Archibald2012 & Be What I Am Fully

Hi, Friends, how have you been? I sketched Archibald 2012, the most prestigious portrait competition in Australia. Here, NSW Gallery entrance.

None of watercolour work was in. Most finalists' paintings were oil or acrylics. "John Yu With Artist" (Jun Chen) caught my eyes, as the colour "green" used in the face and the strong brush strokes fascinated me.  

You can guess how huge paintings were. It was the main stream. But I'll keep my own style.

The other day, I sketched a psychologist and popular writer, Hugh McKay at his book launch. Although the work size is A4, I'm happy with it. That's the point! "Be what I am most." 

OK, I'm loosening up landscape with washes. We saw the huge rainbow over City after a heavy shower. Beautiful and full of hope! 
I've begun to get how to loosen up. Only the problem is landscape does not move around that bores me so much. No joke. I love capturing movements.

To learn new techniques and master them takes time. I always want to take in new skills and enrich myself.


Although this post seems to have too many topics, what I tell myself is "Be what I am most." I do not need to be someone else, but myself fully. Even without a signature, my work should tell who made it -- Sadami. So, I explore skills, pursue originality and will be what I am fully. 
Friends, Happy Painting!! 

Capital time in Canberra

Took a couple of days visit to our country's capital to do a bit of sketching. Canberra has so much space and so perfectly planned it is so different from Sydney. It's also a lot greener too which was nice. And incredibly quiet. Today I've uploaded my bus stops of Canberra and a few other pieces. Tomorrow I will add some more.

These bus stops are out of some 70s science fiction movie, and may have reached iconic status as part of the Canberra urban landscape.


We took the train down, and I found a lovely combination of three inktense pencils (mustard, leaf green and iron grey) that I used in these window thumbnails.
This is the Carillion, a long-time landmark in Canberra. It is a free standing bell tower situated on Lake Burley Griffin. I remember the last time I was there I saw an outdoor performance of a Midsummer Night's Dream.
This is a large scale sculpture group of pears outside the National Gallery. It doesn't have the granduer of the glass pyramid at the Louvre, but it is synonymous with the gallery for so many generations.

Out and about on Saturday

I will leave my Spring Sketchabout sketches for a separate post as I want to include some sketches that our fellow sketchings in SF Bay Area were doing on the same day... though of course they were autumn sketching!
I started the day with some warm up architectural sketches... trying a few alternative ways to sketch architecture these days rather than just trying for an elaborate facade sketch.


After the sketchabout I popped into the art gallery for some solo sketching and a quiet cup of tea. Instead I ran into some of the sketchers from the garden so we had a lovely afternoon tea chatting about sketching! Having fun with a bit of collage....


After they left I decided to do a few quick 'museum' sketches before i left (colour added later from iphone photos and memory)

And then finally, I started to sketch this little fountain structure (I should look up what it is?) but the rain came down and I had to abandon it... maybe next visit to the garden I might get a chance to sketch it properly