A solo effort for the sketchcrawl

International Sketchcrawl day....Needing a quiet day rather than the buzz of being out with the Sydney gang (expecting over 25 sketchers at Darling Harbour) so I had a lovely day (so far- it is 3pm) at home with a little visit to T2 teahouse!



And here is my quick (out and about) sketch last night after work. first friday of our summer time (even though snowy up in the blue mountains) but I made the most of the extra our of sun light...
yes ho hum, I am sketching the same old view yet again!


Hope everyone had a good day today- looking forward to seeing what you did!

So what has everyone been sketching in May?

I have had a quiet-ish May in that I haven't been out on any sketching excursions lately. But it was so good to get out yesterday at lunchtime to sketch! I have been working on A4 sheets of paper lately and it has been a lot of fun and great not to have to wait for the paint/ink to dry on one sketch before starting the next ones.

I have been  preparing for the workshop that I will be running with Frank Ching at the upcoming Urban Sketchers Symposium in Santo Domingo on Sketching Architecture.(I would love it if there were going to be some Australians there..... for more info go here)

Anyway these sketches yesterday were part of this prep. I am exploring different ways of sketching complex buildings. I have recently reminded myself how much I love my Pentel Pocket Brush  - it is such a decisive tool to use. You have to live with every mark you make. Most people recommend working slowing with it... but me? No... I just go for it!

I have been hanging out in my favourite tearoom as well(what is new- hey?)...but trying to sketch views rather than just the cup and scones on the table!

Christmas Tree sketchers

Loving seeing Wendy and Alissa’s tree sketches. I wasn’t at all happy with mine (not at all focusing on my sketch...too busy chatting) but I did sketch the line of sketchers (what a great sight!)

Here is a photo (notice the little fellow sitting on my stool in the foreground wearing a red hat- thanks to Ea, correspondent from Denmark)

After this sketching event I went down to the Rocks... To my fav tearoom The Tea Cosy... Did some usual tea sketches. It is ages since I have been here!

...and then a rushed sketch of a wee building in the Rocks that is really quite complicated. Former Police Station.

Urban Sketchers makes the world even smaller!

I knew it would happen one day that I would be caught sketching by someone that knew me through Urban Sketchers and I also guessed that it might be at T2 teahouse since I know of at least one person that follows this blog that drinks there regularly... on Saturday, it happened .... and turned out to be more amazing than one would expect!

I was sitting in T2 sketching the view and the contents of my table when someone came up and asked "Are you Liz?"



She then explained that she knew my work from online ...and not only that but she was friends with Wil Freeborn! I immediately looking down at her legs and said ...I have seen your legs(your stockings) before!?!.... Wil(who is the correspondent from Glasgow) had sketched them earlier this month here and so I knew that he had an art friend moving to Australia. In fact she is wearing the same shoes...so I had to take a photo and the little fellow had to get in on the act!!!

How amazing is that!!!! Not only did someone know who I was, but I knew who they were! And just for the record, I am not in T2 THAT often....certainly not regularly so the chances of running into me there are not THAT high.

And of course, we are looking forward to having a new sketcher join our ranks!

The moral of the story...you just never know who how many people out there have heard of Urban Sketchers!

More maritime museum sketches- and more....

As per Wendy’s post... A group of Sydney sketchers had the most wonderful day sketching and catching up (always about sketching related topics!)
Here are my sketches from the morning.



In the afternoon I headed off in search of a a good tea and scone...walking to the other end of the CBD to visit the Tea Cosy tearoom....





I am shortly heading off to go to overseas for 3 weeks. 2 weeks in the UK and 1 week in Lisbon for the USK symposium so Saturday was a good ‘warmup’ for me. I am pretty happy that I got to sketch the opera house just before the trip. Last year sketching the Opera House on the day after I returned from my big one was very very special! This kinda ties the two together... the sketching journey continues whether you are at home or away.....

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.

A morning in town and an afternoon in the gardens

Here are my sketches from Saturday – another big day of sketching! Morning wandering around town, a spot of architecture sketching, a tearoom and an art store visit before heading to the Botanic Gardens...only two weeks to go to the start of the Great Garden Sketchabout..so trying to get some more sketches in my Garden sketchbook.

From Saturday 12 March - 18 April, the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney will host a free afternoon Sketchabout. You can meet other sketch artists and chat to our Volunteer Guides about the sights in the Garden. The Restaurant will be offering a special lunch and an afternoon tea with a creation by Chef Hamish Watts that's good enough to sketch (bookings essential). For more information visit www.autumnofthearts.com.au Please also check out the BLOG!

a quick sketch of the Strand Arcade while I was waiting for the Tea Centre to open (needed to stock up some of my Earl Grey tea – a citris variety which I am really into at the moment)

I then walked down to the Rocks (actually I should say UP to the Rocks as it is north of the retail precinct) for my second visit to Tara Tearoom. I have to say that I LOVE this place... so excited to find another special tearoom that I can presumptuously start to call 'my (kind-of) tearoom'. Lots of different tea cosies to sketch on future visits. Next stop was a great art store that actually stocks Daniel Smith!!! Wow!

Ok... time for the gardens. First stop was my favourite tree. There are lots of Moreton Bay figs (or similar) in the Royal Botanic Gardens but this one is the best!!! Love all those aerial roots.

I was feeling a little exhausted so I went to lie down on the grass in the shade for a bit. Didn't last long as I felt the urge to sketch. This greek monument I have sketched before and was recently label a coffee plunger here. I have always drawn this looking towards the Harbour Bridge but today sitting under the shade of a frangipani tree on a very warm summers day I was facing the opposite direction.

After the coffee plunger analogy surely it was time for a coffee - so I drew a grouping of palm trees while sipping a take away skinny latte. It is quite fun to be drawing more trees and landscaping...something that as an architect I used to really be unsure about doing...

And finally - I caught up with Alissa at 4.30 and we ended up sketching in the Herb Garden