Thursday 17 September 2015

Dalston Eastern Curve Garden

Sheltering from the rain under the Pavillion
We've been back home from Canada for a month now and since then I have largely taken a break from sketching.

Tuesday was my birthday in addition to it being the Battle of Britain Day. Usually I really enjoy my birthday but this year I didn't. I found the whole day to be emotional gruelling and a bit of a slog. This is because the next day, 16 September, was my mum's birthday and she died just over a year ago so I spent the day mourning her absence.

I decided not to spend the day moping around at home and went by bus to visit the Dalston Eastern Curve garden which I have visited before but not for a long time even though it was a rainy old day. This is a thriving community garden that has been formed from on the old Eastern Curve railway line and is a delightful spot to spend a few hours even when it's cold and wet.

I sheltered underneath the Pavillion which was designed and built by a French architectural collective called EXY2T in spring 2010 while I drank tea and ate cake. I took my usual collection of sketchbooks, water soluble pencils and ink pens with me and I chose to concentrate on the view above and I thought I was mostly concentrating on the foliage.

I realised while I was drawing the table that I had got the perspective wrong and this meant I couldn't include all of the table that I could actually see. What I didn't realise until I got home was that the table was dominating the entire composition. I would have preferred to have an equal balance of table and plants but I couldn't see that until I got away from the view. I feel quite critical of this sketch but am glad that I have restarted sketching and hope that my results are more successful when I visit Freightliner's farm in Islington with the Islington Art Society next week.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the table, it draws you into the picture and then you have managed to draw enough lines in the foliage to keep your eye centred and not wander off the edge of the page.

Sorry to that your birthday was not as joyful as normal. I am sure your Mother would have wanted you to have rejoice in her life and celebrate another fruitful year in the making for yourself.

Glad you pushed yourself out as this is a lovely drawing.

Heather James said...

Thanks so much Jacqui.

Amna habiba said...

Thanks for share, i have a blog but i not yet create pict draw for kids. May be you all like this cartoons

Amna habiba said...
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