Random ramblings

Work has been frantic lately and I realised I have all these one off sketches I have done over the last month and not uploaded them to anything. They are all disconnected from each other but worth sharing.

Still thinking about my architectural struggles, I took my sketchbook with me on a grocery run and stopped at a local park to draw the aquatic centre. I spent a few minutes studying the scene before launching into it, reading the patterns, etc. It worked out okay but it is very clinical and lacks a lot of character.

Catching a bus all the way from town in peak hour on a rainy day can be a very long journey. Initially I was going to draw whatever I could see out my window whenever the bus stopped, but as the bus filled up that became more interesting.

Met up with a few other Urban Sketchers on the nastiest last night in winter, what a performance Mother Nature put on. We found some refuge on the ferry pier, and I found the rain splattered windows looking out across to the Opera House really exciting. It was like an Impressionist's painting because it was softening the definition of the scene.

The first Sunday in Spring was too good to stay indoors, so I headed out for a few quick sketches. I had thought some more about my architectural studies and wanted to practice another approach. I hate putting in pencil lines but obviously the benefit of that is everything is in proportion and it all fits on the page. To avoid that I decided to paint very faint gestural strokes enough to give me some guidance. It seemed to work quite well, and by doing that it also took the pressure off "will it fit? have I left enough room?" and can now enjoy the sketch more thoroughly.

I did a two stage breakdown of another building (from a photo) on my blog if anyone would like to see it.

Cheers,
Meegan

Drawing Architecture

Over the last couple of months I have been spending time developing my architectural drawing skills. It's not something I am completely comfortable with drawing compared to figures. So there was a lot to learn and plenty more to develop and carry out. If anyone is interested in reading about my study please visit my blog. Cheers! 

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.

Earlwood, Enmore & Marrickville

I had planned to draw around Steele Park and Cooks River this day, but the weather was bad for plein-air sketching. I headed up to Earlwood and stopped in a for a hot coffee and cannoli at Salvatore's Bakehouse. There's nothing like going for a long walk to justify eating pastries!

The next day was the complete opposite - sunny, warm and dry. So I busted outside and headed down to Enmore Park. When I was at school we use to play here after going to swimming classes at Enmore Pool. The only thing that remains is the Rocket Ship. However, they have since blocked off the two higher levels of the rocket in case kids get stuck up there - as adults can't fit inside to rescue them!

Back in Marrickville, Agar St has some second-hand stores that only open on weekends. Plus one of many bicycle stores that have popped in the area over the last couple of years.