Sydney sketching

A day out sketching at Kirribilli on Sydney's North Shore with Liz.
Beautiful houses and gorgeous architecture. Where to begin ? somewhere in the shade with a place to sit

 LUNCH , of course, and the view from the café

 

 

Sketching with USK-ers interstate

 

Urban sketchers is a global community of sketching, sharing the places we live and travel to online. It is also a global community of people that you can meet and sketch with all over the world. There have been many stories and sketchers of people meeting up with local urban sketchers in a country they are visiting.

This page is about my experiences in the last month. I live in Sydney I had the opportunity to connect with urban sketchers in Brisbane, Newcastle  and then Melbourne in the Australian Christmas holiday break. In each city I sketched with the locals (and some other Sydney travellers). I had met some of them previously but also met new people. I initially contacted them online via facebook or their blogs and let them know that I was visiting and the dates and they arranged place to meet and sketch. Often an event was organised around my visiting dates !

This is a bit of a long post with my sketches and a some notes. I filled many more pages of my sketchbook in Melbourne, but they are not Urban Sketches. They will all get scanned and put on my flickr page. I will also write a separate Melbourne blogpost on my site with those adventures soon.

Have watercolour pencils , will travel !

BRISBANE

A day in Brisbane in early January included a group of JJ, Asuka, Leeanne, Geoff (who sketched with us in Sydney recently) and Chris (also from Sydney) .

Asuka, Leeanne, Geoff Chris, JJ and me (in a circle left to right) at Steam Café, Southbank. Thanks to JJ for the photo

We met for coffee and quickly moved into discussion of art materials and looking through each others sketchbooks. It is so different to see the sketchbooks in reality and turn the pages. JJ and I had a discussion on drawing feathers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We sketched at Southbank in the shade of the trees looking over the river to the city. It was very hot and we were outside in the morning and headed for airconditioning from lunch onwards.



I revisited the same area later in the week to draw some more.

 



NEWCASTLE


Newcastle was an organised USK event where Sydney Urban Sketchers visited Newcastle. I have written the day up separately  http://australia.urbansketchers.org/2014/01/newcastle-alissa-duke.html.

It was a wonderful event and so good for many of us to connect with Urban Sketchers we had met online and for the Newcastle sketchers to meet us (and vice versa) and show us their city . Thanks Phil .



Thanks Judy for the photos

MELBOURNE

Both of my visits interstate coincided with extreme heat. It was 41 degrees in Brisbane and 44 degrees (for 4 days in a row) in Melbourne. But still we sketched, finding shade in the morning and then air-conditioning. A hardy bunch !

I was in Melbourne for a week and fortunate to have all my days free , so lots of time to line up sketching activities with Urban Sketchers in Melbourne.  Kym, Evelyn and Angela - combinations of the three, and others as well. I had met them two or three times before, so it is like meeting up with friends (which is actually what it is). We took every opportunity to meet and sketch: before they started work (a 7am start one morning!) their lunch hours and any other time. My visit also coincided with another Sydney sketcher travelling. Chantal was in Melbourne and visiting her sister Suzette. We had a morning with them too.

DAY 1

Sketching with Kym before she started work. The staff at The Quarter on Degraves Street  took our photo and put it on instagram. We received lovely reactions and had some great conversations everywhere we sketched. In most cases cafe staff love it when you sketch their food, cafe or coffee. I think that it is because you are taking the time to appreciate on paper the food they have taken time to prepare and look at it in a way that other people do not.  

 

Breakfast with Kym at The Quarter café in Degraves Street

 

Old Treasury Building - historic museum and exhibition




with Angela and Evelyn at The Old Treasury building

with Evelyn at Time Out Café in Federation Square

with Evelyn at Time Out Café in Federation Square

DAY 2 

 

With Chantal, Suzette, Evelyn at Koko Black cafe where they let us sit all morning and gave us a sample of chocolate

 

 

 After farewelling Suzette and Chantal, Evelyn and Angela and I ventured outside into the heat.The joy of sketching with locals is they can suggest places to sketch and it is often an opportunity for them to sketch something that they have been meaning to do for ages. They took me to Town Hall. There are a number of pianos in public spaces called "Play Me I'm Yours" - which is what it is. A piano is there (all painted colourfully).  You can sit and play them. I do not play, so sketched them !

 



with Evelyn and Angela at Town Hall "Play Me I'm Yours" piano

 

I then found another piano and player outside State Library of Victoria


another "Play Me I'm Yours" piano. State Library. on my own

DAY 3

The earliest start 7am, for a prework sketch with Kim & Angela in one of Melbourne's laneway cafes. Plenty of time for continuing conversations that we had started the day before !

with Kym and Angela and No 5 Café
 

Then moving onto a tearoom that Angela had wanted to sketch. We sat outside looking in


with Kym and Angela at Hopetoun tearooms. the Block Arcade

My final sketch with a Melbourne sketcher was as Evelyn & I sat on the steps of the Parliament of Victoria. She sketched the panoramic view and is determined to bring the Urban Sketchers group here. I sketched the building for another project I am working on (which is another blogpost on another day) . We were sketching when a camera crew and others came out and were interviewing a politician/spokesman from Emergency Services about the ambulances coping with the demands in the extreme heat. So I sketched them !



on the steps of Parliament House. with Evelyn

 

 

 

USK Sydney Cockatoo Island

 Yesterday, about 15 sketchers met at Sydney's Cockatoo island (a quick ferry ride in the harbour)for the final Urban Sketchers Sydney event for the year. The weather was all blue skies and sunshine, as summer has finally decided to arrive in Sydney. We have visited Cockatoo Island regularly as is so full of inspiration and potential sketching opportunities

 

 

I always like to arrive  a little early to start sketching before everyone arrives and I start talking. I sat the café with Phil & Chris and looked back to Sydney, sketching the panorama in watercolour pencil. Is was so peaceful.

 

 

 

Often when I visit Cockatoo Island I feel the need to draw BIG-  the buildings are big, the cranes are big . I draw everyday on a 20 x 13 cm moleskine watercolour sketchbook. So this time I came prepared with some larger sheets of paper, Unfortunately, I was in the mood for drawing small....so the papers were left untouched this time. But I will return in the New Year to experiment with size and equipment

 

The Drawing Office is one of my favourite buildings on the island. And that was even before I knew that it was called the Drawing Office and then that just made if more special. The Drawing Office was established in 1914 as part of the dockyards of the Royal Australian Navy, which were based there.I love the colour and textures, the greens and the rust .I have sketched it a few times previously. We only had about half and hour for this one before meeting everyone for lunch.

 

some of the sketchbooks from the morning

We chatted, compared notes on what and where we sketched and the experience of the morning.

 

Liz Steel reminded me that Cockatoo Island was the first place we met and sketched together way back in 2008. It was an International Sketchcrawl and we were the only two that turned up. How much has changed in our sketching lives since then! So many wonderful art adventures, meeting some interesting and inspirational people. There have been opportunities in the art world that I never would have dreamed of.

Certainly my sketching has changed. I think that I am more confident in my line and colour. I feel like I am capturing a lot more character of the object I am drawing. Below are my sketches from 2008.

I can see that my subject matter has not altered at all, and I could have chosen the same objects this weekend.  That would have been interesting!

 

I am still using watercolour pencils, as I had only just discovered them then and am now a complete aficionado.

 

I was using Pitt pens and Micron pens then, whereas now I love my Lamy Safarfi Joy ink pen. The flow of ink off the nib is so smooth and suits my drawing style.

 

I also drew on castoff sheets of A4 card stock then, and now I am up to Moleskine watercolour sketchbook number 37 since December 2008. I will be starting on sketchbook number 38 as I fly home for Christmas in a short time. I sketched at the airport for my Christmas flight in 2008 in the first pages of my first Moleskine. I am getting nostalgic thinking about it!

Urban Sketching in Melbourne

I was fortunate enough to spend a few days in Melbourne.It was even more wonderful that Melbourne Urban Sketchers were having a Sketchcrawl. I had met four of the sketchers separately on my last visit to Melbourne, Jodi, Evelyn, Kym and Angela and now I got to see them all in one place and with another 12 or so sketchers. It was inspirational and motivational to sketch with the group and to meet a new group of sketchers.

The weather was sunny and warm and the day could not have been more perfect. 

I started with a coffee from Brunetti's (we were meeting there) in Lygon Street . I sketched the staff and then took the cup home to draw it later

Then we all  walked just around the corner to the back of La Mama, where there was a courtyard, with LOTS to sketch and seats as well. 

my sketch

I was fascinated by the rooftops and brickwork of the back of the shops. We were going to be there for two hours and I quickly realised that I was not going to have time to be able to get a lot of the scene onto the page. I think I decided (sort of) to feature a bit of texture and colour.  I  used my watercolour pencils (decided not to use ink) in my Moleskine accordion style watercolour sketchbook (special Barcelona edition) . This style of book let my lines wander across the pages . 

some of our sketchbooks 

We kept sketching through lunch, with the tables covered dominated by sketchbooks more than food at times

my pencils overtaking my plate

lunch at the Lygon Food Store

The rest of my Melbourne urban sketching ........

after lunch we visited urban sketcher Jodi Wiley's exhibition at a cafe/gallery (and sketched it)

and then  Melbourne ... everyday life 

USK at Sydney Uni

Urban Sketchers Australia, Sydney event.

Eleven sketchers met on a cool grey day at the University of Sydney- Australia's oldest university (1862) to paint, sketch and draw . Most of us stayed in the oldest area - the Quadrangle. But there is so much detail - where to begin ?
I have been reading about the Victorian Gothic revival buildings of London , including Westminster , which this building was modelled on. So I was in the right mindset to draw this wonderful building.

When I approach such an impressive large building I draw it quickly (ish) in ink. I think I spent about 20 minutes on the ink sketch. It is too easy for me to get overwhelmed by the architecture. I usually have disappearing edges (I am not sure what they are called) , where I don't draw the entire building or to the very edges/.

 

 



a short simple sketch in ink of the building

 

I then like to focus on a few details. I bring out my lovely watercolour pencils.

I think that the combination of the two styles provides a snapshot of the building and its character and what appeals to me about it.

 



close up of details



more details

It didn't matter that I didn't finish this doorway, There is enough there to let you know what it is like.
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Capital time in Canberra

Took a couple of days visit to our country's capital to do a bit of sketching. Canberra has so much space and so perfectly planned it is so different from Sydney. It's also a lot greener too which was nice. And incredibly quiet. Today I've uploaded my bus stops of Canberra and a few other pieces. Tomorrow I will add some more.

These bus stops are out of some 70s science fiction movie, and may have reached iconic status as part of the Canberra urban landscape.


We took the train down, and I found a lovely combination of three inktense pencils (mustard, leaf green and iron grey) that I used in these window thumbnails.
This is the Carillion, a long-time landmark in Canberra. It is a free standing bell tower situated on Lake Burley Griffin. I remember the last time I was there I saw an outdoor performance of a Midsummer Night's Dream.
This is a large scale sculpture group of pears outside the National Gallery. It doesn't have the granduer of the glass pyramid at the Louvre, but it is synonymous with the gallery for so many generations.