Week 4 - Urban exploration. Victorian architecture

 The trip to Abbey Pumping Station Museum was truly informative, not only in regard to drawing, but also my knowledge about the Victorian era. It gave me an idea of the mood those times had, the vibe I should convey into my final drawing. 

First, I found this crane looking machine and thought it would make a good composition. Since the metal part was large and mostly made of repeating forms, I decided that I would have the wooden box as the focus while cutting a bit from the steel crane, not drawing it whole. 

Photo taken on location - Abbey Pumping Station

I also added some trees in order to portray the surrounding environment too, to fit the theme of the task. The upper part was tilted and gave me some problems in terms of perspective; it still looks like the perspective is slightly wrong. Exaggerating the tilt might have helped if I think about it now, but I mostly strived to portray the object and its surroundings quickly, add some light and shadow, in order to inform my final drawing.

The next environment was a corner of a street, with laundry hanging from strings and a machine that I suppose helped with washing clothes, though I might be wrong. 

Photo taken on location - Abbey Pumping Station

The angle from where I was sitting was a bit tricky and it obstructed most of the scene, so I changed it to a view from slightly above. The scene made me think of poverty, of a poor district, and the idea of bringing forward that image stuck into my mind and grew. I could portray the less fortunate aspects of the industrial revolution. I held onto this idea and moved on to the last drawing, which was exactly the opposite. 

Photo taken on location - Abbey Pumping Station

This part of the museum looked like the entrance into a rich Victorian house, which made me imagine the possibility of portraying a night scene, maybe a cobblestone street lit by a lone lamp, producing a chiaroscuro lighting scenario that would then create an ominous, dark atmosphere. 

I only drew the rounded part of the building, since I found it most interesting. I also added the bushes and tree in order to fill in the blank space and show the environment surrounding the focal point. 

The Victorian era was quite the time of contrasts, where industrial development and the lush higher society clashed with the poverty ridden districts and child labor. I had ideas for portraying both of these worlds, so I pondered quite a while before I chose my theme. To be honest, I currently lean both towards a rich district street environment, as well as the poor back alley.

 

In the end, I chose to depict the poverty of a back alley from a poor district.