Sydney boats and ships

The day started with fine weather in Sydney. I did not plan to sketch boats (tea cosies were my focus today) but ended up sketching big and small ones.

 

It is cruise ship season and there always seems to be a large ship at Circular Quay.  It will most probably be a different ship everyday. They usually only stay 24 hours in Sydney, before sailing out. That is the time that the passengers get to leave the ship and explore our city. Circular Quay is a wonderful place to be as you can see so much of iconic Sydney by looking around you - Sydney Opera House, Sydney Harbour Bridge, The Rocks, Botanic Gardens.......

 

 

 

 

 

The amount of foreshortening and the perspective involved in drawing the ship is amazing and great fun. Today, however my view was continually blocked by tourists taking photos. So, I included them as well. I am not sure why they stopped in front of me

 

 

 

 

 

Later in the day I walked past the ship again and the sense of excitement was building as passengers dropped their baggage off and were saying final farewells to family and friends. I started the sketch with the photographer and the family group . They moved on quickly and I added the background. You can't actually  tell that there is a ship there as it is SO BIG. This sketch lost its focus as I added more and more, so I tried to bring in the focus by adding most of the colour in the group of people

 

I actually started the day "small" by sketching on the ferry on the way into the city. and ended the day BIG with the ships.

A bit of colour in Sydney

Yesterday at our Sydney Sketchclub Meetup at the Australian National Maritime Museum we had such beautiful weather it was too nice a day to spend in a darkly lit museum drawing things in glass cabinets so I decided to sit outside and draw on the wharf.

Then afterwards I headed over to the Chinese Garden of Friendship. I needed some photo reference of the architecture and motifs for a project I’m working on, but I managed to do a few ink drawings while I was there too. 

Sydney Inkorporated

That's such a terrible heading... Anyway, apologies for not having contributed in awhile I have been holding off until I got my own blog sorted out.

After my success at Cockatoo Island I was keen to test it out some more - making sure it wasn't a fluke. I had  a quiet week so decided to head out around Sydney. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great - I think I had one or two days free of rain, but it was quite satisfying and am dying to get outdoors again.

St Stephens Cemetery, Newtown

National Maritime Museum

Macquarie Street

Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens

Dixon Street, Chinatown

If anyone would like to see more of my colour inks please visit my blog scratchyas.com  Cheers!

Farewell to the Duyfken

I had to go back to the Maritime Museum last week again, because the Duyfken is leaving Sydney and going to WA for 10 years. She is such a beautiful little ship (a replica) and I've drawn her a few times.
We went on board and there were wonderful things to see there too - wooden kitchenware, I guess you'd call it. Cannons. I took some photos with my phone and I have material there for a lot of still life paintings.

We then went on board the sailing ship James Craig. I've been before and even sailed on her, so while my friend did the tour, I drew a lifeboat. I then bravely drew the whole Duyfen (I've only done sections before - she is so ornate) though I couldn't fit her all in. Drawing so small is not my forte.

The boat on the right is the Tu Do (freedom) which brought refugees to Australia in 1977. You can read the story here.

My ears are shells, fondly hearing the sound of the sea

Hi, Friends, how have you been?
The subject line is originally by Jean Cocteau.
"Mon oreille est un coquillage Qui aime le bruit de la mer"

(=My ear is a shell who loves the sound of the sea)

私の耳は貝の殻 海の響きを懐かしむ ---ジャン コクトー

Narrabeen

I've loved looking at waves and hearing sounds since childhood. The sounds of waves are bit similar to the blood flow in a mother's womb. Could be...the unconscious memory takes me to a sea to listen to it.

Looking at ships is another fun. Retired, still working, etc, etc. Each ship tells her life long story. Quite interesting and wonder why a female gender is applied to a pronoun for a "ship" in English. Who started to call a ship in an elegant(?) manner? A romantic soul? Or simply because a sailor projected his desire onto a ship during a long journey without a girl? Imagination always amuses me.

In the afternoon, sketching in light is nice. Feeling a soft breeze, I always smile at the sea in a wharf. Silent. Quiet and peacefull.

Drummoyne

Friends, when you come to Sydney, visit beaches and wharfs and enjoy serenity.
Have a nice weekend!

National Maritime Museum

This wonderfully elaborate sailing ship is a replica of the Duyfken, an East Indiaman. The original ship sailed from Banten (Bantam in English) in Java in 1606 to Australia where it mapped Cape York. Strangely I was already thinking seriously about a holiday in Banten. I've been to Java but not further west than Yogyakarta.

The Sydney Sketch Club went to the National Maritime Museum on Saturday. The winter has been pretty wet and cold so far, and there's great drawing both inside and out. Lucky for us it was a perfect day. Sunny and 20 degrees. Beanie and gloves not required.

My second drawing was done looking down on this little rubber boat - they tell me it's called a rubber ducky, From the sublime to the ridiculous really, isn't it!