Field Sketching and the Experience of Landscape

The act of field sketching allows us to experience the landscape first-hand – rather than reliance upon plans, maps and photographs at a distance, back in the studio. Aimed primarily at landscape architects, Janet Swailes takes the reader on a journey through the art of field sketching, providing guidance and tips to develop skills from those starting out on a design course, to those looking to improve their sketching.

Combining techniques from landscape architecture and the craft and sensibilities of arts practice, she invites us to experience sensations directly out in the field to enrich our work: to look closely at the effects of light and weather; understand the lie and shapes of the land through travel and walking; and to consider lines of sight from the inside out as well as outside in.

Full colour throughout with examples, checklists and case studies of other sketchers’ methods, this is an inspirational book to encourage landscape architects to spend more time in the field and reconnect with the basics of design through drawing practice.

Janet Swailes is an artist and landscape architect living in the Upper Eden Valley, Cumbria. She has worked for the Countryside Commission for Scotland, Stirling Council, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, as a freelance consultant landscape architect and illustrator, and she currently works for Dumfries and Galloway Council. She has a PhD in Landscape Architecture?from Edinburgh College of Art, where she was originally an undergraduate.