UPDATES 20 / 22 / 23 / 25 July 2011

Long time and no post... I'm afraid I fell well behind on the image a day posts.
Here is an update of the few images I completed prior to visiting the US route 66 over August and September.


20 July 2011
Digital Camera  //  Forest of Dean #1

22 July 2011
Digital Camera  //  Forest of Dean #2

23 July 2011
Digital Camera  //  Forest of Dean #3

25 July 2011 // 1
Mobile Phone Camera  //  LIFT #1

25 July 2011 // 2
Mobile Phone Camera  //  LIFT #2

17 July 11

Getting up to only a month behind in posting the images I've been creating day in and day out... I'll get there soon hopefully as I am going on holiday soon and that will leave a hell of a lot of a back catalogue to scan and post!


This is the final scheme for Hollywell House.  Not presented as such, but shows the bones of the ideas in plan.
The extension has been lost, but the spaces of the original house are much better defined and this seems to work well as a whole.


AutoCAD + Photoshop  //  Hollywell House - The Scheme

16 July 11

THE FORGE Round1


The Forge is an empty site in the same village as my mum and dad's house which has been neglected for quite a few years since the business shut down when the last blacksmith retired.
It is in a prime location next to the village green and overlooking fields to the rear.


I hope to fit three dwellings on the site, and create a scheme I realistically believe might get planning permission in a conservation area.


Pencil + Ink  //  FmOaRrGkE_1

15 July 11

Representation


I tried my hand, here, at representing a building in a few simple lines.  I unfortunately had no time to practice and build up a page of attempts whilst distilling it down, so this is the only version I produced - the first attempt.  It could do with A LOT of development.


Pen  //  RationalisedClassicism

14 July 11

Day Away


At a loss again for what to include I went for the wash-bag rather than the pencil pot.


Pencil  //  easyvision

13 July 11

Hollywell House


This was the next stage on from the extension I showed previously, here it has extended and links to the other rear living room.
This now seems wrong, however the treatment of peripheral spaces was beginning to be right.


AutoCAD + Photoshop  //  Hollywell_Scheme

12 July 11

The simple things


Uninspired and uninteresting but it's all practice, right?


Pencil  //  Pot-o-Lot

11 July 11

Wanderings and watchings


Euston Station, London.
Perhaps the simplest forms of any space.
Bleak it might have appeared at first.
But surely better than the maelstrom which it is now with concessions haphazardly scattered everywhere - not leaving enough space for travellers to actually get through.
What is wrong with the majesty of open space?
Why try to fill it all?


Pen  //  Mad Eyes

10 July 11

Books...


On my way between Euston and Kings Cross I happened to stop for a coffee by the British Library, I had no idea how peaceful it is, even when there's quite a lot of people around.  Perhaps just compared to the noise of Euston Road directly behind the wall where I was sat!


Pen  //  B L L

9 July 11

Hollywell House (again)


This was my initial idea for a rear extension.


AutoCAD + Photshop  //  Hollywell_Scheme001

8 July 11

A happy day out...


Just a shot I took in a graveyard in Brompton, London.


Digital Photo  //  Grave Demeanor 

7 July 11

Going out or staying in?


Had to include this I saw next to Hampstead Heath.
Just shear genius!


Digital photo  //  forks + corks

6 July 11

Drawing up a survey...


This is just a drawn up survey for Hollywell House - nothing fancy here, just an idea of something I did on the 6th of July.


AutoCAD + Photoshop  //  Hollywell_Survey003

5 July 11

Hollywell House - Survey of Rear Yard


An idea to relocate the rear gate to increase the sense of drama on entering the space and open up a space in front of the double doors to the kitchen prompted this survey.


Pencil + Ink  //  Hollywell_Survey002

4 July 11

A D V E R T I S I N G . . .


Seems too late to show this now but just shows how poor I am at adding things to this blog.  On the 4th of July I finally got round to creating and posting up some adverts for architectural services that I can provide.


The aim was to create a small slip of an advert that was quite neutral and slightly classical in appearance.


Photoshop  //  Advert_1

Anyone interested can find my website at www.liamcroft.co.uk or email me at liam.croft@gmail.com

3 July 2011

Lower Dunsforth (despite my note on the picture)


A couple of miles from my parents house in Great Ouseburn is this pretty little village.  There isn't a lot there but this view across a field towards a house beyond caught my eye and I thought that I would give it a go...


Looking back as I post this today, during the riots in London, it makes me think about what most of England really is, nothing like the images being projected around the world.


Pencil  //  Peek-a-boo

Talking of mum and dad's house, they are almost all packed up here and ready to go on their travels around the world.  The house is rented out and their travel blog can be found here: www.itstraveljimbutnotasweknowit.blogspot.com

2 July 2011

Old Church in the old borough


Having been into Boroughbridge yet again, at a loss for what else to do, I stopped off in the pretty much conjoined village of Aldborough - this is the view towards the church as you come in from past Boroughbridge Primary School.


I wish I hadn't darkened in the lines of everything so much as the shadows don't show very strongly now, but overall it was a reasonable effort!


Pencil  //  Oldborough

At this time I was also attempting to get a website glitch free - the temporary version can be seen at www.liamcroft.co.uk
I am in the process of making a more permanent home.

1 July 2011

Another trip to Knaresborough, another quiet corner found to sketch in.
Unfortunately this one is pretty much all plants - well it is Bebra Gardens - and I'm not all that confident drawing them.
Reasonably happy with the outcome considering.


Bebra Gardens, Knaresborough


Pencil  //  Centre-of-nowhere

30 June 11

Hollywell House Alterations


Following earlier posts, this is below the master suite in the L-shaped building.
The living room is dark and can be unwelcoming through the day, however it's usage on an evening and in the winter is okay so no alterations with it's link to the rest of the house wants to be made.


In an effort to introduce some daytime use, it makes sense to me to let in more natural light - although only direct sunlight first thing on a morning - and to promote some interaction with the rest of the property by linking it to the courtyard directly outside the kitchen which is encompassed by the two elements creating the L-shape of the building.
This is achieved by lowering the cills of the two windows which look over the courtyard to such a level that a thick cut of timber can link them and create a usable bench along the wall which benefits from much of the early sun, and also by extending the double doors to the rear of the property (which insufficiently allow access to the garden) round the corner of the building to the courtyard area.
This would require some structural gymnastics to hold up the gable above, which could be achieved elegantly with the V-shaped column as shown in the image below.  The entire corner would be able to be folded back on warm days providing a great opening to the garden beyond.


Fineliner  //  L-V-

29 June 11

Knaresborough Viaduct


Returning to Knaresborough, a couple of minutes sketch of the central viaduct pier.


Pencil + Ink  //  RumbleStrip

28 June 11

Master Suite Hollywell House


With a garden to the rear but poor connections from the house out to it due to the upwards slope from the house, a balcony with access straight out from the master suite seemed an obvious solution.


The other issue is a cramped ensuite and dressing room / wardrobe.  Not wanting to extend the house and taking space from other rooms further into the dwelling not an option, the solution here is to take the entire master suite up to the roof pitch and vertically stack the dressing area and bathroom, creating a stunning, light, open space with a direct link to the outdoors via the new bifolding doors and balcony, as well as the new ridge sky lights.


Pencil  //  SweetSuite

27 June 11

After too long a wait I am finally getting round to updating the blog for the past month.
I knew I wouldn't be keeping up with the post of the images!


Measurements for house extension to Hollywell House


Pencil  //  Dims

26 June 11

Collection of objects on around in a garden table.


Pencil // Garden Glow

25 June 11

I went to Knaresborough to borrow some library books and, as always, was struck by how gorgeous it is.


Here it was the sweep of the road terminated by the railway at the bottom and the blanking of the view of the church by the trees which seemed to blur into the woodland of the hillside in the distance.


Image 16 - Pencil // Knaresborough, North Yorkshire

24 June 11

Shopping in York... or browsing - I thought why not? The result shows why not.

Image 15 - Pencil // Cliffords Tower, York

23 June 2011

Also near Boroughbridge, before the river and navigable canal rejoin, there is a lock at Milby to allow for the drop created by the weir.


This is looking towards the convergence of the two water courses.


Image 14 - Pencil // Milby, North Yorkshire

22 June 11

Close to Boroughbridge town centre, the river is split to allow for a navigable passage past a weir next to the town's bridge.  This is looking across at the village of Langthorpe from the island created by this split.


The mill in the background is part of an estate of new houses and has been retained and redeveloped, the other two buildings look in serious danger of falling down.


The river's edge is at the very bottom of the page below the rushes.


Image 13 - Pencil // Langthorpe, North Yorkshire

21 June 11

A couple of sketches on firmer footing, solid objects of technical subjects.

Was amazed the number of parts that went into one of four sets of wheels on each carriage.

Image 12 - Biro // Doncaster Station

20 June 11

I'm truly awful at drawing people (among other things) so thought would begin to try out crowd scenes.


This is whilst waiting for a train for a couple of hours having missed mine - unfortunately people moved on very fast, I think it's very obvious where I was drawing a person I could see or someone from memory!


Image 11 - Biro // Kings Cross, London

19 June 11

Coke can as seen on a very full tube somewhere near Covent Garden


Image 10 - Pencil  //  Covent Garden, London

18 June 11

Detail of stonework outside the Betjemen Arms, St Pancras, London

Image 9 - Biro // St Pancras International Rail Station, London

17 June 11

Byng Place, Camden


Image 8 - Biro // Byng Place, Camden, London

16 June 11

Selection of odd sketches in Hyde Park.

Image 7 - Biro // Fountains, Hyde Park, London

15 June 11

Boring day full of rain so drew... the mantelpiece & carriage clock.


Image 6 - HB Pencil // Carriage Clock

14 June 11

Brass box from Crimean War


Image 5 - HB Pencil // Brass Box

13 June 11

Salt and pepper grinders as sat on my parents kitchen table.


Image 4 - HB Pencil // Salt & Pepper

12 June 11

Dining table for four from one piece of untreated steel sheet.


Image 3 - Biro // Dining Table Design

Would be bent into shape with all edges also bent in - possibly necessitating removal of four triangles of the sheet as shown.

11 June 11

Some pretty unsophisticated sketches of a slot together table.


Image 2 - Biro // Dining / Coffee Table Design

There would be:
     1. Table top [with four slits cut in diagonally]
     2. Horizontal curvilinear supports [which slot into slits in table top]
     4. Simple legs [slit to slot over supports]
     4. Braces [at each corner to connect supports and legs]


Made from plywood - would slot together with no use of glue

10 June 11

This is the aim:

"an image a day"

I am going to try to post a drawing, sketch, photograph or other image every day (inevitably they will pile up and will post several at the same time!)

Image 1 - Biro // Knaresborough Castle, North Yorkshire

My website liamcroft.co.uk