and new textures, frequently extend through both urban
and rural areas. Compared to the countryside well away
from towns, the landscapes at the urban edge are
complex subjects, being neither truly rural nor truly urban.
They are the servicing areas for the city, and therefore
contain sewage farms, railway yards, industrial parks
and motorway corridors interspersed with remnants of
the older farmed landscape. The somewhat artificial
boundary between town and country is represented in
the untidy and often vandalised countryside immediately
around cities. Using the sketchbook in these areas can
result in interesting compositions. The challenging
material of the urban countryside is also helpful in
teaching landscape design and in cultivating an
appreciation of issues facing modern geographers and
town planners.
The modern industrial landscape at the urban edge
frequently contains relics of the Industrial Revolution. In
former mining areas heaps of coal spoil, like mini
mountains, can often be found alongside the dilapidated
remains of pit winding gear. These relics have a poetic
quality, especially if softened by invading vegetation.
Disused canals and railway lines have a similar quality and
in time, perhaps, the elements of the twentieth-century
landscape (pylons, motorways) will also be transformed
into romantic ruins.
The pre-industrial landscape made up primarily of
agricultural countryside and compact settlements has
given way to dispersed towns and disrupted countryside.
As a consequence, the town now extends into the
countryside, leaving pockets of fields and orchards
marooned in the city. Hence fragments of the countryside
can often be found in towns, and transplants of the city in
the countryside (frequently in the form of new towns or
business parks). The old rigid distinction between town
and countryside has been broken, creating much material
for exploration through the sketchbook.
Green belts seek to hold on to the romantic notion of
the countryside surviving as a discrete entity alongside
towns. They are usually well-defined areas consisting of
country parks, old planted estates and modern
recreational facilities. They provide good material and a
tranquil setting for those wishing to learn through
freehand drawing.
Landscape sketches are more successful if there is a
focus to the drawing. This can either be a farm or house
set within its rural context, or, more challengingly, a large
engineering structure such as a radio mast or motorway
bridge. By mixing the natural and the artificial, the sketch
will develop a complexity and meaning otherwise lacking
if it depicts the countryside alone.
Trees can be drawn individually or as blocks. The
structure of an individual tree (whether circular, columnar,
pyramidal) is worth noting, but as a group the trees will
form a screen like a planted wall. In urban situations trees
may be planted in formal rows or grouped geometrically
in a square. The challenge then is to capture their17.9
These palm trees in a
courtyard in Palma, Majorca,
provide a feeling of
tranquillity. The wide,
spreading leaves of the palms
offset the hard lines of the
arcade and stairs behind.Landscape 147