Weekend Walkabout

The sun was out in full force last Saturday, a perfect winter day to be outdoors. We decided to go walking and exploring around The Rocks area but our walk ended up to include the Botanic Gardens which was lovely.

I had come across on the net a "Self-guided walking heritage tour" of The Rocks which lists out the buildings and areas of interest. It was fascinating as we've been around The Rocks so many times but have never noticed certain heritage buildings. Another first time for us was stopping by Foundation Park, the tiniest park which still has remnants of houses constructed in the 1870s still visible.

The weekend market was bustling and there were also many people at the Botanic Gardens lying on the grounds enjoying the sun. It was certainly good to be outdoors surrounded by so many things to sketch!

My all important Art Supplies....

Very busy with all my trip preparation for the upcoming Urban Sketchers Symposium in Lisbon that I am booked to attend...

So spending my time recording the all important decisions that an urban sketcher needs to make before going on a sketching holiday. See more about my supplies here.

Pacific Highway, North Sydney

Pacific Highway with Miller St, North Sydney. Brush pen and watercolor over drawing sketchbook. Rainy day of winter. The afternoons are getting longer, that means more day light to draw and paint outdoors!

Elisabeth St, Sydney

Another winter day in Sydney. Brush Pen and Watercolor on Drawing Sketchbook. 

more of the inner west

With work and every day in May taking up the bulk of my time – my urban sketchers contributions have been very thin of late. Plus the weather wasn't very kind, especially to water soluble mediums.

Below are only two I managed. The first is of a show at the Enmore Theatre – an old art deco style theatre, which is one of my favourite live venues for various reasons. And the other is a small section of Cooks River, down along Steele Park in Marrickville. Popular with cyclists, walkers and joggers, it is amazingly still very serene.

A quick 10 min lunchtime sketch

110624 10 min lunchtime sketch, a photo by borromini bear on Flickr.

there is something nice and comfy about sketching the smae view over and over again... also NICE was sitting in the sun today! The middle of winter and it was 19C in the sun today at 130pm! BEAUTIFUL!!

St Thomas Rest Park, Crows Nest.

Cockle Bay - Sydney

Cockle Bay, Sydney



Cockle Bay at Darling Harbour was a delightful place to visit in the sunshine today. It is really just full of cafes, hotels and restaurants and lots of tourists and school groups on day trips. We decided to stop in the sunshine and try to draw the buildings.

Sydney skyline and cafe

More of Sydney




A walk in the winter sunshine . First stop was a cafe on the waterfront. There are so many cafes in Pyrmont - we were there wih corporate people doing their deals and working on their computers. Then after that, a stroll along the boardwalk and back to Darling Island to sketch the Sydney city skyline. Today I decided to concentrate on the lovely Harbour Bridge. The day was still and sunny. I decided not to add any colour to the bridge sketch. My Lamy Safari Joy pen has not been used regularly and is a bit scratchy.

Sydney skyline

Sydney skyline from Darling Island, Pyrmont.

It is winter in Sydney and not cold in comparison to other parts of the world in winter. But the past few weeks have been overcast and glum, so this past few days of sunshine have been delightful. I took the opportunity to go for a walk in the sunshine along the waterfront. This is some of the view across to Sydney city.

Archibald, BaldArchy, Doug Moran Exhibitions

Hi, Friends, are you enjoying a long weekend? (*Queen's Birthday.)
Now, I'll take you to the interesting and famous portrait exhibitions in Australia.

First, Archibold Prize 2011. Archibold prize is the oldest and most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. Any portraitist dreams to be a winner and a finalist. This year, 41 participants are selected out of 900 paintings. You can imagine how competitive it is. The winner is Ben Quilty, "Margaret Olley" (oil on canvas). Margaret Olley is the famous lady in art. She did a model for Archibold 50 years ago as well. It has become a hot topic and public attention. Below is the NSW Art Gallery.
Second, BaldArchy that parodies the title of Archbald, yes, an upside-down word. It exhibits "caricatures." I sketched BaldArchy 2010 that was quite fun. This year, at BaldArchy 2011, I came across an interesting lady drawing an abstract painting in front of the first prize work at Tap Gallery. She puzzled me and happily teased at me. Friends, please get surprised, she was "Madam Lash"!! Madam Lash is a very big name in under-culture and famous portraitist on controversial subjects. Hahh...., a world is small. I often come acorss famous people while sketching outside. I might be a very lucky artist?!

Third, Doug Moran Pize is the world richest portrait and photographic prizes. $150,000 for the best work.
Free Exhibition 2011 at NSW State Library(21st April - 26th June).

The portrait winner is Vincent Fantauzzo, "Baz Lurhmann 'off screen.'" Vincent often becomes a finalist at Archibald, too.Did you enjoy these exhibitions? If you'd enjoy my skeches, come over Sadami's Graffiti and have a cuppa with me.

Finally, Salon des Refuses. "Salon des Refuses" is another venue for unsuccessful Archibald applicants. It displays interesting and unique portaits from Archibald participants.

This weekend, Sunday, 19th June, 11:00 AM,
Sydney Sketch club will visit Salon des Refuses at National Trust, Sydney Observatory Observatory Hill, The Rocks.

So, Friends, come and join our sketching.
Happy painting!!

Pink House on George

George St Manly, that is. This is the start of my sketching every day in Manly.

In September, the Manly Arts & Cultural Festival will be on for 2 weeks, and I'm having an exhibition called 'Manly Homes & Gardens'.

I don't usually sell my sketches, as they become part of a diary of my travels. However, after purchasing a sketchbook just for these drawings, I feel I can pick out the best, remove them from the book - outch! put a matt around them and hang them unframed in my Studio.

I know people love sketches and drawings of places they know and love, and this is a perfect opportunity for the locals.

I will add others as they come hot off the sketchbook pages!

Urban sketching in May

The whole of May was taken up with Every Day in May, for me. That was mostly sketching objects around the house. However, last week I went to the Adobe Roadshow to catch up on the latest from Adobe (CS5.5). It was held in the Four Seasons Hotel, and there were hundreds of attendees. I took a chance of a break in the rain & left early & registered early. I sat in the lobby to sketch, but didn't dare attempt anything too time-consuming because as soon as the door opened, there was a stampede. There were groups of these jars filled with orchids all around the lobby.

A busy May

I am not sure where the month of May went...but it is gone by without me feeling like I have been out sketching much. In compariosn with March and April I certainly haven't done much urban sketching.
At the beginning of the month I join a group of over 100 sketchers in a Every Day in May challenge. I was unable to continue with it for the last two weeks but had fun earlier in the month. Here are two of the 'more' urban sketches.

On the day when we were to draw salt and pepper shakers we went around various cafes in Crows Nest to find the most interesting to draw. Cafe Ticino (which also happens to have the best Earl Grey tea in Crows Nest) had a choice of three varieties.

Draw a fence - the backyard where I grew up is unusual as until recently there were no fence between our house and the neighbors. We often used to share the lawn with our neighbours growing up - especially useful for backyard cricket when either of us had visitors and we often played hide and seek type games across the two properties. We never thought that there was a need for privacy from them. The only reason for the fence was because the current neighbours bought a dog but even then both they and my parents didn't want to lose the openness.

I also made it back to the Botanic Gardens a few weeks ago - it is amazing how much the season has changed in the 2 weeks of absence.

And finally, starting this week I am using sketching for a most important purpose.... that is to lose a few kilos so that I can have a nice 'cake allowance' during my trip to Lisbon in July. Sketching my food is the best way for keeping my on the straight and narrow! It is also good training for fast travel sketching. (more of my trip preparation soon)

Green Tea Cosy - Scones at The Rocks

Afternoon tea and scones before going to watch the "Mary Poppins" musical at The Capitol Theatre. "With a spoon full of sugar sketching goes down" :)