Sketching in Newcastle

A lovely day trip by train to Newcastle with the Urban Sketchers group. The first sketch stop for me was the former GPO building along Hunter Street. There is a gelato shop right across the road that only opens at 1pm so a few of us set ourselves up sketching sitting on steps of the still closed shop. Some of us continued sketching after lunch at the wharf. The weather was perfect, sunny with a slight breeze. We could not have asked for better conditions. 

Cockatoo Island

I wasn't going to be able to make it for the USK Cockatoo Island day yesterday so with the day off I had last week after Anzac Day, I made a solo trip over to make up for what I'll be missing! It was a beautiful, sunny day and I had the whole afternoon to just explore and sketch. The first sketch was done standing on higher ground in a sandstone covering what used to be a military guardhouse looking out to the southern docks. What caught my eye was the unexpected red container next to all the browns and greys.

For the second sketch, I choose somewhere closer to the wharf so that I can keep on going right up to when the ferry comes. It was getting dark by the time I left. There were people getting off the ferry with pillows and eskies when I was boarding, probably heading to the camp site.

Both sketches were done on location and colour applied at home.

Newtown

Sketches from last month's USK day at Newtown. It was a wet day but nevertheless, it was still a good sketch outing with great enthusiasm from everyone. A friend and her young daughter joined me for a couple of hours and we did some drawing from a small coffee shop along the main street when it started to rain. I caught up with the rest of the USKers after the rain stopped for a little more sketching and lunch.

Union Square, Pyrmont

Yesterday I attended my first USK meeting along with 9 other enthusiastic Sydney sketchers at Pyrmont. A supposedly very hot day turned into a close to perfect summer's day for sketching outdoors. We sketched at Union Square which is lined with very quaint old sandstone terraces. Some have been turned to commercial use while others are still homes. There are getting more high rise residential apartments around the area but it's good to know that there are many old buildings that are recognised as heritage and well retained.

Cremorne Point Walk

I have a list of walks around Sydney that I would like to do in the new year and this walk is the first of it. It was a beautiful day to be outdoors. Come tomorrow, this place will be packed with people trying to get the best vantage point for the new year's eve fireworks on the harbour bridge.

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!