Layer four/five - "Norwich Over The Water"

        

The sketches below are observed from the upper level, built on a concrete raft and rising above the centre and evoking the Brutalist style of architecture. It houses a disused multi- story car park, Sovereign House (former HSMO stationary office) and the former Odeon Cinema now Hollywood. Teenagers are known to use the ramps and roads like a skate park.

I found it  surreal and melancholic which I have tried to encapsulate using a variety of dry media like charcoal and chino-graph pencil, black brush pen, and biro. I have worked expressively to achieve a raw, fragmented and sombre mood.  

The former Odeon Cinema built in 1971

Multi-Story Car Park

Four layers of drawing and paint is now proving difficult to work on which is an interesting challenge and effect symbolic to the local environment. Some of the paint is crumbling and the marks underneath are forming richer textures.I have tried to thin the emulsion paint more to get a more translucent effect as more layers are added. I think I applied the paint too thickly at first as I would like the sketches buried underneath to be more visible.

 

I have sketched directly onto the above images which you can see below with the idea to gradually fade in the sketch as part of my film, in contrast to the paint flowing over the images.   

      

Stories

I find it fascinating to sit and sketch people interacting on benches in the square . It was originally open to the elements but in the late 20th Century a glass and steel structure was built as a shelter. The steel structure casts strong geometric shadows adding to the atmosphere. All the times I have observed the square the benches are always busy. The last time I was on the square sketching bench life below I met  a man who asked if he could watch me draw, we then struck up conversation and we chatted about the square and the city and how this part of the city was always known as "Norwich over the water". There is a bit of a divide between the two, he commented that he never goes to the city its scary and too crowded!  everything he needs is here a local butcher, grocers and cafes. He often sits on the benches and has had interesting conversations with many people from all walks of life. Its a really diverse and multicultural urban environment with a real sense of community. Anglia Square is off Magdalen Street and St Augustines which is in the North part of the city. I have had conversations with people in the main city who say they have never been to Anglia Square.

Even though I had completed my set of sketches I stayed on to capture more folk socialising, interacting and swapping tales.