Battersea Power Station London

Sunday 11th October  

With new Glue stick in hand I was determined to capture Battersea Power Station so I stopped off at Vauxhall station on my way to Waterloo, and walked along the Thames Path to sketch the Power Station from across the river. When I was in my late teens I used the train line  that passed Battersea Power Station quite a lot and it was always an iconic land mark for me as the train approached London. I thought that drawing with torn Paper was an appropriate medium to capture the regeneration taking place. 

My inspiration for using collage paper and mark making comes from the amazing collages by John Piper. The piece below is Titled the Martello Towers at Hythe 1932 and he used ink, gouache, pencil and collage. I love the naivety and combination of media.

John Piper in 1930s Abstraction on the Beach

Juggling with Paper and glue on a windy day can be quite a challenge. I perched on the wall edge by the railings and being careful not to loose anything else in the river I started to create some patterns and textures on to a variety of papers from observation of the Battersea Power Station to draw/collage with.

Media - variety of papers, brush pen, cool grey and ivory marker pen, digital colour

Silvertown Regeneration Project East London

I had a great opportunity to join some of the London urban sketchers last Saturday  documenting the regeneration of Silvertown, Millennium Mills in East London Docklands. The plan is to transform it into London's New Creative capital . This coincides with a project I am doing as part of my masters in Norwich documenting a deprived area which is supposedly going to be regenerated in the near future.

Sue Pownall, Evelyn Rowland, Lis Watkins, James Hobbs, Julie Bolus,
Isabelle Laliberte, Olha Pryymak and Nathan Brenville

It was a really enjoyable day sketching as a group and seeing everyones unique  responses to the place . We had to wear High Visibility jackets.  The whole place was really dramatic especially with the gusty wind, the dark skies and cumulus clouds setting the scene. I was overcome and daunted  by the fantastic and colossal Millennium Mills built in 1905 lying  abandoned in a post industrial Urban landscape. The roar of the planes overhead  taking off from the nearby London City airport added to the atmosphere. I started off sketching the Grade two listed Grain Silo which was not so intimidating in volume and less windows to deal with!! Here are some of my sketches and photographs from the day.

Millennium Mills - Iconic Wasteland Silvertown

       

   

Grain 'D' Silo - Silvertown