North Shore view

Click to enlarge

I love the North Shore, the restaurants at Crows Nest, shops at Chatswood, Cammeray Park, Frenchs Forest, Bushwalks at Northbridge and this great view from St Leonards. 

Brush and watercolor on drawing sketchbook 160gsm. 

Also sketching at the Powerhouse Museum

I was also at the Powerhouse on Saturday and finally got to draw this horse drawn fire engine. It is so red and bright and shiny - there's no way you can capture that in watercolour pencils but I gave it a try. My new sketchbook is too big to fit on the scanner so I took the photo with my new phone.
There are so many machines there that I'm longing to draw. I love drawing old machines - but I'll try a less complex one next time.

These musical instruments are only a few of many, but I particularly liked the way the shapes of these ones worked together. I felt like something less challenging to draw after lunch and this is what I did.

Sketch Machinery or People? Both!

Hi, Friends, did you have a nice weekend?
Sydney Sketch club visited Powerhouse Museum. Huge and a playground for children. We, too, went back to kids?! and had a fun. So, I upload something mechanical. (*Honest... I'm not a big fan for drawing machinery.) But have a look of this old rusted truck with flat tyres! How eye catchy! I could not resist sketching it. When I carefully looked at the truck, something dried sea-weeds like were on the windshield. Often that see weed is seen on forsaken ships in a sea or a beach. I wonder, hum...the truck might have be scattered in salt water/beach? Probably, after picking it up, someone or an artist cut out the metals and decorated the truck. So attractive and rather fashionable. Fun to imagine the truck's mysterious "biography" that gives the subject a character. *So, usually, I just look at displayed objects without reading any tag and get my own impression. Then, look up tags. Knowledge and inspiration are different matters.

***Wow, my imagination was spot on! The truck is an art work, "Lacie Lorrie". Ingrid Morley gives "Lacie Lorrie" a second life. It is the part of the big event, "Make Lace, Not War." Friends, we, artists can trun anything into beautiful art work with a message!

Back to the topic.
We live with machinery. Once, I tried a bike for the frist time. Not easy.
Probably, this work is the best for a bike so far. Men and boys' passion for machines are far beyond my understanding.
Again, I felt more appetite for sketching people. I sketched another sketch club member while our lunch. It brought me back to life?!
As if machinery had their own will. Sometimes, I wonder who is a master, a machine or me? I'm far behind from technology and often frustrated with complicated machines. If I could go back to Stone Age, a no machine time, it could be more peaceful...? No weapons, no tv, etc, etc, of course, at the expense of convenience.
But I believe good relationships deliver home happiness without machinery.

Anyway, if you'd like to have a look of my cartoon, come over Sadami's Graffiti and have a cuppa with me.
Happy painting and have a wonderful week!

32nd World Sketchcrawl - Sydney [Results]

Lovevly time in the Sydney Sketchcrawl @ Powerhouse Museum, Ultimo

Sketching at the Powerhouse Museum

We went to check out the Powerhouse Museum as a venue for tomorrow's Worldwide Sketchcrawl. It's a treasure trove. I've even been back again already, and found more wonderful stuff to draw. It's just a paradise for me, who loves to draw funny old machines.

Tomorrow a whole group of sketchers will be there, so hopefully this blog will see many more sketches from the Powerhouse Museum.

It's the perfect venue for the weather - I just heard on the radio that it's the wettest July since 1950.

Marrickville & Tempe

After a hard morning's exercise I went and had some fish and chips at my local fish shop – the oldest F'n'C in Marrickville, so I'm told. They wanted me to come back at a better time when their window is full of fish. So I may return with watercolours next time.

I went for a walk down to Tempe, as I knew the circus was in town. Wasn't sure what to expect, the circus site was pretty small and the weather was a little crappy. But it is a nice spot and plenty to draw. Well worth another visit, but with better weather conditions.

To see and read my full Urban Sketches of Marrickville you can visit my blog site.

Sketching birds in the Australian Museum

While it is too cold for outside sketching we go to the Australian Museum to the "Search and Discover" room. It is right in the middle of Sydney so a good place to meet up.

There is a wonderful array of Australian native birds and animals - stuffed and on plinths. You can just go and choose one and take it to where you are sitting to draw. They have koalas and kangaroos, snakes and birds. The kangaroos and some of the other larger animals aren't able to be moved around of course - you have to go to them.

In cabinets there are insects and butterflies and beautiful shells also. It is a very sketcher-friendly environment. In the place where there are some small objects in showcases, the light is extremely good. They have wooden tops to protect the glass that they will bring over (big and heavy) and put there for you to use as a sketching desk. Stools to sit on, also.

The only down-side is that it is equally popular with children, so sometimes between 11am and midday, the noise level gets such that it is necessary to depart. This was such a day, as it was school holidays. Until then though, we had some budding sketchers at our elbows some of the time. Some days we meet lovely families with delightful children who are really interested in drawing.

St Stephen's Church Newtown

This gothic revival church is very near where I live. I went up there the other morning and sat in a stiff breeze to draw it. I had to sit quite close or it would have been veiled by trees. It sits in an old graveyard with a magnificent Moreton Bay fig tree. You can see more images here. It's a picturesque place where there are often those huge trucks that show that a film crew is there.

This isn't the best viewpoint, but it was the one that had the best light at the time. I'll go back and draw it again from different angles at different times of day in the future when it's a bit warmer and less windy. I did another drawing there in the summer when it was cool under the trees.

More maritime museum sketches- and more....

As per Wendy’s post... A group of Sydney sketchers had the most wonderful day sketching and catching up (always about sketching related topics!)
Here are my sketches from the morning.



In the afternoon I headed off in search of a a good tea and scone...walking to the other end of the CBD to visit the Tea Cosy tearoom....





I am shortly heading off to go to overseas for 3 weeks. 2 weeks in the UK and 1 week in Lisbon for the USK symposium so Saturday was a good ‘warmup’ for me. I am pretty happy that I got to sketch the opera house just before the trip. Last year sketching the Opera House on the day after I returned from my big one was very very special! This kinda ties the two together... the sketching journey continues whether you are at home or away.....

National Maritime Museum

This wonderfully elaborate sailing ship is a replica of the Duyfken, an East Indiaman. The original ship sailed from Banten (Bantam in English) in Java in 1606 to Australia where it mapped Cape York. Strangely I was already thinking seriously about a holiday in Banten. I've been to Java but not further west than Yogyakarta.

The Sydney Sketch Club went to the National Maritime Museum on Saturday. The winter has been pretty wet and cold so far, and there's great drawing both inside and out. Lucky for us it was a perfect day. Sunny and 20 degrees. Beanie and gloves not required.

My second drawing was done looking down on this little rubber boat - they tell me it's called a rubber ducky, From the sublime to the ridiculous really, isn't it!

Parramatta Ice Skating Rink : Falling Kids

Hi, Friends, how is it going with you? We're in the middle of winter! Council has set an ice skating rink in front of Parramatta Town Hall. At the opening ceremony, this happy young man showed off a big kiss mark, awaiting his girl friend performing an ice dance. What a hot man in this dreadful winter!OK, I'd like to chat over "skating," particularly, slipping kids on a skate rink. Most children seem to be not so familiar with skating. Children enjoys "slip, sliding away ʚ(ˆ◡ˆ)ɞ ° ·. •*• ♫° • ♫."
Great fun and luxury for me to sketch slipping kids. Very exciting to catch the critical moments of "unbalancing," "falling" and following movements.

Some children--most are boys-- bravely challenge an ice rink. Oh, physics experiments, objects cannot stand well on a surface without friction?! But children soon learn how to skate and begin to enjoy a smooth run, even though a bit different from "elegant."







Very young kids and girls are awkward. They walk with Penguins. Not bad. Wobbling is very cute and even pretty like ducklings. Parents are happy to take photos.Soon, children realize my sketching. Some hang on the wall and won't go away from me. A sketcher becomes popular at once anywhere.
"Can you draw me?"
"Well, Sweetie, I'm sketching slipping kids. If there's any drama, I may draw you..."
The girl, actually, quite a good skater, dares to perform a big stumble.
"No, Sweetie, I want to sketch natural movements!" We have a laugh.

In the observation, when children wobble, their hands' positions are very interesting. A head's angle and position is so fascinating, too. I look and draw from varied angles, as many as possible.

I draw children with simple lines. The lesser, the better. Simple lines are clearer than too many lines. For me, catching the pattern or the connection of each movement is the key. Fresh and lively work is my favorite.

So, I always sketch and have fun! If you have interest in sketching figures, come over my blog, Sadami's Graffiti.

Happy sketching, Friends!!

The Salon des Refuses

A couple of weeks ago I went with a non-sketching friend to the last day of the Salon des Refuses at the S. H Ervin Gallery. This gallery is on Observatory Hill and belongs to the National Trust. I took the opportunity to do a very quick drawing of the gallery while my friend was listening to the artist's talk.
The Salon des Refuses is the 'refused' for the Archibald Prize, which is the major portrait prize in Australia. The ones in the main exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW can be seen here. Some of the 'refused' are here.