Part 5 Exercise 1: Sketchbook of townscape drawings 

Viewpoint: 

I have chosen to work with the street that i live on. It is a traditional street with many houses either side of the road. The terraced houses are Cotswold stone fronted, each with a plot of garden. The street is filled with many types of people, some elderly, some alone and some with families and children. During this lockdown period, everyone has been home so it has been an emotional insight into how everyone lives: 

I sat at the bottom of this street looking up, following the line of the curb and I began to loosely sketch what I could see. I used the 10cm boxes to capture detail with a 3B pencil. 

I noticed the lines and textures that run along the houses, the differences in shape of the stone. The contrast of the form and tone in the Cotswold stone to the brick work at the sides of the houses I could see. 

I sketched the scene standing up at approximately 2pm. I recorded where the light hit the windows and glass in the doors. The glass appeared almost black in tone where the light didn't catch. 

Each house was filled with life at this time. This is a street I know especially well, I live here. The gardens have been tended too over the last few weeks of lockdown. It is Summer so the gardens have green grass and plump hedges. 

I Cotswold stone wall also follows the street at the front of each garden. I could see where the flowers had grown through the wall and I could see the natural shape of each of the stones. A sense of space and ownership resonates. 

Still standing, I plotted in the linear perspective and tried to follow the line of the buildings. I added with placement of windows and chimney pots. 

I made notes throughout the sketch. 

Reflection: 

Whilst stood at the bottom of this street, it did trigger an emotional response knowing that people here have spent many weeks at home. 

Making notes on the smaller details, the details and lines and textures of the brick work will be useful in taking these notes further. 

The light catching the doors and the window are particularly fascinating as the tones I tried to describe in these sketches were near black alongside bright white light bouncing off the glass. 

Perspective and how I am going to effectively translate the linear perspective of the street feels challenging. I have made notes of the detail of only a small viewpoint of what is a long and continuous street here. Moving forwards, I will need to translate more of the space.