Barangaroo Point Reserve Opening Day

I was very excited, after all the times I've drawn/painted this site over the last two years, to  be able to be there on the opening day of the reserve last Saturday. I got there early to get in some sketching before the crowds arrived and the ceremony began.  The site has been inaccessible for about 100 years as it was an old industrial / wharf area and closed to the public. It has been redeveloped into a park with amazing views across the water, which has changed the face of Sydney Harbour (and no doubt the tourist companies' schedules  too!!)

It felt quite special to realise I'm the first person to paint that harbour scene from that lovely spot on those sandstone blocks that now enclose the park, with the bridge in the background.

The foreshore was created using 7600 sandstone blocks reclaimed from the site, each numbered and placed in their exact position. The geometry of the way these  large  blocks have been laid is beautiful, as are the many colours to be found in them, some of which I tried to capture in my drawing. This view looks through to the Anzac Bridge in the background.

The old harbour control tower can be seen looming over the park from many viewpoints, asserting quite a presence. It was built after two ships collided near Millers Point in 1972. Some have called it "Sydney’s concrete mushroom", and sadly it has now been consigned to demolition, because they say it isn’t in keeping with the natural environment feel of the reserve. But I love it and the way it keeps its eye on the harbour and will be very sad to see it go!

This view was from the Burrawang Steps across the Stargazer Lawn, with the Harbour Bridge in the background. 

 Later in the morning a passerby told me there was someone else drawing around the corner, so sure enough, I found Lionel, another of our Sydney USK gang, drawing this tower from Wulugul Walk!

It was great to be part of the opening of this special place and I'm sure it will be enjoyed by Sydneysiders and visitors to our wonderful city alike!

Cockatoo Island and the Pipes Book

 I spent last Saturday at Cockatoo Island. We went out on an early ferry and though it was a beautiful day, it was cold on the ferry. A sign that autumn is coming.  I wanted to do some more work on my Pipes Book. I started it nearly a year ago, but a lot has happened since then. You can see what the cover looks like and read more about it here. It has ten pages in a concertina format and this image is of five of them, pretty much complete. I am keen to get back there and sketch some more, though with winter coming it gets cold out there on the harbour.

I have located many wonderful pipes in my local area, and the book is not totally devoted to Cockatoo Island, so as long as I can sketch outside I can proceed with the book. The trick will be to know when I have finished and leave enough white space, balanced throughout the ten pages.

Just time for another sketch before catching the ferry back to Circular Quay. The sun was hot by this time and we needed to be in the shade, so went inside the Industrial Precinct to sketch another one of the machines there. 

Just before Christmas....

We had planned to go out sketching in the Botanic Gardens. But in the days leading up to Christmas, the traffic in inner Sydney is horrific and we needed to cross the city to go to the Gardens. We decided to move on to Plan B.

We went to Iron Cove, just down behind the Leichhardt Pool where I used to swim. They used to tie the boats up on a wooden jetty, but they have them tied to a railing now. Not so picturesque, but still interesting with all the colours.

The sky was a bit cloudy and it was very hot. There was a strong wind, and we had to hold our sketchbooks firmly, and even so they occasionally did an inadvertent jiggle. That is why we drew in pencil and finished them at home. In fact the wind grew stronger and chased us away, so we went to Leichhardt (Italian area) for a coffee at the Locantro.

It's a long time since I've been able to go out sketching, but Saturday was the day to ease back into it.  We went to Darling Harbour near the Maritime Museum - one of my favourite spots. First we wandered round aimlessly deciding what to sketch. We tried going down near some of the smaller boats, but it proved to be a floating pontoon I stepped onto and the chop on the harbour nearly threw me off my feet.
Finally we just plonked down right where we were. There's something to see everywhere you look in that area. Strangely, right in front of us was this fire hydrant. With my fascination for sketching machinery, off I went.
It was a cloudy day - great sketching weather in fact. It was hot, so had the sun been out we would have been scrambling for shade.

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.

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.

Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

On Boxing Day, this is what most people in Sydney do - they either go out on the harbour to watch the start of the race, or they lay back in front of the tv and watch the race. This is the first time I've been out on the harbour to see it for years. Now, I belong to the Heritage Fleet which owns some wonderful old vessels restored and crewed by volunteers. I've been out a few times with them lately and although it wasn't sunny, it wasn't too breezy so the sketchbook wasn't flopping about too much.

I went out on the gentleman's schooner 'Boomerang', which, though it doesn't have sails any more, is a beautifully elegant ship. You can read more about it and see drawings from my November sail here. The sea was a little bumpy, but only a problem when drawing the straight lines around the boxes. I could have even put the colour on, but I was sitting next to a very nice lady in extremely pristine white linen, so I didn't dare get the paints out. (Imagine!)

There were many more yachts of course. The newspaper said that the sea was like a washing machine. We counted 13 helicopters, but I only drew four.

Sydney water scenes : Alissa Duke

For me, part of living in innercity Sydney is the proximity of the harbour. I am fortunate to walk to work along the waterfront.

The weather has been pleasant enough recently to enjoy being outdoors and I took the opportunity this week to draw some of the boats on the inner harbour waterways .

Sydney Harbour - From McMahons Point

Sydney Harbour and the Sydney Waterfront. It is one of the more beautiful views in the world, so no wonder that I never get tired of painting it (or sketching it). 

Boats at Iron Cove

I drove over to Iron Cove to draw the boats the other morning. It is on the inner harbour, west of the Bridge. I used to swim at Leichhardt Pool which is on a hill above this little park and boat jetty. It was a lovely spring morning, so I hopped in the car with my sketchbook. The light was a bit flat by the time I got there but I did my best and did some quick drawings of the boats. The pole with the sign is advice to fisherman not to eat fish from west of the harbour bridge because of levels of dioxin in the water.

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 !!!