Sketch Up lessons

Played with Sketch Up today and had Tamsin Slatter to give us explanations and help. It still keeps doing strange things after a while...my eyes are sort of square now too after 7 hours of drawing ;-)

Homework

After 3 full days of 14 hours each my back hurts and I am longing for fresh air and sunshine!!!

Sketch plan, Section levels, Sketch Up 3D model and mood board...I had arguments with my new printer as well as with Sketch Up, still a pretty good program for free...We will get the crits tomorrow...the red pen is waiting ;-)))

Visit to Knoll Gardens

What a beautiful 4 acre garden in the south of England! It is meant to be one of the nicest gardens to visit in autumn. For RHS- members free...students 4,50.

I became a grass- lover!!! For special events such as Free Plant Club (10% discount for all plant orders, join on www.knollgardens.co.uk), Garden Tours and Masterclasses run by Neil Lucas, the UK leading authority on grasses...also Masterclasses for professional garden designers!

That was last sunday, the reason why I am late is that I was stuck with LOTS of homework, I did not think it would be that hard to go back to school...still not finished, more tomorrow...

Best Autumn Gardens in England

Sheffield Park Garden www.nationaltrust.org.uk
Hergest Croft www.hergest.co.uk
RHS Garden Wisley www.rhs.co.uk
Exbury Gardens www.exbury.co.uk
Knoll Gardens www.knollgardens.co.uk
Winkworth Arboretum www.nationaltrust.org.uk
The Sir Harold Hillier Gardens and Arboretum www.hilliergardens.org.uk
The Savill Garden www.theroyallandscape.co.uk
Castle Howard www.castlehoward.co.uk
The National Arboretum, Westonbirt www.forestry.gov.uk/westonbirt

First Client

Oh my god, three weeks at uni and got the first client already... It is a quite small plot of a town house garden we have to re-design so we ended up in measuring the garden which seemed to be a little chaotic with 16 students and 3 tutors running around...
Correct TRIANGULATION is the secret!
Went to Angel and Greyhound pub afterwards for weekly get-together.
Will look for some safety boots in pink as this was the main issue in class today...ah, and not to forget the hard hat and high-vis jacket ;-)))

Greystone

Went to Greystone for Picasa lecture today to find out that my computer misses some RAM ...

Took some more shots for the Plant Portfolio - Greystone's Garden is SO BEAUTIFUL!!!

Riding home by bike in pouring rain ;-((( and finished my first garden (design homework), will get the crits the day after tomorrow...cheers!

The Evolution of modern landscape

Had a big lecture today on the evolution on modern landscape.The funniest answer of the first tutors question "What are gardens for?" was "putting the washing out" ;-)))  For some people that might be actually it!
Then we went from the stone circles in Stonehenge and Callanish (that one is VERY nice- Isle of Lewis! been there...) to Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia and back to Europe. I liked the Gardens of Villa d'Este and Villa Lante in Italy - like paradise.
All those pictures around the world - I was waiting to see a garden in Germany ( wanted to be proud...), finally there was ONE example - and that one I did not know ;-/ (Heidelberg?!) We can definitly do better than that!

Got familiar with names like William Kent, Charles Bridgeman, 'Capability' Brown - they have been the leading english garden designers. They designed Stowe, Chiswick, Rousham, Blenheim...
Oh ha, lots of things to read and lots of things to learn...

The evening class was very relaxing and enjoyable - drawing exercise... got first impressions on final exsams and 3rd semester homework...oh my god. A LOT.