Final exhibition

Monday's final final final pinup...won't lie, I'm really pissed off there wasn't more to show and that what is there is partially unfinished (no annotation on 1:200 - argh!). Pleased the bright colours show up though, and I really think that dramatic beam of light is adding something to the whole display - so glad I brought it, it was hard to fit in the car!

And...the horror of my workspace. In my defence, it is pretty small!

Today - presentations. Please don't go blank, mind!

another tick on the list (almost!)

Done but for section lines and pointy sticks. Yes, it still looks solid rather than light and lively, but no turning back now!

Proceed without caution

At last, a finished sheet. It's a miracle! Plenty of errors, but that's it now. No analysis from me today even if this is supposed to be a reflective blog. Giving up thinking until lent. The hamster's fallen out of its wheel.

Tokachi Millennium Forest

Now this is planting! (Lovely walkways too.) (Is 'lovely' as bad as 'nice' and 'like' I wonder?!)
Another for the 'one day I'll visit...' list.

 

Massive planting plan dissatisfaction now - thanks Dan Pearson!

Precedent park

Friday's visit to Greenwich Peninsula Ecology Park:

It was a useful and enjoyable trip - so good to go outdoors! - but took the best part of the day which fills me with fear when I think of all the drawings still not done. There are several zones of different habitats (marsh, coppiced willow, Alder carr, summer meadow, shingle beach, shallow pools etc) which makes the most of not a particularly huge site. Even on a gloomy day the Phragmites stands were glowing golden (not so obvious on the pics!) and the wet woodland looked gorgeous and lush, wild but not scruffy like Dickens Park's nature areas. The sky really feels part of the landscape too, as it's mostly quite open and the water reflects its mood right back. Overwhelming impressions were of swaying, rustling and birdsong - there was a lot of loud building work going on nearby but this seemed to fade into the background.

Working on my planting plan now, and I'm sure the visit will help visualise it with more clarity. Quite concerned about the planting by the deck though, which is not wetland - it needs to be really good, and I'm not sure I've got the knowledge. It's mostly bedding at work, and that's really not the same.

I walked back through the Millennium Village central park. It's planted with what I suppose is stylised woodland, which I couldn't make my mind up about. It was eyecatching and the cushiony underplanting with uniform trunks rising out of it looked very effective when I was walking. Standing still and noticing the uber-regularity of the planting gave me the shivers a bit though, a bit too regulated for my taste. Not many people around so it felt a bit bleak and static, but it wasn't the nicest of days - maybe it's a bit more lively on a sunny weekend.

Final crit

Well, that was an intense day - thank god for Sid's daughter's cookies! Extreme tiredness made things much worse than they needed to be. It was actually a very helpful process, but just felt like too much whilst shaking with sleepiness and sugar.

Here's my wall, rocking the minimalist look. Was embarrassed to have so few, but it's done now. Bemused to discover my patented penguin-flap when speaking is back - thought I'd got rid of that after Marian pointed it out in Historic Garden Conservation but seem to be doing it again without even realising! Presentation brain-freeze still there too, but this did not come as a surprise...
The sheets themselves actually looked better at A1 than on my screen, which is unusual and a bit of a relief. Not massively pleased with them, but you can always do more. Many many things to finish (well, start...). YIKES!

Was great seeing everyone else's projects - they all look surprisingly different and I got something useful from looking at all of them I think. It's really interesting seeing a whole year's work together in one display and how things have moved on from the beginning. Models and bright colours seem to be the way forward. Must get the cardboard and industrial glue out...

Cheer up love, it might never happen

1:50 plan

My 1:50 - clearly unfinished, like everything else. Very disappointed with it - the rendering is horrific and the design is obscured by it. It's taken an unfeasibly long time to make this awful mish-mash of failed experiments and it's just making me sad. Dread to think what it's going to look like printed at A1! Really wish I'd done it by hand - that would have brought its own problems of course, but it would have been quicker at least and I'd have more to put on the wall.

I started the 1:200 first, using a much simpler 'style'. Surely the second one should be an improvement?! I've been trying hard to stay positive, but lack of sleep and stupid dysfunctional brain don't seem to want this. 

1:200 plan

I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone elses lovely walls-full, but can't help being thoroughly ashamed of how little I've got to show for all the hours I've put in. Boo hoo. Tomorrow is another day and all that.

The five stages of final crit work

Well, I've worked through denial, sadness, zombified fear and throwing money at my problems (hello new A3 printer!), and have finally accepted that I was being unrealistic about how far I could catch up. Putting the plan into AutoCAD nearly killed me, although I've now learned a few new tricks - polar array anyone? Part of the problem was skipping bits of the 1:200 to get this far (which I needed to do) - but it seems you can't draw nice accurate plans when you don't really know what half the wiggly pen lines represent! So, decisions + AutoCAD = slow progress. Very sad I won't have a better display on the day. It's a frustrating situation.

But...some fun now! Time to play with some sponge painting before planting plan madness takes over...