Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Changing Newtown



These are admittedly pretty ugly sketches of a hard-to-love section of town (I'm learning to!) but it has been fascinating to watch it change.
I didn't know at the time I started sketching in this street last year how much those old grain silos in the background were going to be transformed over the next nine months. I noticed that they'd started cutting windows in them once I started drawing them in this first sketch (below) that I posted last August.


I went back there to sketch a couple of months later to find that more windows had appeared, and shipping containers were piled on top of the silos...



...and last Saturday when my sketching friend John and I returned - in the top sketch - curtains are up, pot plants and paint... a whole new block of accommodation called Mill Junction for nearby Wits and University of Johannesburg students! I'm not sure what the green circles on top are, maybe something to do with its green and energy-efficient claims.

5 comments:

Polly Birchall said...

Great pictures, so hard all those buildings

http://carolking.wordpress.com said...

how interesting to see neighborhoods change...sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. I love all your sketches and how you captured the changes over the year.

Unknown said...

wow what a transformation. It's great you have recorded it.

Inna said...

What beautiful sketches!

Cathy said...

That's urban sketching at its best! A true proof of Joburg's life!