Sydney boats and ships

The day started with fine weather in Sydney. I did not plan to sketch boats (tea cosies were my focus today) but ended up sketching big and small ones.

 

It is cruise ship season and there always seems to be a large ship at Circular Quay.  It will most probably be a different ship everyday. They usually only stay 24 hours in Sydney, before sailing out. That is the time that the passengers get to leave the ship and explore our city. Circular Quay is a wonderful place to be as you can see so much of iconic Sydney by looking around you - Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge, The Rocks, Botanic Gardens.......

 

 

 

 

 

The amount of foreshortening and the perspective involved in drawing the ship is amazing and great fun. Today, however my view was continually blocked by tourists taking photos. So, I included them as well. I am not sure why they stopped in front of me

 

 

 

 

 

Later in the day I walked past the ship again and the sense of excitement was building as passengers dropped their baggage off and were saying final farewells to family and friends. I started the sketch with the photographer and the family group . They moved on quickly and I added the background. You can't actually  tell that there is a ship there as it is SO BIG. This sketch lost its focus as I added more and more, so I tried to bring in the focus by adding most of the colour in the group of people

 

I actually started the day "small" by sketching on the ferry on the way into the city. and ended the day BIG with the ships.

Sunset over Sydney

I headed out as part of the welcoming committee for a fellow sketcher from the US, thinking what gawd-awful weather we've been having lately and that we weren't going to get a few hours to sketch outdoors. But just when you think you have mother nature pegged, it turned out to be a perfect evening with a beautiful sunset thrown in. I tried to capture all the reflections on the sails, but they kept changing all the time.

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!

Queen Elizabeth III in Sydney Harbour

In the past week Sydney has been fortunate to be visited by the cruise liners Queen Elizabeth III and Queen Mary for just 24 hours. I caught a bus to Circular Quay and drew the QEIII before work one morning, with the Harbour Bridge in the background. It is a huge, grand liner! To the right (out of frame) is the Opera House . What a scene !!!