February 2004

I was talking to an old school friend on MSN the other day, and he was telling me all about his 'urban exploration' expeditions he does in his spare time around old abandoned buildings. He's been to quite a few around the South of England and showed me some photos he took while touring around them. Of course, this kind of thing is technically trespassing, but it's so fascinating; I could never do it myself because I would scare myself to death, what with rumours of hauntings, and the chance that I could get caught trespassing at any moment. But it's a very interesting concept, most of these places are literally falling down, what with the neglect and arsonists setting fire to them and people just generally going in and wrecking everything in sight.

One in particular is an old mental asylum called 'Cane Hill' (spooky name, huh?). This place is MASSIVE, I've seen images to prove it. It is near Guildford I think, just South of London (near to where I live at home) and it has been shut down for about 15 years or so, from photos of the interior, it looks like everyone just upped and went one day, as there is loads of stuff still in there. I saw this one photo where there was a whiteboard on a wall with still the original writing on it, and Christmas cards all around the edge, undisturbed. Anyway, I'll stop rambling, if you want to find out about Cane Hill or any other 'urban explorations', have a look here.

Right, the drawing... yes, this is a drawing of a part of Cane Hill, I'm not sure WHICH part, but it is a part... haha. As you can see from the date, the building is quite old (and yes, it supposedly is haunted). I drew it for the urban exploration guy because he asked me very nicely and sent me this picture to draw. I might be doing a few more of these old smashed-up building type things.

4B, 5B and 6B pencils used on A4 paper, I'm actually quite pleased with how this turned out, I actually included quite a bit of detail and I discovered that if you put a piece of paper underneath your hand when you draw, the drawing doesn't get smudged! Ooooh! I think just about EVERYONE knew that but me, hehe. So therefore, my drawing looks quite a bit crisper that usual. This part of the building actually looks quite intact, aside from the smashed windows... and that open window gives me the creeps.

EDIT
I recently went to this place and took a photo for myself, you can have a peek here. Freaky place, that.