Streetscapes
The sun has graced us this week in the Pacific Northwest but the temps are a little cooler and the days feel much shorter suddenly! The plants are slowing down, dry and turning to beautiful browns and beiges. I love autumn - especially before the rain comes! What is autumn like in your neighborhood?
Do you feel a bit nostalgic in this season? I do. So it feels right to share with you some new work that draws upon my past work. Perhaps you know I'm trained as an architect. I call myself a “recovering architect” - ha! - as I use those skills of sensory drawing and analysis to interpret and manifest Places in my maps and landscapes today.
So, these “Streetscapes” may not be a surprise. I drew them mostly before I had kids (and greater capacity for focus and precision.) They're places I knew or visited, some by commission. I've drawn about 40 of these architectural elevations of an entire city block - using a parallel bar and triangle to get the guide lines right in pencil, then drawing freehand in pen the doors, windows, roofs and porches. I love seeing streetscapes from different places side by side and noting the architectural vernacular (the “language” of building forms and proportions and materials.)
Do you see any familiar Places? They're now paired with my hand-drawn maps (location of the block marked) and a sweet terracotta arch form color block to tie them together - my fav color!
Ready to collect - whether you know the Place or dig the architectural style: Washington DC, Brooklyn, New Orleans, Savannah, Charleston, Staunton, Leesburg, Philadelphia, Front Royal, London, Alexandria, Frederick, Portland OR.
As it goes, often, I am currently drawing new Streetscapes of Charleston for the architecture firm I worked with in Savannah - while I was drawing these streetscapes! Here's this week's progress - below. And now I am off to get an eye exam because this drawing has made me realize my eyesight has changed quite a bit in the last few years and I have got to take care of my eyes! New glasses soon - uhhh is it time for bifocals?!?
