Christmas sketching in Melbourne

A small group of Melbourne Sketchers got together for our annual Christmas Sketch in the city. We spent a couple of hours sketching (attracting some curious onlookers), then got together for a card exchange, and lunch.

It was a fun session. Here are our collective efforts completed during the couple of hours. Each of us submitted a sketch for exchange and went home with a sketch completed by another sketcher.

 

I had 2 colours with me. Here are some of my sketches. The following two were completed at Christmas Square at Collins Place.

  

There is a big Lego Christmas Tree at Federation Square and I found a nice spot away from the crowd to sketch it.

 

And for sketch exchange, I made a card with inks (below). On the right, I captured Santa in my selfie. Happy Christmas everyone, and all the best for 2016.

My Melbourne Sketchbook

Last month I was in Melbourne for 12 days on a sketching vacation. I feels like a long time ago because it always seems to take weeks for me to get around to scanning and posting all my sketches. So finally, I can now share them all with you.


Here they are in a single image

and here in an Issuu version so you can flip through every page.


As always with a trip to Melbourne I managed to sketch Flinders Street Station(FSS) a FEW times (this is an understatement!)… in fact I do try to sketch it every day I pass by it - one day I sketched it three times!  The opening image was my last sketch for the trip just before I headed to the airport and this ink sketch was done immediately after arriving.


I also sketched it from other angles - from looking down one of Melbourne's famous laneways and from the other side of the Yarra River. Yep! I am have a chronic FSS problem!


I continued my recent trend of sketching bigger street views in ink only - East Melbourne in a grey ink and Swan St Richmond in brown ink. Both were done using a Sailor pen with a Fude nib.


I also visited a lot of cafes and drank a lot of coffee. The coffee in Melbourne is amazing, however I think the tea is better in Sydney. Many of these cafe visits were in the great company of Urban Sketchers - Chris Haldane from Sydney, Paul Wang from Singapore or any number of the amazing local Melbourne Urban Sketchers. We were certainly looked after very well!


The biggest thing about this trip for me was the fact that my sketching was limited. I know that it doesn't look that way from the quantity that I achieved, but my left hand was out of action for a few days (recovering from an injection that I had a few days before the trip). As a result I did a number of sketches using my other hand (right hand)!


It was a lot of fun, although slightly frustrating, and I realised that most of my sketching skills have to do with my vision and the decisions I make rather than the execution, so having limited control using my other hand didn't make quite as much impact as I thought it would. It made me ponder whether my eye-hand coordination skills were transferrable between left and right and whether it was simply a matter of control - something that was improving every time I tried! It was also a lot easier to paint that it was to draw (this sketch of my food was all right hand!)

If you want to read more about my trip please visit my blog. As always I learn so much when I go on a sketching trip and come home with new ideas - these are summarised in my Seven Reflections from my Melbourne trip.

Presentation by Paul Wang and Liz Steel, and Sketchcrawl in North Melbourne

What a treat to have Paul Wang and Liz Steel present to the Melbourne Urban Sketchers last Saturday (11/4). It was very informative for us - via slideshow and video, we saw some urban sketching events in other cities, Paul’s work over the years as well as a glimpse of his approach. We also heard about the upcoming symposium from Liz that got many of us excited.

 
The morning presentation was followed by sketching around Errol Street in North Melbourne.

This is the sketch I completed during the session, just outside the Town Hall and looking towards a row of shops.

Paul Wang facilitated the show and tell after sketching.

There was more sketching afterwards at the Auction Room cafe over drinks and food, and later at Joe Taylor Bar over drinks. It was a fun day that started at 10am and for some of us ended after dinner. 

Urbansketching in the city

Sketchcrawl in the city to capture the Melbourne Christmas spirit…

A lady collecting for those in need below.

 

At ‪Christmas Square in Melbourne below - lots of colours, elves, antlers and people.

 

Enjoying a cup of chocolate at Koko Black in Royal Arcade - taking a break from Christmas shopping.

3days Stay In Melbourne, John Barrow Collection, PM Literary Awards

Hi, Friends, I spent time with Australian prominent illustrators, authors, publishers and agencies at John Barrow Collection organised by the mentor Ann James in Melbourne. It displayed the priceless original illustrations and illustrators' work processes. It was amazing to see the originals in my own eyes and compared them to picture books set at originals. I've learned lot. Great fun to meet super stars in person such as Leigh Hobbs, Gabrielle Wang, Jane Tanner, Craig Smith etc, etc, oh, too many to write them up. Some people who could not join ask Ann to have it again in next Feb. Sweet editor/publisher Helen Chamberlin took me to a cafe and we enjoyed a chat. Very supportive Helen introduced me to others. I really appreciate many people's support.

"Flinders St Station"

A next day, Monday, Ann and Helen were invited to Prime Minister Literary Awards 2014 in the evening. Helen accompanied Shaun Tan. (*Yes, Helen has nurtured Shaun and gave him a debut chance in children picture books.)  In a Children's fiction section, Bob Graham's picture book, "Silver Buttons" won!  I love Bob's work and admire him! Bob donated his winnings to refugees! What a marvelous coincidence! Ann James organised Bob's exhibition in Canberra in the past June last year. We celebrated Bob's win. I'm very happy to work with such a fantastic mentor and to be surrounded by humanistic illustrators who have a big heart and passion for social justice.  

 "Melbourne Town Hall and Trams"

In Melbourne, trams are cute and singing "ting, ting" always.  

Btw, it's much cooler in Melbourne than in Sydney. In Sydney, I do not need any long sleeves right now in summer. But in Melbourne, a light overcoat or a jacket are essential. How come? Beside a cool temperature, a weather is changing dramatically there. It is called, "Four seasons are in a day," brrrrr! I luckily sketched architectures in sunshine. 

One more, I'd write about the wonderful volunteer spirit in Melbourne! (Sydney does not have them on main streets.) When you get lost on streets what/whenever, find people in red uniforms. They happily help you! Volunteers love Melbourne! 

Thank you for people in Melbourne. You gave me a wonderful memory and heart warming time there. 
Now, I'll work on ongoing projects and portraits. 
Friends, Happy Painting! 

Christmas ribbon

Christmas decorations are up in Melbourne. This is the pedestrian bridge across the Yarra River in front of Southgate.

Melbourne USK exhibition at Town Hall Gallery

First a video

And a nice write-up byTown Hall Gallery

82 pieces of work all lined up on the floor – during installation

Work in progress

Looking great.

The launch – packed!

The show goes on till Dec 6 at Town Hall Gallery.

A day out sketching in Hawthorn (Melbourne USK)

With over 20 Melbourne sketchers soaking up the sun in Hawthorn, we were set for a good day. There is so much to sketch on Glenferrie Road as its a hub for shopping, cafes and Swinburne university. We are having a group exhibition of Boroondara in Nov at the Hawthorn Art Centre. So everyone was keen to get some solid sketching in. We managed to replenish at Once a Tailor which had a big (kind of a secret) room out the back.

Jay painting the Catholic Church scene (Lynch St, Hawthorn)

Once a Tailor, Glenferrie Road

With an early start Angela and I found a VW parked on Burwood Road. We met the owner of the van and he said he would walk to the cafe so we could finish sketching it. We sent him a scan of our sketches as a thank you. It had cool crochet rugs on the seats.

I decided to sketch the Hawthorn Town Hall with its giant clock faces. It has the different times that I was sketching the hands. I have heard people do one for when they start the sketch and another when they finish.

After lunch I sat out the front of the laundro-mat and sketched the top of the buildings along Glenferrie Road. I got a few people come to chat.

Sketching at the University of Melbourne

Melbourne USK Sketchcrawl at the University of Melbourne – first sketch over breakfast. The university was quite quiet since it was a Saturday.

Lots of heritage buildings here.

A red Vespa and her little cousin, a red push bike :) – surely I had to sketch them.

Open House (Melbourne USK)

Every year Open House in Melbourne allows the public to see buildings that you otherwise might not have the chance. They even have a ballot to get into the most exclusive ones. For alot of they have limits of the group size and long lines. We managed to find a treasure in St Patricks Cathedral. It was warm, with beautiful lighting and lots of seats. Then we went to the Old Treasury building (you can access throughout the year). We found little hidey holes or lent against the walls.  

 

The inside is really amazing with the soft lighting and pillars.

Annual Zombie Shuffle in Melbourne

“Zombies” gathered at the Treasury Gardens a couple of weeks ago. It was a great opportunity to draw as the sun was out and it was a beautiful day. I did not manage to get many zombies in my sketch so I got 2 of them to hold my sketchbook. Such a fun day to sketch and to people watch.

Lucy Loves Charlie - Auburn Road, Hawthorn (Melbourne USK)

I live just 5 mins drive away from Auburn Rd, but I'd never really been down there. The small village of shops in Hawthorn is a treat to draw: from the heritage buildings to the cute shop fronts. Lucy loves Charlie is a florist which stands out. It's certainly a complex but lovely heritage building. Then Angela pointed out a shop front of shoes and I was hooked. We seem to be having a run of beautiful sunny Saturdays, perfect for our sketch meetups.

Melbourne USK visit the Royal Arcade

As you can see we were rugged up for Melbourne winter weather to sketch the Royal Arcade which is on Bourke Street in the CBD. Some of managed to sketch outside for an hour or so before finding refuge from the chill inside the arcade. The Royal Arcade is Victorian heritage and one of the draw cards is the giant clock which has two giant statues Gog and Magog either side.

We had a good day, enjoying a hot chocolate (at chokolait) and then followed with some lunch and more sketching at one of my favourite cafes in Melbourne. The Little Mule is hidden cafe down an alleyway. They service and sell bikes so they have things hanging off the wall and the staff are a treat. They hold classes there during the week (Laneway Learning).