just need to get it down on paper.
All coming on quite well, just hope I've got enough time to complete it all!!

Holidays - but still working!

We're on our Easter break now, time has flown this term.
Plenty to do to keep us busy working on the 1:200 plans and sequentials. I've written a long 'to do' list with the amount of time each item will take me. Looks like I can fit it in ok with a day or so spare which is good - I can build the website for Advanced Representation on thosse days. No break for me then!!
Still, I'm glad I did the bulk of the work during term. Got lots of good feedback from Julia and Jamie on Monday, so although my work was rough, I do now know where I'm going with it and what I need to do to get it up to standard. Hope I can manage it ok.
Off to college today with a few others to have a photoshop session with Kris. will also print out my plan so I can render it. Better make a couple of copies in case of errors!
Back soon

Getting more detail

Working very hard now towards our crit on monday. We have our 1:200 area mapped out and have been working to get the detail correct. It's amazing how much blank space seems to appear when you go from 1:5oo to 1:200!
Have spent ages working out how to plant the orchard area. Hope I've finally got it right. Really interesting researching the local heritage varieties still available. Decided to have varieties developed before 1950. That was relatively easy for apples as there seem to be lots still available. However I really struggled with the pears. Have put in one heritage variety but the rest are recent introductions. Will do some more research to try to find others; will have to see how we go.
Spent two days on Photoshop producing the sequential images. Much easier for me than drawing. Apparently I have an elevated perspective when I draw so it all looks a bit odd! Much easier in photoshop using the scale of people as a guideline.
Sections are finally beginning to look a bit better. Will print out loads today, which I know won't be perfect, but will do for the crit. I need to work out how to draw lines in Illustrator!
I think on Monday we'll get our 1:50 areas to detail so that should be another challenge!

It's snowing!

Well, lots has happened since the last post.
We've had our masterplan completed for Calverley Grounds, and decided which option to go for. I've decided that the Ecological plan, with the natural swimming ponds, will be my choice. Have read Michael Littlewood's book on swimming pools which was very interesting.
We are now looking at a smaller area at 1:200 scale. You suddenly realise there's an awful lot of gaps! Having to do lots of thinking to fill the space and decide on how to compose the area of trees. At the moment I've got several ideas and am playing around on tracing paper, but nothing definite yet.
Didn't get to college today because of the weather but at least it gave us some more time to work on the sections. We've also got to compose a vision statement and a brief, which is quite tricky. think that will keep me busy for some time. Thank goodness we don't have to go to college any more this week as the weather forecast is bad. Think our visit on Thursday to Sutcliffe Park will be cancelled as all we'll see is snow!

Working on the masterplan

Such a busy month. We are all working on the Masterplan for Calverley Grounds. I have managed to scan my rendered plan and add text in Adobe Illustrator and am reasonably pleased with the results.
It all takes far more time that anticipated. I am now working on the masterplan document and that's coming on ok. It will be an all out effort this week as the document needs to be bound on Friday to be ready to hand in on Monday. The final design I've chosen is using the word Ecological and I have a vision in my head. Lets hope i can get that across on paper competently.
The Professional Studies course last week has thrown two more projects at us which will add to the workload.
I hope that the next post enables me to say that everything has been handed in ok!

Visit to Calverley Grounds

We presented our findings to Jamie and Julia on Monday morning, very nerve-wracking! I'm glad it's over with and we all got through it ok.

We had another visit to Calverley on Monday afternoon. the weather was chilly, and you can really feel the microclimate there. It really catches the wind, which may prove challenging for more tender plants.

Got more of a feeling for the atmosphere. Being there at twilight really gave a new dimension to the place, and there's no lighting!! We surveyed the park in a bit more detail. WE split into groups and did an area each. Will pool our info on thursday. There are quite a few areas where nothing seems to be happening. There's no reason to walk through the space. The hills and slopes offer lots of potential. I'm beginning to get a bit inspired about it!
Will spend the week thinking about what I want to achieve from the space and trying to get some coherent thoughts together. Getting some inspiration from magazines and books too.
Looking forward to getting started!

Calverley project

Well, things are getting along nicely towards our document and presentation. It's interesting to read the demographics for the area, but harder to try to analyse them. You kind of know it in your head but it's harder to write it down.
Doing some drawing with ink pencils, which work like watercolour pencils, but seem easier to use. Have added ink to a drawing and am quite pleased with the result. Need to work on it some more to refine the style and add shadow effectively. Lots of practice required, I think!
Really enjoyed Jamies lesson on Monday. Ended up with a kitsch dancing garden!! Had lots of potential to make a really lively fun space. Gardens should be fun!!

The Interesting People you happen to meet

Last Saturday we had a day out in Folkstone. Not my usual choice for the seaside, but we went to find a shop called Rennies. Their internet site said they had books on Eric Ravilious and I thought I'd have a look at them before buying.

The shop was fascinating! Lots of vintage goodies, including books and posters. I was looking thru their shelf of new books and the man behind the desk asked if I was looking for anything in particular. We got talking about my interests, (all things vintage/retro and currently all things Ravilious). I mentioned I was doing a degree in Garden Design and he casually said 'I'll give you a CD of an article I've just had published called 'The Illustrated Garden'. I also ended up buying a book on the 1951 Festival of Britain which looked a good read.
When I got home I looked at the book's author, Paul Rennie. I printed the article, also by Paul Rennie, so I googled him. He's Dr Paul Rennie and Head of Graphic Design at St Martins, London, and writes and gives talks on design and illustration from the 30s onwards. I wish I'd known at the time! I'll try to find our where he's speaking and get along to one of his lectures.

Anyway back to the Calverley Grounds plan we're doing at school. We had an interesting task on Monday; a sketch design in 1.5 hours. I quite like having to think fast like that, I don't find it too difficult. What was obvious when we all pinned up was that I was thinking in too much detail to begin with. I also need to make my colours and graphics stronger and less fiddly. What I drew was lost on a large wall. Still, that's how you learn so it was a great exercise. I think I'll investigate drawing in a more blocky, abstract way and see if that gets my ideas across clearly.

I also got a book out of our local library with an old 1950's photo of Calverley grounds, that should be useful for our study document. I'll take it in tomorrow and Felix can decide if he wants to use it. Next week's job is to do some more research on Tonbridge and Calverley in particular.

A whole new world

Well, this is fun! I can't quite believe I've joined the 21st centuary and am writing a blog.


It's cheating a bit because I have been requested to do this. Let me explain. As part of my Degree course, we have been asked to write a weekly blog. It should talk about our Masterplanning unit, show pictures, and describe what we are doing design-wise.

So this week we visited the park that we are studying, Calverley Park in Tonbridge Wells. It's laid out with slopes either side and a valley in between. There were quite a few people using the space, on a Monday afternoon, which was surprising. I wouldn't have thought anyone would have been interested in drinking tea outside, or playing croquet but several were. Perhaps they were escaping from someone or something?! Anyway this week we need to research some local history and find out a bit more about the area.


Last week we were asked to find some favourite designers. How difficult! In the process I've just discovered more fascinating people to investigate. For example, I was reading an article about a textile designer in Norfolk who takes inspiration from Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden. I googled them and have discovered that I really like Ravilious. I now want to go off on a tangent and find out more about him. Still, I suppose I can just about get away with that, not exactly garden design, but design in general.


Enough rambling, I need to keep this a bit more focussed! More info and pictures next week. I think I may enjoy this, releasing my inner author!