What I have been doing since my last blog...

 

 

 

 



Although nothing uploaded on here, I have been working on my projects, albeit slow progress as I am not a whizz with the computer and my sketching skills need much more practice, I am hoping that I can achieve something to be proud of.

 

Sketch book ideas for naming my site....

and the content, what should be present in the park? After a lot of document reading about The London Plan, green infrastructure, green urban spaces, Bankside Open Spaces Trust, London Green Grid , GreenBay Urban tree canopy and more, I have come to the conclusion: 

Definitely trees..lots of trees.... to go hand in hand with the Bankside 'Urban Forest' project and the 'RE-LEAF' plan for London. Green walls, green roof, community gardening and community space/centre, water of some kind, a place to sit, a place to eat and a space for walking and cycling through. Crossbones must have (in my mind) a memorial of some kind for the Winchester Geese. (Ladies of the night who were buried in an unconsecrated grave on the Crossbones site, and later, paupers of the area.)

Ribbons for the dead tied to a gate at Crossbones and the green wall along the North Boundary of the site.

My Winchester Geese!

Some drawing practice for the sequential sketching....these are not pictures of my site...

This was a thumbnail quick sketch of Crossbones site looking towards the Shard, again...not actually what I intend, just a practice.

 

Now I must get on with the real pics for my sites...Mint Street is proving more tricky but hey ho, same for everyone.



Finally uploaded Metis.... phew

Painting day

 

 

Went on my painting day yesterday and Jack (the teacher) said we were doing transcripts...No idea what he meant...we had to pick a postcard randomly from a selection which we couldn't see. Then copy the picture using a large stick of graphite.

 

 

This was my first attempt, I think the painting was called 'In search of shelter' although I can't remember the artist.

 

 

 

 

I then did some backgrounds for my Metis competition as I want to be able to do the elevations by hand instead of completely all on computer. This is going to be my base I think, water colour blocks of colour, I will see how it works in photoshop.

 

 

 

Lastly I had a few minutes and really wanted to show a bit more for the mini exhibition we do at the end of the day, so I found another postcard and copied it on A3 with stick and ink. I did this in 2 minutes. It is obvious who painted the original so I won't insult intelligence, but my version was praised at the pin up. :)



sketch up task 5 not finished

 

Started my sketch up task 5...became carried away...need to go back to the wire frame and stick in photoshop...looks crap but I have zero time this week. Deadlines fo Monday and Ofsted are coming to work next week...all hit zee fan...sos task 5 you will have to suffer.

 

 

This weeks events...

 

Meeting James Wong at his talk, Canterbury Cathedral Lodge

 

 

Before....

 

And after...night night tree ferns, all wrapped up and ready for winter.

Daddy, mummy and baby fern...oh and their friend the Chusan palm.

Task 4 bucket filling with own patterns

 

I liked the task this week, I will need to do more patterns to add to the bank. Here is my result for now:

 

This is my bucket filling for task 4.

Layouts, layabouts...or even layer bouts

 

This is a simple but effective design above, evokes the emotion of  making you cry by 'getting the wrong colour...' the graphic is representative and cleverly positioned between the sentence. The text is neatly shaped at the bottom, not too much of it to bore. The logo is obvious and clear but subtle, not over powering. The deep blue back ground with the darker edges draw you eye easily to the text and the graphic which is very well lit showing it's depth.

I think this is an excellent example of design in advertising.

 

 

Zoffany

Below is an interesting picture with a centralised design layout, colours were vivid on the page and eye catching in the magazine. Company name is clear with no unnecessary text on the page.

Kimono Blossom
The colours and the text down the side have created a sense of the style that the company want to portray, I sense an antique, flowery style with a modern injection. 

 

 

 Simple page layout with a clear title and text aligned in a way to read easily and the colours of the pictures are picked out with the page numbers. A good contrast with the pictures and the blue surround although this does not look like a back ground to me, more like windows into the gardens show. I hope this was the effect they were trying to achieve else my critical eye hasn't started developing at all yet!

 

 

 

Task today, re-done...more dynamic?

New improved task for today.

I think the pictures look more together now,

the lettering is a better colour and blends with the developed dynamic composition.  

 

 

 

 

Task 3 done for today...weird white space...no title...lettering too pale..

Not very dynamic I see now.

Studio work

Paper pattern/shape/exercises

'dynamic and calm' 

Photoshopping

Play space

Chelsea walk through

Meditation pod

http://www.landscapethejournal.org/High-Concept-Su13

Landscape Journal

Landscape Journal

Humpf

It is 2pm and I haven't done a thing...except read briefs (not the knickers kind). I think today I have gone in to what you might call 'brain frazzle'. I am not even sure where to start.....Garden History, Metis Competition entry CV or drawings?

Dog wants a walk...maybe that's a good idea as I have been sitting here since 11am and only started a headache...on the positive side: Yesterday was  a lovely sunny day, as is today, we walked around London to see some interesting open spaces, functional and not so functional, well designed and not so well designed. All in all, twas a good day for me as my presentation on Small Domestic Ancient Roman Gardens went well, including my outfit as (apparently) The Vestal Virgin!

These are my photo shopped pictures that I have started for the Metis Comp, lots to work on but I had fun experimenting with PS an will continue to improve techniques so that I can create an A3 design for my entry.

Plan view with planting positions

 

The white stick things in the middle represent a person and child in scale. I need to work on the colour combinations but as a first attempt I am very pleased with the shape of Alliums.

Creativty score

Just done the creativity test, scored 78.34.

www.testmycreativity.com

Pompeii and the domestic garden | GardenVisit.com, the garden landscape guide

Pompeii and the domestic garden | GardenVisit.com, the garden landscape guide

60

Uni
Into the second week of Uni and the homework is mounting up. :(

This blog will now become part of my mark so I will be posting my work for comments. I will try and reflect on the work myself, though ever critical so won't have to try too hard!

I have only turned  60 degrees so far from the summer of fun, festivals, friends and frivolities. I am still cleaning the house, cooking dinner, walking the dog, checking the children's homework and even went out Friday and Saturday night. It will all change, once again I will be trying to fit 400 degrees into a circle. I can tell it's already happening because I just turned down an invite for a shopping trip to Bluewater with 3 girlfriends next Sunday...told them "I had too much homework!"

Researching gardens of Pompeii at the moment for a PPP. It is fascinating how well the city was preserved if you've never seen it in detail before, I shall try and post my presentation for you to view.

 

Working on a competition entry, I have made a sketch model which needs development but following yesterdays' crit I have some ideas for improvements. I will be developing the ideas on sketch up and trying out photoshop as I know how I want the garden too look. This need translation onto paper....and better time management this week....

 

 

Sketch model for competition entry, 1st initial ideas

Work
Teaching tomorrow and Thursday, need to complete a scheme of work up to Christmas so won't be doing and Uni work for those two days.

Uni work from last year with reflection:

I have work from last year to post as part of this process:

 

 

Client and Process

 

 

 

 

Reflection:

• Too much purple
• Planting too Basic-ran out of time to add any more plants to Sketch-up model, did not fully show what I had in mind.
• Structure too big, chunky and not elegant enough
• Struggled with drawing up from initial designs which awfully rendered. Need/needed help with rendering.

• The scheme of plants were a good combination of colour, form and texture
• Materials strategy was exactly what I had in mind for the site and client requirements 
• Perspective views worked well, demonstrating the ambience of the garden I had envisaged



Will try and upload a couple of videos from Digital Landscapes hand-ins from last year later, Blog is telling me there are errors when up loading...will need investigate...

 

Must get on with the Ppp on 'Small Domestic Gardens of Ancient Rome' now.....

(notched up to 80 degrees in the last few hours, not even had 1 cup of tea!)

And so forth.....

 .......into the new academic year, fourth and final year of my part time BA in Garden Design... have I spent the summer, much like my unripe tomatoes, procrastinating...

So as I think of too much green tomato chutney, I recall courgettes that overwhelmed the vegetable patch this summer, day after day......what I didn't do with those courgettes! I should write a recipe book...grilled, steamed, stir fried, roasted, thrown in spag bol, chilli, casseroles, soup, fritters...even Lily dog was eating them.



At Chelsea this year I met James Wong promoting his 'Home Grown Revolution'.  I was given some cucamelon seeds by his marketing campaigners, these inspired me to check out his website and buy some more unusual plants to grow and eat. I have ripe popcorn 'Fiesta' which look amazing, I can't wait to eat them. The tomatillos, Inca berries and cucamelon are still to ripen, fingers crossed, a few more days and I shall be trying weird and wonderful delights from my garden. I also grew the 'electric daisies', described as an 'electric shock on your tongue'; believe me, this is an accurate description, it is an amazing sensation, not recommended for those with a sensitive disposition but hilarious on a salad with friends tucking in (if you have a wicked side!).

Anyway, I noticed James is coming to my city in November to give a talk... front row for me please! 



Popcorn 'Fiesta', electric daisies, cucamelons
and the last courgette.
 

Now, in the front garden, what we call the 'hairy bush' (Viburnum lantana) needs a hair cut... and the Lavender needs cutting back, sadly it is so large now I think my wonderful hedge will need ripping out next year, for this year though, we can enjoy using the lavender for scented bags (the students that I teach in Supported Learning will love that :\? ) well...my mum will anyway!!! Time is running out for these jobs, Monday 23rd September is edging ever nearer....

 My prized possession tree ferns (Dicksonia antartica) will need wrapping up in their bubble wrap (picture to follow in October) before the weather turns. "They look like massive condoms" my female elderly neighbour informed me! She looks out of her bedroom window to the stars and says goodnight to her late husband (he's not late back from the pub, I hasten to add) but my condoms and twinkling solar fairy lights distract her gaze from the sky to my garden, which apparently makes her chuckle! I didn't realise that my garden was a so amusing in the comedic sense.

Back to the procrastinating...I am sure lots of us are good at that..? It's not good...we should learn to stop it!

Monday 23rd September starts the final year of my degree, one day per week, at 9am an hour drive to Avery Hill campus (part of Greenwich University), nine hours of lectures/workshops and an hour drive home arriving at 10pm. I have managed 3 years already, a job of teaching horticulture two days a week and a family too. "Why?" you might ask... Achievement at degree level, a high level of competence in understanding Horticulture and Garden Design means opportunities to earn a living in a field that is enjoyable and that makes a difference (sounds a bit pretentious but I am sincere). I am clearly not alone with these ambitions, as I have met so many people who want to change their careers, become 'self sufficient', rent an allotment, own chickens or 'grow their own'. You may know someone or be trying it yourself....we are everywhere, infiltrating every walk of life....I will finish this degree and I am determined for it to make a difference to my life.

Positivity and encouragement most welcome at this point, thank you. ;)

It is an exciting time for gardening; I am enthused every day by the snowball of encouragement to 'grow' from many different organisations. With gardening on the National Curriculum for 2014, children will understand how important plants are to life. It is an interesting scenario when students of 16 + who cannot understand why we need plants! It is my job to explain it and every time I do, I realise how important it is to encourage and inspire the next generation into growing plants. The project we have this term is to grow herbs for the college canteen, the students will observe the magic of plants grown to eat. They will grow them from seed, research their chosen herb, taste and smell different herbs, take them home and maybe...I hope, will grow more of their own.

I always thought gardening was the boring thing that my granddad did in the smelly greenhouse, digging the scruffy vegetable patch and tending his immaculate rectangle of grass. I cannot imagine what he would say if he knew that 30 years later his granddaughter teaches gardening to students with special educational needs, is completing a degree in Garden Design, attends Hampton Court and Chelsea flower shows every year, was runner up in a TV amateur gardening show, grows her own fruit and vegetables and actually intends on continuing a career in Horticulture, whatever form that may be. I hope he would congratulate me, tell me to go and meet all those like-minded people, be successful, make friends along the way, do something worthwhile and conquer the world...well maybe not the last bit!

 And so forth I go, on my journey with any of you who would like to join me. Anyone who loves plants, loves gardening, loves growing and eating your own produce, loves wild life and the out doors. If you would like to hear about the trials and tribulations of the Flowery Friends (friends on my BA), or just read about how I manage the next nine months...it really will be like having a baby, with a prize at the end for that final push and everything!! 

My next post will probably not be for a while, I will be studying hard, drawing lots and refusing to let that pesky procrastinating gremlin bother me, if you see it...or feel it...you tell it I'm busy with the bubble wrap!

 

James Wong's website:

http://www.jameswong.co.uk/

RHS shows and ticket information:

http://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events 

Info on BA Garden Design: 

http://www.hadlow.ac.uk/courses/horticulture-landscape-and-design/ba-hons-garden-design
My work department's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/canterburycollegesupportedlearning
The TV amateur gardening show; Turf Wars (presenter Julie Peasgood)
http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/tv-star-is-a-real-earth-mother-1.376285?referrerPath=home/2.1962