Urban sketching my new city - Melbourne

I have been in Melbourne for two weeks, after moving from Sydney,  and have found it easy to continue my normal sketching patterns. I carry my Moleskine Watercolour sketchbook and watercolour pencils with me everywhere. I have the opportunity to quickly capture my new daily life.

 

 

Corner of  Collins and Elizabeth Streets . commuters on their way to work

 

At Flinders Street Station, looking at the timetables and platform notices





Fitzroy Gardens

 

I am also using my lunchtime to sketch the buildings around me. I have been very fortunate with the weather.

Supreme Court Library dome

Supreme Court Library window

 

 

 

On the weekend

 

I have sketched with Urban Sketchers Melbourne twice. At the moment they are focusing on sketching in the inner city Council District of Booroondara, which includes a number of suburbs including Hawthorn, Kew, Canterbury. It is in preparation for a urban Sketches exhibition at Town Hall Gallery Hawthorn in November. If you are visiting Melbourne, drop by and visit it. So I am getting to explore parts of Melbourne as well as meet new urban sketchers. I already knew Evelyn, Kym, Angela and Jodi from previous visits and am happy to be able to sketch and chat with them on a regular basis now.

 

This Saturday's visit was to Maling Road, Canterbury. A charming shopping village with beautiful shops, cafes and the weather was perfect too.

 

Classic fruits store

 

My lunch, of course

The BIG Draw in Melbourne

On 4 January, a bunch of sketchers from Melbourne came to participate in the BIG Draw event. It was an initiative apart of Melbourne Now (watch this video to see what its about) organized by the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV).

There were around 70-80 sketchers at the event in Fed Square. Lots of the public came to have a sneaky peak over shoulders and see what we were doing and some were even adventurous enough to join in.  We enjoyed sitting out on deck chairs and sprawled across the stage with sketchbooks and clipboards (for the public) in hand. It was a good vantage point with lots to draw (including Flinders St Station, St Paul's, Fed Square and of course other sketchers etc). 

It was a little overwhelming but exciting seeing some of our previous urban sketches showing on the big screen, and they captured some footage of the event for a TV spot (which I never saw as we were still out sketching that night). All in all it was a great day to meet fellow sketchers and introduce the public to the wonderful world of urban sketching. 

 #melbournenow #urbansketchers #fedsquare