Saturday, March 12, 2011

First Garden Sketchabout - Liz's sketches

Well today was the first of six Garden Sketchabout at the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney as part of the Sydney Morning Herald Autumn of the Arts festival...and can I just say up front that it was WONDERFUL!!!!!

110312_02 Sketchabout1 Lotus Pond
Alissa and I got to the gardens before 11.30 and shortly after arriving we found a sketcher already in action! She joined us in a 'warmup' sketch at the lotus pond.
110312_03 Sketchabout1 Bits
In true Liz-style I managed to sneak in a second warm up sketch before we went to meet up with all the sketchers at 1pm. What a great turn up - over 40 sketchers I think! This page also contains a quick sketch of a chinese lantern that I did while talking to a sketcher from England! I also love drawing maps of where I go each week and a business card of the restaurant from the afternoon tea which didn't fit on the upcoming page (too many cakes- but more of that later!)
110312_04 Sketchabout1 Under the tree
After an initial welcome the sketchers scattered all over the garden. I was doing too much talking (so out of character?!? NOT!) and found it hard to concentrate on sketching. It is occasions like these that training your hand to 'reflex sketch' comes in handy.
110312_05 Sketchabout1 Trees and City View
Another sketch from the same spot - funny I am always drawn to the built structures visible in the garden!
Sketchabout1_Sketchbooks
Sketchabout1_Group Photo
We then had a wonderful session at the band lawn - meeting more sketchers, swapping sketchbooks and a group photo.
110312_06 Sketchabout1 Afternoon Tea
9 of us from the Sydney Sketch Club finished the afternoon with a special Sketchabout afternoon tea at the Restaurant. Do I need to say that we had a great time in many ways!
110312_07 Sketchabout1 Garden from the Bridge
Finally, for me, I walked back across the Harbour Bridge and sketched the gardens in context. this shows how important the garden is to the city of Sydney!

What a wonderful wonderful day - I am one hyped up but somewhat exhausted little sketcher now! And we do it all again next Saturday!