Change

I think I've come to the conclusion that having a separate blog for this is a bit silly - so in the near future, hopefully this weekend, I will combine it with my general art blog which I've neglected to start using. It's all part of the same thing in reality, anyway.

Will be back with the link soon!

Labels: notes

An Update?

It seems I have been neglecting updating about my progress with the work for Meanwhile Gardens. Partly due to the frustration surrounding the blogger editor. Currently I'm trying Windows Live Writer as a more productive means to updating. So far I am impressed, especially considering this is a free Microsoft product [!].

Progress has been slower than ideal, mainly due to my ongoing sleep issues - but I am reluctant to use this as an excuse of any sort, after all, this is likely going to be a long term thing and I want to find a way around it. Currently I am trying a different coping method, with early positive results. Fingers crossed.

I have done hundreds of drawings and a huge amount of research into the wildlife species, something I'm really enjoying absorbing myself in. So much so I've caught my thoughts turning to telling myself off for not doing any work - oh, it is work! Not sure how I am going to present my masses of drawings here, but I will contemplate this over the weekend.

I haven't been visiting as often as I'd hoped, somehow the weather seems to be lacking on Thursday and Fridays when I'm available to go - and even when they turn out to be decent days, the forecast has long since put me off. Of course I can't blame the weather, the lack of something concrete to show [other than a folder full of drawings] is off putting. Tomorrow I will e-mail and put things right and get back on track communication wise.

My last visit was productive though, it clarified a lot of things, including the practicalities of printing costs and actually installing the signs once printed. My initial research proved to be reasonably priced and we talked about building a 'frame' for the signs, with a perspex protective sheet - I had been concerned with the graffiti. Soon, I hope to have completed one of the signs and have a sample printed.

As for the signs I went into great detail with Phil over how many signs he would like, where he wanted them, what he wanted on  them and their size. Sizes generally A1 or A2 with first thoughts being towards mostly A1, but I wonder if this would overpower the size of the garden?

Here is a quick sketch map of the garden I produced to pencil in the proposed signs:

A - Waterfowl, fish.
B - Pond plants, water insects.
C - Newts & life cycles.
D - Frog Pond.
E - Toad Pond.
F - Passing Waterfowl.
G - Rock Environment.
H - Log Pile - Mini-beasts.
I - Moroccan Gardens, herbs.
J - Composting.
K - Mammals/Birds.
L - Playhut - Simple signage.

The more I work on it the more I realise just how much work is involved with this number of signs. Currently I am working on sign H - the Log Pile and sign C - Newts. I have a method going now so hopefully this will speed up as I go, but I should discuss a priority list - I have a fair idea of what the order might be. I feel as though I've spent the required amount of 'quiet', 'processing' for this project and now it is bringing all I have worked with together to produce first versions of the final boards.

I've been thinking a lot about myself and patterns of work in relation to everything. While getting a second opinion from a psychiatrist today regarding my fatigue, I mentioned that I seem to spend 95% of a project bumbling along with not a huge amount to show, and then 5% at the end actually doing. His response was, "But isn't that what art is like?" I think he is probably right - so maybe I need to relearn how to respond to that first 95% and instead of beating myself up over it actually enjoy it. Perhaps I'd want to stretch that 5% to 10%, to accommodate my usual self-disappointment for not quite achieving as much as I wanted.

Anyway, above is a rough layout, the result of several attempts. The first four attempts were particularly embarrassing, but sending an e-mail to my tutor Mary helped. She suggested I got a photocopier and physically played around with the layout. Why didn't I think of that?! Working at A1, or even A2 scale is so difficult to perceive even on my 20" widescreen monitor with 1680 x 1050 resolution, particularly trying to work out the scale of text - see photograph to the left.

I am considering whether to use coloured backgrounds but I think at this point I need to mock up a few options quickly in Photoshop and then discuss with Phil. Obviously bare in mind that all the illustrations will be finished in colour to the standard of the Woodlouse or Ground Beetle. As opposed to the previous layout attempts that are never going to see publication on the internet [although inevitably I will have to embarrass myself again with them as part of my submission for the uni side of this project], this is fairly similar to the poster example Phil showed me during my last visit. He had mentioned it before in an e-mail, and I thought "I bet it's the Life in Cold Blood one." Which I happen to have up on the wall in the kitchen. It was.

And with that, I'll end this update. I'll hopefully be back with a logical way of presenting the drawings and photographs that have got me to this point.

Labels: Illustrations, Layouts, notes, References

First Visit

Last Tuesday [24/6/2008] was my first actual visit to the garden, after a horrifically long bus journey finding the garden wasn't hard at all. It felt narrower than I expected, resulting in turning back half way through to check I was heading in the right direction [the offices and garden work area are at the opposite end to The Playhut, which is the end I started at].

It wasn't what I expected, although I'm not entirely sure what I expected. New places always feel a little weird to begin with but after chatting with Phil [head gardener] I felt at ease and quite excited - although I'm not sure I'm very good at showing it in person!

A short guided tour let me in on the plans for the gardens, particularly the pond, which is being completely overhauled with the People's Millions grant. The 'stream' connecting the larger pond and the smaller pond has been leaking, and some makeshift dams were in place. Over the next few months this 'stream' is going to be relined and split into two smaller ponds which will have particular 'themes' or purposes. The large pond is currently home to the fish [apparently a heron is a regular there, but I didn't get to see him] and the smaller pond is used by breeding frogs and newts - who are happy to have the fish kept separate. We briefly discussed maybe approaching the theme of food chains, which ties in well with what I was already considering; life cycles.

New viewing platforms are being constructed on both of the existing ponds, mostly fenced around the edge but with an opening for pond-dipping. Various schools use the gardens for learning about the wildlife here, and the focus is to make it an even better resource [junior school and secondary school ages]. The major areas that information boards will be concentrated at are these two viewing platforms, but also along a short 'trail' around the side of the gardens. There is a huge amount of potential work for me to undertake, but the main concentration will be the wildlife in and around the pond area.

Within the Play Hut area, which is an outdoor play area for under 6s, there are hands on growing activities for the children, so if any visual information was to be used there it would be more to do with fruits. A smaller area [as I will indicate on the map in a separate post] adjacent to the play hut may possibly be joined up, to create a wildlife trail for the younger children, most probably focusing on creepy crawlies - but this hasn't been confirmed.

Volunteering work happens Monday - Wednesday, so the best time for me to visit to do on-site observational drawing will be Thursday's and Friday's. Also, if I work on the play hut area further down the line, it may be useful to visit the hands on growing session on a Friday [2-5pm] to see what the kids are interested in and get out of it.

My initial feeling about the project is that the garden will undergo quite a transformation, so I've come into this at quite an interesting point. Phil is going to send me a list of the key things he thinks should be covered by the signage, and in the meantime I am going to make some initial enquiries as to the cost of implementing any signage I create.I am also keen on looking into existing public art so that I can make informed decisions, I want my work to be successful in its functionality as well as its aesthetics.

Labels: notes, photographs