I have created a huge double A1 of sequential sketches. Unfortunately, the resolution is not great on this upload. They are all annotated in real life.

Top tips for Students with Childcare issues!

If any year 1 or 2 students are reading this - especially the ones with a family to look after.

Please get buckets of childcare, cleaners, support etc. in place in advance of the last month of the

course. My children are pretty self sufficient at 10 and 12, however, they have had no homework help for the past few months. My husband is a very busy man and if I have to use him too much, our whole stability will go out of the window. He is taking a week off, half term week from the 31st May so I am free to be in and out of Hadlow.

If your children are over the age of 9 or 10, teach them to cook. My 12 year old can create pasta dishes, chocolate cake, pizza from scratch and fantastic Nigella inspired steaks. Don't tell the authorities that she is running my kitchen! I also changed our saved Tesco vouchers into £200 of Pizza Express and Strada vouchers so that everyone can go out and eat at weekends - except for me. I just grab a sandwich!

Been up since four. Could not get back to sleep. Last few weeks on about 5-6 hours per night. Why does this production take so long? I worked out that I can hand finish/render an A1 in 6 hours. I have at least 8 to do. 48 hours solid work does not seem too bad for the next 2 weeks.
However, it's all the other planting plans and construction drawings that need to be completed too.
I now have 3 completed A1 sheets for my exhibition with 13 to go. I expect to have another 3 completed by the end of the weekend. There are some new drawings that Jamie has requested for the exhibition, (Axios etc), so I had better get started.
I made the mistake of looking at Paul Hadley's website - whoops - Mine is soo.....basic but I handed something in so should get a pass. I would love to aspire to more things, however, I am the lady who had never touched photoshop until the first year so I think David Watson sees me as a success story. Ask Ralley, I did not know what to do with a memory stick in my first week! My IT skills are now off the scale in comparison, although I think I had better spend next year doing some top-up IT courses before I look for a proper job.

So glad I got lucky number 7 in the exhibition hall.

My own garden is looking

pretty fab at the moment.

Designed and planted by me in Spring 2006. Actually designed on scrappy paper, before I had even dreamed of Landscape Degree.

I put these on, because it takes so long for my drawings to upload and at least you can see a finished design here. We opened to the public last June and helped raise £1500 for the local hospice. I'll have another go at uploading my drawings soon, but I am not having an open day this year.

Night Time - Bed Time

These pictures make me feel very sleepy. I hope the prospective client can stay up later than me to enjoy it.

Things can only get better!

Am I showing my age with the Labour Party Anthem of 1997? I was on the cusp of retiring from my first career and Sam and Flick were probably about 8 or 9 then! And just how clever are they now? I am giving myself a day off tomorrow because I have not had a single day without homework for weeks. However, this does not mean that my brain stops. Sure Whitney understands this.

Quick Sketches

Computer has crashed!

Let me see what I can get in before the next load?

Hand drawing

Great chat with The two J's, (Tutors),on Friday. I need to get back to basics, but also need to get my IT annotation sorted. Bought Adobe CS pack last week and doing OK, so I can sort out In-design presentation for my next project. But. the important thing for me is to go back to the original drawing skills and not to try to be to clever with the technical skills - I don't need to. No more photoshop bucket fill. I shall render everything my hand. I also think that I shall be buying some very high quality paper for A1 studio prints. Repeat the mantra - I can draw, I can draw!

I went back to my old portfolios and took out my very first drawings from 2007, and then the ones from last year's planting design. I think I lost my way because everyone was being so technical, but as long as I have the computer stuff in my skills set too, I hope that I will not go too wrong.

These pictures are very fuzzy - my home scanner is rubbish, but I need to do this to keep me inspired.

Master Planning is over!

A few sequential sketches,(the real ones are annotated), and one section. And I passed. Whitney and I agreed that finishing masterplanning was a bit like giving birth- but longer and more painful! The benefits are that my Husband has learned to cook very well and the children are self sufficient, so I have become reduntant as a wife and mother.

Too tired now to upload the proper plan. It is on my hard drive. My Seagate is now more important to me than my mobile, my car and my house keys. We are joined at the hip and sometimes I feel that I should lock it in the safe.

Anyway, I have just had a pretty chilled couple of days before the next stage starts on Friday.

Also, the black statue people are awful, so I need to experiment with other human scale. I find people so hard.

Not Another White Out Day

Thought I had better write while I am waiting for my image to upload. It's Wednesday today and my daughter has only managed to get to school for one day in over a week, (Son not much better, but Husband is reasonable!). Welcome to Snowy Knockholt - the highest village in Kent and don't we know it. If this weather carries on over the next few years, I shall use my landscaping skills to create a small piste! We have plenty of great tobagganing hills so I just need to buy some land and build a ski lift.

The problem with all this snow, is getting out to have drawings scanned, so I can annotate and render them. I had some scanned at the local printers yesterday but then could not open them on my pc. I awoke today to visit Phil for a huge technology session at Avery Hill - then got snowed in again. Served me right for doing my History and Philosophy first!

The first 2 images are very draft sequential sketches. The 3rd is a very blurred master plan drawing. It doesn't look this bad on my screen. Better get Phil to sort it so I can annotate.

Because I have not been out to find an A1 Scanner

Been a Short While

Christmas is great, until you get fed up with it. Snow is really great, until you get fed up with it! Tinkywinks are off school and under my feet and demanding tobagganing trips, but the snowy hills look beautiful and the exercise is good for me. We dug the sturdy car out today, so Husband managed to get to the office, but I am pretty house bound. The good thing, is that the written documents are done. The bad thing is that I have not been anywhere near an A1 scanner yet, so have a bit of a catch up before the term starts next week.