Category: Nature

Map of Waterfalls in London Parks

After taking a creative break in Edinburgh I’m back in discovering the natural wonders of London. So todays infographic/map is about waterfalls! Waterfalls in London doesn’t really sound likely, but London actually has quite a few waterfalls, although most of them are man-made. Some parks are quite well known for their water cascades such as Regent’s Park and Kyoto Garden in Holland Park, but did you know there’s a beautiful waterfall on the Carshalton Ponds in Sutton or a quirky brutalist style cascade in Barbican Estate?

There is something really tranquil about being near the water and sound of waterfall has a very calming effect. However with the loss of natural environment and man-made structures replacing the nature, the real waterfalls and cascading rivers in cities have become scarce. Artificial structures like ponds and steps may replace the nature, but they are far from being the real thing. If more city parks would have real streams and waterfalls this would help considerably to create quiet pockets, where to relax and enjoy the nature.

I’ve seen many amazing ‘real’ waterfalls around the world and you may argue cities are not a place for waterfalls, but I disagree. I think cities are exactly the right place for anything that would make it more natural/calm/wild/interesting and better for its residents. For example why couldn’t there be a waterfall park in London, where people in all ages could go to relax and hear the water flowing. River Wandle is hardly a Minoo Park, but maybe, with a little help, it could be? 🌊

 

WaterfallMap

Common Tree Leaves hand-illustrated graphic

Ruskin said (and I’m not sure I would have liked the man himself if we had met, but he had some good points) that drawing makes us understand the world around us more. Only through drawing person can really get into core of things and if there is a one skill I like to master – it’s drawing.

I’ve always loved watercolour as a medium and as I was yearning for a break from screens, initially decided to use it for the initial sketch. But as I enjoyed the whole process so much I decided to take a leap and make the whole graphic with watercolour illustrations! 🙌

My next step was to draw and paint the leaves in a notebook. I used the internet as reference for my secondary research. It’s also a quicker method than going out and finding all the leaves.. although this would make a great project! Drawing and sketching 25 leaves from reference took me a day.

I also decided not to take an easy route and use a digital font, but to handwrite tree names in the notebook as well. As I rarely write any more I had to do some practice runs, but quite happy with the final result.

All my ‘pieces’ ready I digitalised the artwork and put everything together in graphic’s software, trying to keep the colours close to original. It took some fiddling to get it right, but finally here it is – the watercolour illustrated nature graphic of common tree leaves. 🎨