Tell an Untold Story - Leeds Adventure

I was unsure of a specific location I wanted to go to today so I decided to take a wander around Leeds, get a bit lost and hopefully find something interesting. 

On my way into the city, I stopped at a park I walk past quite a lot but have never really payed much attention to. Sitting on the bench in the park made me realise it really wasn't a very nice area for children to play because the paint on the play area had faded, flaked and been vandalised and there was litter everywhere. This made me think about litter and vandalism in the city which I highlighted with my photos from a bridge over the A58. 

Litter at the park

If ever I was unsure which direction to go in during the day, I tossed a coin - heads and I went right, tails I turn left. Using this method, I came across Park Square where I sat on a bench and drew a few buildings and passing people. I want very inspired by this space as not many people were around and probably due to the time of year, the square didn't seem very interesting to me. In hindsight, this may have been because this was one of the first places I went to and I felt like I didn't really know what I was doing at this point.  

I stopped to draw some architecture on my way to city square where I was asked for directions by someone visiting the city who I had a brief conversation with - she was visiting her son and was asking for directions to the university. She had been wandering around the city for almost an hour and had ended up back where she started. I focussed a lot on statues while drawing in city square, repeating drawings to get a better idea of their shape. It was really cold and my hands were going numb (even with gloves on) so I felt it was time to move on. I also took some photographs of the pigeons which I had hoped to draw from reference later, but unfortunately there was a fault on my memory card which meant that the images were lost. 

Today I learnt that a mechanical pencil is so useful when drawing out and about. 

I went to Cafe Nero hoping to get the chance to take my time a bit more drawing some people who were sitting still (and to get warm again). 

I am pleased with my drawings of people here, they are still sketchy drawings but I feel I captured their position well even though the likeness of features could be improved in some places. I am particularly pleased with these two images, the first one because I have managed to capture the angle of his head looking down which I often find challenging. I also like the drawing of the man gazing out of the window at the city because it has an interesting composition and the green pencil draws your attention to the detail outside. 

I started to group people together and notice traits of people in the cafe...

Drawing a couple of general objects whilst in Trinity Kitchen was a very simple task but I feel it could be developed into something more interesting. I then went to Leeds City Museum where I spent some time drawing the birds. I also took some photographs so I could study these more later on because the museum closed at 5pm. 

I briefly walked through the German Christmas Market and photographed the nutcrackers and other wooden models which I thought would be interesting to draw from reference later on. I really liked how there were so many different variations on the same thing and I thought I could produce some really nice drawings based on this subject matter and they would work well as a set. 

When I arrived home, I researched the statues from City Square as this was the part of the day I found most interesting. I learnt about these statues but also found other statues and sculptures around Leeds which I could visit and draw from. Looking back t my drawings from today, I think you can clearly see that it takes some time to warm up when it comes to drawing as my sketches got considerable better and more confident towards the end of the day. 

Potential book ideas from today:

• Vandalism and litter in the city - maybe contrasting the beautiful with the ugly and playing around with perception. 
• Statues and sculpture
• Interesting buildings - traditional and modern 
• People having coffee - each image would have its own narrative as everyone is doing their own thing each day but are united for that short time where they are all doing the same activity. 
• A picture book of beautiful, crafted images based on everyday objects - finding beauty in the ordinary.
• A book of birds - maybe put a humorous, quirky twist on something quite uninteresting, birds wearing hats? birds saying words?
• Nutcrackers / and or wooden models 

Next steps:

• Do the Leeds Sculpture trail and visit the art gallery and Henry Moore Institute to draw more sculptures.
• Research other places nearby to see statues and sculptures (York, Harrogate, Knaresborough, etc) I could tie this in to looking at more architecture as well. 
• Draw nutcrackers and models from reference images.
• Research the history of nutcrackers, maybe visit the German Market stall again and ask for information about them.