Thursday, July 25, 2013

Question - when is a sketch an urbansketch ... and when is it not ...?

Hi Urbansketchers

I am loving seeing all the beautiful sketches from the BCN Symposium! I think the best part about it, even for a non-attender, is you can still be inspired from the sketchers and their sketches. 

In Australia, many of us don't mind driving ... driving long distances with not that many towns in between with signs saying Town A - 300km etc. As a uni student, I remember the 24 hr bus trips we had to take during our summer vacation for our "practicals" and the thump thump thump of the bus' bumper bar hitting the kangaroos at night ... I now here that the companies fly the students! 

So saying that you would drive 500km over 5 - 5.5 hrs in a day with a couple of stops doesn't attract the "you're mad" look that you get in the UK. 

It's a similar distance to driving from:
London to Newcastle, Madrid to Sevilla, France to Bordeaux, Tokyo to Kyoto, Halfway between Vancouver and Calgary ..., Montreal to Boston, New York to Pittsburgh, Mexico to Oaxaca.

I got a little bit carried away couch travelling ...  

This leads me to the question of when is a sketch an urbansketch and when does it stop being an urbansketch? 

This wasn't a leisurely car trip where we can sit for a couple of minutes to take a photo or 10 mins to do a sketch! It's a go ... go ... go ... car trip as M keeps the pace up. 

I couldn't figure out how to draw with watercolour in a moving vehicle so I used the Sketchbook Pro app on my iPad with a bamboo stylusI sketched the pictures below of the scenery from the car to kill the boredom of a 5.5 hr drive - so it's sketching from what I see. 

I couldn't draw the straight lines of the road so I left it out. The Australian roads aren't bad - but going 110 kmph and drawing a straight line on an iPad is difficult. 

This leads me to my question again of when is a sketch an "urbansketch" and when does it stop becoming an urbansketch as I left some key elements out - ie the road and other cars. 

They took about 5-10 mins and I drew one every hour or so or when I noticed different looking clouds. 

A

PS I bought a A$3 stylus from Miniinthebox as well, and it works well. I prefer the tip of the bamboo stylus for scribing. But I am sitting on the fence to justify the A$30 bamboo stylus for sketching alone. 

PPS I will leave a sketch of the "Feathers" drawer from the Queensland Museum that I did on the weekend, just in case the others aren't an urban sketch ... 


Sky 4, 130715

Sky 5, 130715

Sky 6, 130715


The photo ... 

Untitled

The back-up sketch ... 
Queensland museum



Saturday, July 20, 2013

You Am I

I saw one of the best rock and roll bands this country has ever produced last night at the enmore. Normally I'm quite satisfied with drawing one or two sketches, but I felt compelled to do more. They played two albums worth, so I had plenty of time to sketch. Here is a selection, for more please visit my blog here. Cheers, Meegan





Saturday, July 13, 2013

40th Worldwide Sketchcrawl Brisbane -

We met at the Kangaroo Cliffs Cafe at 10.00 am Sketched awhile, whilst having coffee, then moved on along the Public Art Trail.

The Brisbane River Public Art Trail - 2.4 kilometre walk that meanders along the Brisbane River's edge on the Kangaroo Point boardwalk. The walk begins at the Maritime Museum, South Bank and ends at the Thornton Street ferry terminal, after taking a detour to the top of the cliffs at Kangaroo Point Park.








Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Ice Skating Rink & Life Experience

Hi, Friends, how have you been? Are you enjoying summer or winter? We, Australians are in the middle of winter and school holidays. Parramatta Council has set an ice rink in Parramatta (27 June - 14 July) Now, I'll take you to the rink!  Kids are so cute! 

Most children experice skating for the first time. Some kids get very scared and "walk" like "tiptoe, balancing.... Oooops!" But children get so excited, too! 
People look at my sketching, but all respect me (thank u!). A mom showed my sketch to her crying daughter who had slipped badly. My work made her happy and she stopped crying!! •*•♫°•♫·.•ʚ(ˆ◡ˆ)ɞ
This girl below looked so charming after skating. I wondered what she was thinking of.
Skating is challening. Some children cling to a fence. Many parents take photos and cheer up kids.
How cute  these slipping kids!  Really fallen angels!
The more, slip on the ice, the sooner we learn skating. One mother said to me with a wink, "Just she will have some bruises tomorrow and ok!" Yes! Skating is much like life experience in general. We need to be brave to challenge new things and get how to handle it! 
Friends, can you hear kids and parents bouncing voices? 
We are having a great fun! The skate rink staff and securities invite me for skating. Nice!!

Let's challenge new things and learn it.  
Enjoy your own season.

Happy Painting!!