You are currently browsing the monthly archive for January, 2009.
I have returned from the CENTS show today and am ready to get back to the swing of things, including a project or two.
More on the show and my thoughts on some of the presenters in my next post.
Most of you probably know the weather played havoc wiht driving in Ohio yesterday, so a bunch of us stayed and last night we had a 4 hour conversation on design principles,
- What are design principles?
- What order you teach design principles?
- Does it even matter if you teach design principles?
- Design principles vs. intuitive design.
- Then the big discussion: what are basic design principles vs. advanced design principles?
On and on it went? It was great . . . and a consensus was never reached.
I’ll be leaving for the CENTS show on Sunday morning, I need to be there by 11:30am.
My stone workshop is SOLD OUT! A full class of 25 eager stone-niks. It should be a lot of fun.
I have not “planned the entire 3 hours, I am leaving some latitude for the students to take me off in any direction they want to go.
If they want to talk boulders and cranes I’ll pull up a job and we’ll go through it.
Water, same thing. I could ramble on and on about water all day, I mean all day.
I do plan to blog live through the entire conference.
My last commitment is the Monday morning lecture, after that it’s a commitment to attend a few events and all, but I’ll play it by ear, and take my time going through the trade show floor.
If you’re going and a reader here, grab me and let me know and tell me more of what you’d like to read about in our profession.
See you in Columbus!
A client asked me to render a redesigned boardwalk area. These are the steps I went through to make that happen.
A Design in Pen and Ink
The above is a simple pen drawingdone fairly quickly, giving the client an opportunity to see what possibilities for the future may hold.
Color Rendering over Image
Above I have kept the color rendering on top of the black and white image so that anyone can see exactly how the proposed layout might look if the conceptual is followed through.
Black&White
Why? Why is that base image in black and white? I believe that contrast of line and the lack of color help my color renderings pop out and fully show themselves.
It’s like the Wizard of Oz, the movie starts in black and white and then . . . POW . . . color, color when it’s time to make an impact . . . when it’s time for a new place, a new beginning . . . a fantasy.
Like my drawings and what possibilities their space holds.
Color Rendering without Labels/Titles
Finally the drawing, scanned alone and with no labels and markers. Without an addition of embellishment-you know little dots, small marks, and slight color bleeds.
If you need something like this let me know.
If you want me to do a workshop let me know.
After all
The rendering tells the story, it offers possibilities, the drawings portend what could be.
In the Wasatch Mtns. outside Salt Lake City
The big snow we are getting today called me to action, grabbing the camera kind of action.
Julie likes to refer to the pot on the left as the flying saucer. Add on the snow and I now believe it looks somewhat alien in appearance.
I’d like to add that the flying saucer brings great visual interest to the landscape in the winter time scene. A simple vertical element reaching up through all that white.
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| From flying saucer |
Great Peril to Myself
So off I went struggling deep into the massive snow, 3.0 ft away from the back door into several inches of snow to get these images for you. It was quite the expedition, but don’t worry I’m okay.
Braving the elements I was able to get several award winning shots of the pots, woodlands, and flora still sticking up through gigantic snowbanks.
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| From pots, pots, and more pots |
To my Left
I forced myself to step out another foot or so and a couple of steps to my left to capture the spirit of the pots as they continued to fill with snow.
In the background are the pots that held tropicals this past season . . . including a very nice banana tree. The red trunk with the large red/green leaves played very well against the aging cedar fence.
I also like how the ‘grape vine‘ on the trellis is capturing snow and creating that scene for us to admire.It’s a small vignette but one that(at a glance) makes it appear that snow is somehow clinging to the fence.
My office window is just to the left of that trellis and it’s a nice view out the window. The fence, the trellis and the woodlands beyond . . . a view that never tires us.
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| From AH_fall landscape 1108 |
The Collage
Finally . . . a stunning collage of what’s happening across the back yard on this winter day as the snow continues and the temperatures drop into single digits, I appreciate the winter view we have created to compliment the woodlands backdrop.
I was absolutely riveted by this perspective for a memorial park for earthquake victims in China’s Northern city of Tangshan the park will be called Tangshan Earthquake Memorial Park.
I can’t say it enough . . . this conceptual really strikes me as something very powerful and thought provoking.
Now this is a wall, this is a thing of beauty, this is real, real stone . . . not some concrete product from a mold.
Now that's a frakin' wall
Briar Hill
How could anyone in our profession not appreciate this?
How could you not fight tooth and nail to have this installed over some product from the latest line of concrete you had just seen at this years trade show?
Facing
It creates character, it creates shadow . . . light, life, movement . . . the stone is dynamic.
Create statements go beyond the mediocre.
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Addendum: More information about Briar Hill stone can be found here.
Ohio sandstone church in Barnesville, Ohio
To carry the theme of the previous post.
Hay Bales in beautiful Tuscarawas County, Ohio
I would say Luc Viatour takes a better picture(bet he’s got a better camera).
I know this, I love the scene of hay bales in a field.
The work of Guy Sargent.
Mt. Etna, Sicily by Guy Sargent 2008
The title of the work is What Lies Beneath: Large Format and Architectural Work.
From the site:
An ongoing long-term project begun in 2006. The photographs shown here are part of a series titled “What lies beneath the surface”. The series examines both landscape architecture and is constantly evolving.
St.Govan's (Chapel), Pembrokeshire by Guy Sargent 2008
Guy Sargent you are the man, and these are completely incredible images.
Going to the site and looking through the exhibited images; a very uplifting experience, images you will admire and be in awe of.
Seeing this work is the fuel that makes me go, I love it. Nature is such an incredible thing and has so many things to tech us . . . if we take the time to look.
St.Mark's Square, Venice by Guy Sargent
Fantastic work Guy, looking forward to seeing more.
In my wishes this is the kind of photographer I’d like to spend time with and lean from.
My hope is to use this site to spread some info about the art and practice of Landscape Design. It is a very misunderstood profession; I do not cut grass like the next door neighbor's cousin who carries 3 mowers and a blower in the back of his truck.
I will also pass along comments on industry happenings, events, etc., and any maybe a few other adventures going on in my world-after all this is "my" blog. Thanks for stopping by and taking a look. Questions? Drop me an e-mail.
rick (at) whisperingcraneinstitute (dot) com
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