Cityscape
Some cities in the UK have evolved over several centuries so that old and new buildings are often knitted together – this gate is in the city of Salisbury.
Councils invest in sculptures, green spaces, floral displays and bunting to make cities more attractive and some individuals will spend time and money enhancing their own small bit of the city.
Yet all this effort is often spoiled by vandals, litter louts and spray-can yobs who deface walls.
My cityscape is mixed media – I chose not to depict a whole city – just one old city building.
I wet-felted a base from white merino wool, then needle felted the building using black yarns of different thicknesses as shown in the photo below.
The bunting is cut from dupion silk scraps and glued in place, and the graffiti is hand stitched using a thick thread. The finished piece is approx 33 x 23cm (13″ x 9″)
Is anyone else working on a cityscape?
16 thoughts on “Cityscape”
That’s fantastic! I can’t stop looking at all the little details
Thank you very much!
I love it that you’ve depicted the graffiti as well 😀 Did you simply add the yarn and needle felt it in place, or did you make a base drawing beforehand?
I’ve yet to go to Salisbury but dare I say it has some Warwick vibes? Those city gates are beautiful.
Thank you Leonor. I didn’t make a base drawing – I started with the thick bar, as shown in the second photo, then worked away from that bit by bit. I found the needle felting very calming by the way.
Salisbury cathedral is well worth a visit – it’s beautiful – and there are many very old buildings that are worth seeing.
Terrific Lyn! You’ve captured those nasty nuances of a city as well. It’s a shame people destroy beautiful architecture. I hated Prague for that reason. The graffiti was very graphic.
Thank you Marilyn. Making this piece gave me the chance to air my displeasure at the despoilers of city beauty!
Your cityscape is wonderful! I love the graphic nature of the black and white with just the pops of color from the flags and graffiti. You did a very good job keeping the pattern even.
Thank you Ruth. It’s a bit wonky – but I like wonky – as I did it all freehand. There are a lot of black and white houses in Salisbury – it’s a lovely place to visit.
Love the old building. When I watch British TV it amazes me how old some of the buildings are, so much history still actively used. Grafitti is a problem everywhere. I am working on my landscape. I am just doing it very slowly.
Thank you Ann. Working slowly is good because you get time to re-evaluate your piece now and then.
Here’s a link to a webpage about a house that’s been inhabited for 870 years Ann:
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/04/06/saltford-manor-the-oldest-inhabited-private-house-in-england/
Ann this is great. A beautiful clean crisp graphic statement – quite the opposite of the despoilers’ work.
Salisbury & York could be twins! We are so lucky to have such history rich cities – I often wish I could be in a time machine to just dip in and out to ‘see’ our past.
Thank you Antje. Yes, York is beautiful I agree, and I would also love to be able to travel back in time to see some places as they were. A late elderly relative, who lived to be 96, saw much of our city at the beginning of the 20th century when it was just fields and farms – the land is now covered with housing.
I meant to add that Saltford Manor was an unknown to me but quite fascinating – Thank you for bringing it to our attention.
I love walking across original flagstones and wondering about the lives of the people that walked them before.
Great – (deceptively) simple but effective!
Thank you Kim!