Postcards from the Barbican

An opportunity to own an original drawing.

Hello from London! I’m here making observational drawings for my New Aesthetics grant project — if you haven’t been following along, you can read about it here and here. My main focus on this trip is the Barbican Centre, famous for its combination of Brutalist architecture and lush foliage.

After I finished spending six hours in the Barbican Conservatory working on a long observational study, I picked up some postcards in the giftshop for some little sketches of the various plants I found around the estate. Without all the greenery and flowers, the buildings would feel downright oppressive, so these drawings depict the “secret sauce” that makes many people love the Barbican. I’m glad to be here in the spring, when everything is in full bloom.

I made 15 postcards with original drawings, which I’m going to mail to the next 15 people who take out a “Patron of the Arts” tier subscription to this Substack. (Formerly called a “Founding Membership” — I think the new name is more fun.) This costs $125, and it also buys you a limited edition, archival print of one of my drawings. I’ll mail the postcard drawing inside the package with the print, so it’ll arrive undamaged.

Here’s a closer look at a couple of the postcards: