The beginnings of a country town

Continuing on with my work with the Queensland vernacular, I decided to add to my country pub. The next building I decided to do was a stone building.

The 'LLLL' sign is a parody of the famous Queensland beer brand 'XXXX'. I suppose this building could be some sort of post office, with the beer sign advertising strategically placed next to the Pub.

The next building I modelled was just a small general store. I would probably put a sign on the blank red bit up the top.

This one is probably fairly simple by comparison to the other two buildings. 

This is the result all together. I am very happy with the scale and look of all the buildings together.

This week marked a new chapter in my life also - after months of not having a job in my field of study, I have finally started work, part time, as a building designer. It has been very challenging and very exciting - and also eats up lots of time!!! I will hopefully still be working on Lego designs on my weekends, or perhaps in the evenings if I am feeling extra bored :P
All for now :)

Working with the Queensland vernacular

Over the past little while I have been drawing some inspiration from my hometown, and have been attempting to model some houses in the Queensland vernacular. Traditional Queensland buildings are beautiful and often very quaint. So far I have modelled two houses and a pub, and I am quite pleased with the results so far.

This house features a bay window at the front, and a small verandah.

This house has a verandah that runs the length of the front of the building, and also has a staircase out the back.

This pub is quite typical of traditional pubs around the state, with its' wrap around verandah and roof with a changing pitch. I'm quite happy with the detail that I have managed to get into this model, including the weatherboard cladding on the outside and the arches on the verandahs.

I'm going to see if I can make a town centre scene using this pub as the basis. I wish I could afford to purchase all these models! Haha

Exhibit Photos and Tuscan Villa

Over the past couple of days I have been putting together what I will hopefully be able to display at the next brick event. It looks a little different from the ideas I was toying with last time, owing to the fact that I was able to acquire some more baseplates, and the minimum size requirement was reduced (yay - now I can have something cohesive).

Here are some pics. I've tried to put some humour into it where I can. I will definitely put more minifigs in there.

Overall image of the set up 

Car crashed into a tree

Wider View of the car accident

Goings-on in the city centre. Judge in the foreground carrying books and his gavel stacked on top. 

Flea Market

Basketball Game

Nice view down the street.

Dumbledore hanging out the window. 

Other side of the accident. 

I also decided to do a really quick mock up because I had some free time. I call it Back-lot Basketball.

This morning I spent some time on LDD designing a Tuscan Villa. I am very happy with the outcome. 

It includes a SNOT circular window which took me FOREVER to figure out. It was so simple- I was staring the solution right in the face for 10 minutes. At least I resolved it. I like the roof and the shutters - they really give the building some personality. 

That's all for now. 

A Couple of New Things

Been back at work after the holidays this week, so haven't had as much time for designing. Even so, I have managed to do a couple of things.

Last weekend I went to an exhibition of Lego in Ipswich. It was wonderful! I took some happy snaps while I was there:

Nice city scene with some of the Modular Town sets and some MOCs

Part of the same display

Vehicles

Star Wars Diorama of a fight between clones and droids

Tantive IV

Harry Potter display <3

Hogsmede Village (missing the Shrieking Shack though - I have that!!

Close up of some of the goings-on in Hogsmede

INXS concert

Love this - so awesome!

Lego Friends Town - someone has been busy collecting all these sets!!!

DRAGONNNNNNNS

This one is probably my favourite! There is so much detail!

!!!

Nice Farm! I love the crops!

LOTR FTW!

I spoke to some of the people organising the event, because it would be great to display some of my creations. They told me to join their Facebook group and so I did, and then of course proceeded to get out my sets and see what sort of display I could create!

Creator Houses

Possible Layout

Looks pretty nice together

YAY!

Being all creative with my camera angles

Just because it is cool :)

I call this one the Guild Hall. It is partially collapsed at the back. I tried to put as much detail in as possible, and I am really happy with the outcome. I also like the outline bricks function in digital designer, which I have not used before. The trees in this model I did not design, I downloaded them from the user gallery.

From the front. 

Back of the building showing the collapsed portion

Another angle of the back. 

I also had a play with a two storey version of my terrace. Looks ok I think.

Yep. 

A Frenzy of Designing

I've been in a bit of a frenzy of designing over the past couple of days. All of the following designs I have done since Saturday.

I had a brainwave in the middle of the night as to how it would be possible to make sliding doors, so I had an attempt with a really simple mock up. The result is below.

Yes it is a box, but it is a beautiful box. 

I then decided to do double sliding doors to create a better opening.

I call this one The Pavilion. Original, isn't it?

The Pavilion

I then decided to go really crazy and  make a huge mansion, with some sliding doors at the back opening onto a courtyard-ish thing.

Mmmmm...Mansion

The back

Following this, I decided to play with a style totally different. I made two very cute, Australian-style cottages.

I just want to pick it up and give it a hug!

Nawwwwwwww

This one is probably more like a terrace.

From the side. 

 I am investigating new sources to buy bricks, because Pick-a-Brick is becoming unreliable. So hopefully I will purchase another building by the end of the year. Maybe with my tax-return  money? Hehe