Waterfall Cottage, Bayview

Had a great day on Saturday, with fellow sketcher Chris, at a wonderful house and garden at Bayview - Waterfall Cottage (only opened two weekends a year)

Very loose and quick (ratty) sketching as it was impossible to find a comfortable place to sit to sketch. Colour later (in a similar style!)

Although I have a seat for this sketch, the constant demand for seats on the verandah meant that I was rushing this one too. I coloured this one at the time.



Nothing like a time of chill after being out in the sun sketching...of course at my favourite hang-out T2 teahouse.

The last pages of 2011

In a very serendipitous (I never thought I'd ever get to use that word!) way, I finished my first Urban Sketches book on the last day of 2011. I must confess I could not use half the pages in the book as the waterbrushed ink soaked through to the other side. But I have a brand new sketchbook ready and waiting to be used for the new year, and it is definitely of a thicker stock.

However, I am in two minds of whether to keep on with the Marrickville/Inner West theme, as I also have other ideas – sketching from bus stops OR drawing all the discarded junk people leave out on the streets. I've seen some crazy stuff left on the kerbs. Any suggestions/opinions are welcomed...

Have a great 2012 people!!

Hi Everyone, I've just joined the blog. My name is Andrea, I live in regional WA, so the urban part of my sketching isn't as regular as I would like. I've been sketching people in public places on and off for years. Sometimes the 'off' period is quite a number of years. I hope contributing to this great blog will spur me on through those dull periods. You can see my drawings on http://www.flickr.com/photos/andreaschell/.

Here are a couple of oldies. Cafe's have been great places to draw people. People sit still long enough, and there's often the intimacy of the sketcher and sketchee(s) both being private in a public space. The first drawing was in a cafe in a small nearby city called Bunbury, and the second was drawn at the Hare Krishna restaurant in Northbridge (Perth). What I like about the Hare Krishna drawing is observing how uncomfortable it can be to share space with strangers sometimes. From memory it was their awkward body language that caught my attention.

I think it's the intimacy of life I like to draw. The close up rather than the wide view. Drawing the police state that Perth is at the moment during CHOGM could make for some interesting drawings for an artist interested in that sort of thing. I'm just glad I'm a couple of hundred km's away.

Quick trip to Melbourne

Here are the sketches I managed to fit in during a work trip to Melbourne on Thursday and Friday... constant meetings but one nearly always gets a chance on the plane...and meal times...ah! the food is so good in Melbourne. And yes, I found a WONDERFUL tea and I did also get a good Melbourne coffee.

In Colour

My past contributions to USAust/Sydney have been in black & white and around my home suburb. But I've been doing a few more colour stuff out and around Sydney. So have decided to contribute these to the site.

Cafes of Newtown (4) Astino's

I've been to this cafe many times. It's not far from where I live and right across from the Dendy (cinema). But I've never noticed the cups till I took my sketchbook and went on my recent coloured cup crusade. I have to go back to draw the saucer one day, because right underneath the cup are three little coloured squares.

The almond friand was good too.

Coffee shops of Newtown - Hoochie Mamma

Hoochie Mamma is in Missenden Road, right near the big medical centre. I'd never been in but I'd already rejected two other local coffee shops to draw in - white cups & visually boring food. Struck the bonanza at Hoochie Mamma. Beautiful tawny orange cups and so much gorgeous food. Heading for the medical centre, I'd given myself a special dispensation to have chocolate. I chose a Hoochie Mamma made caramel slice. With all the drawing, I had to rush it and it was soooooooooooo good. I think I deserve another one.

Coffee Shops of Newtown - Chill Cafe

Oh yes, working too late at night finishing off my page. That's how the name got an extra 'I' on the end. Silly me! I had an early appointment in that part of Newtown and I wanted to go to the best button shop in Sydney, All Buttons Great & Small. I wanted to buy one button for a necklace fastening. I thought the necklace was cobalt blue, but seen beside it, the blues looked too green. This amethyst coloured glass button picks up the cobalt blue and turns it to the exact right colour. That's colour theory for you!

I was waiting for the shop to open so I had this coffee and muesli slice. I drew the button at home afterwards to differentiate between this day, and many other days at cafes with white cups & plates. They had another shape of great red chair though, so I'll be back to draw the chair when there's more time. Good cookie too.

A bit of Lisbon in Sydney

For those of you who wished they had been in Lisbon last month with me... the best thing in Sydney is to visit Sweet Belem in Petersham. Their portuguese tarts are as good as they could be (outside of Portugal!!) Yum!! My friend and I spent the whole afternoon there and had two rounds of coffe/tea and pasteis de nata. YUM!!!

A busy May

I am not sure where the month of May went...but it is gone by without me feeling like I have been out sketching much. In compariosn with March and April I certainly haven't done much urban sketching.
At the beginning of the month I join a group of over 100 sketchers in a Every Day in May challenge. I was unable to continue with it for the last two weeks but had fun earlier in the month. Here are two of the 'more' urban sketches.

On the day when we were to draw salt and pepper shakers we went around various cafes in Crows Nest to find the most interesting to draw. Cafe Ticino (which also happens to have the best Earl Grey tea in Crows Nest) had a choice of three varieties.

Draw a fence - the backyard where I grew up is unusual as until recently there were no fence between our house and the neighbors. We often used to share the lawn with our neighbours growing up - especially useful for backyard cricket when either of us had visitors and we often played hide and seek type games across the two properties. We never thought that there was a need for privacy from them. The only reason for the fence was because the current neighbours bought a dog but even then both they and my parents didn't want to lose the openness.

I also made it back to the Botanic Gardens a few weeks ago - it is amazing how much the season has changed in the 2 weeks of absence.

And finally, starting this week I am using sketching for a most important purpose.... that is to lose a few kilos so that I can have a nice 'cake allowance' during my trip to Lisbon in July. Sketching my food is the best way for keeping my on the straight and narrow! It is also good training for fast travel sketching. (more of my trip preparation soon)

Sydney's best Portuguese Tart

Scones are out and Portuguese tarts are in... I wonder why?
After some research, this afternoon I visited the cafe with the reputation of the best P-Tart in Sydney.. at Sweet Belem Petersham. It was AMAZING!!!! The pastry was crisp, flaky and nicely burnt, the custard was still warm! Cinnamon on top lovely. I am no expert but enjoyed it tremendously. Would love to hear from any experts about what to look out for... need to get in training for July! (if you don't know this years Urban Sketchers Symposium is in Lisbon in July)
Got takeaway and then sketched in my car - view on my lap and view out the window.



Earlier in the week I had high tea at my favourite tearoom (t2 teahouse) with my Scottish sketching friend Eza (who has now left to go home!) We spent so much time sketching that we didn't even eat the cakes - only (!!??) the sandwiches, quiches and scones. A full description of what we were provided with is here. The diet starts on Monday - truly it does!!!

Earlwood, Enmore & Marrickville

I had planned to draw around Steele Park and Cooks River this day, but the weather was bad for plein-air sketching. I headed up to Earlwood and stopped in a for a hot coffee and cannoli at Salvatore's Bakehouse. There's nothing like going for a long walk to justify eating pastries!

The next day was the complete opposite - sunny, warm and dry. So I busted outside and headed down to Enmore Park. When I was at school we use to play here after going to swimming classes at Enmore Pool. The only thing that remains is the Rocket Ship. However, they have since blocked off the two higher levels of the rocket in case kids get stuck up there - as adults can't fit inside to rescue them!

Back in Marrickville, Agar St has some second-hand stores that only open on weekends. Plus one of many bicycle stores that have popped in the area over the last couple of years.

Three great tearooms/cafes in 24 hours

I am not going to dump this blog with all the tearoom/café sketches that I do (you can go to my blog for that!) but here are the three excellent establishments that I visited within 24 hours last weekend!
Sydney has such a GREAT range of cafes!



Friday night 5.45pm SPARROW Crows Nest
Got a chance to go back to this place- which is very nice. They have two varieties of Earl Grey. Due to no one being around when I left the cafe on my first visit I didn't get a chance to leave a card...however the owners had found my blog anyway so were rather excited when they saw me sketching and asked if I was the sketcher? Almost like being famous!?!



Saturday 10.00am - TARA TEA ROOM The Rocks
Morning with Alissa, Wendy and Annie - my sketching buddies who are also involved in the Garden Sketchabout which starts TOMORROW.
LOVE this place!!!! The scones are amazing and the owner is SO nice- thanks Ash for another special visit. LOVE LOVE the cosies!!!



Saturday 3.15pm T2 Tea House Macquarie Centre, North Ryde
Meeting up with a friend at T2 at 4pm..didn't feel like shopping so went an hour early to sketch and chill. To do a 'serious' sketch I have to tearooms in solo mode.


Lovely to have someone to share T2 with - my friend ordered a coffee and it looked spectacular with a T2 saucer!! Very stylish.