Riddells Creek, just outside of Melbourne. Saturday 30 March . I was honoured once again to be invited to sketch at Dromkeen LitFest 2019: Stories connect us to the past, the present & the future’. It was a day of celebrating Australian Children’s Literature.

Talks and readings by children’s authors and illustrators
Author/illustrator discussions on writing, reading and picture book making
Hands on workshops
Viewing of original illustrations
Author/ illustrator book signings and sales

Authors and illustrators included Trace Balla, Clare Saxby, Corinne Fenton and Marc McBride. The talks I attended were fascinating and the speakers provided so much insight into their books and the process of the creation of the book.

It was cosy and warm inside the beautiful historic Dromkeen homestead, just outside of Melbourne. The rooms were comfortably filled with adults and children moving between activities and events, A quick walk took you through to the Garden Rooms for more talks. The blacksmith, bush furniture makers, children’s pets zoo and Sand Sculpting Exhibition – Enchanted Forest Adventure were outside in the chillier outside weather, but worth the visit !

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The Craftroom was a hive of activity, with many young (and older) children painting and making crafts, enthusiastically guided by Donna & Karen. For the sketcher, the children don’t stay still for long, so these are very quick sketches. Sometimes I sketched in one colour, others I sketched in black and added the colour of the clothes. There is one longer sketch in ink, and I added colour after, and a bit of water.

Storytelling sessions were popular too !

Illustration with Deltora Quest series illustrator Marc McBride. He used an airbrush and gave a fun talk about colours, character and art tools. He also touched on many other subjects including creativity, imagination and activity. Marc shared how his pictures are created and inspired us all by creating an artwork and showed exactly how it is done.

And booksales of the books and book signing as well.

Making bush furniture with Rob and Blair. They demonstrated the craft of making a bush-stool using traditional hand tools, along with a brief history of this quiet yet physical art form.  

Dromkeen Homestead was built in 1889 as the country estate of Victorian Supreme Court Judge Arthur Chomley (1837–1914). Dromkeen was named after his mother’s family home in Dromkeen, in County Limerick in Ireland.

From 1973, Joyce and Courtney Oldmeadow used the homestead as a private residence and educational bookshop, with a public display of original artworks and manuscripts from Australian children’s picture books. It became a home for Australian children’s literature. Scholastic Australia purchased the homestead in 1985 and continued to maintain the Dromkeen Collection until it was moved to the State Library in 2012.

In 2013 Dromkeen was purchased by the Joiner family and reopened as a centre for Australian children’s literature. Dromkeen is once more host to hundreds of visitors, including school and tertiary groups, offering the opportunity to take part in workshops run by Australian authors and illustrators and also to view original picture book illustration.

I am excited to be holding three classes at Dromkeen in the coming months . to see dates and sessions go to www.trybooking.com

I have been working on a commission of a drawing of a bear. I created him from a number of different online images to get the fur colour and body angle I had in mind.

I remembered to take photos step by step. (some of the photos are a little out of focus and others with the shadow of the camera.) The bear was drawn over a long weekend and has been handed over to the group who commissioned him. I will share with you the final version on a poster when I receive it.

I always start by drawing the eyes . If I don’t capture the character on the page then, the rest of the drawing is not goingto work, no matter how good it is.

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Watercolour pencils are so wonderful for the creating texture of the bear’s fur. I can get a lot of depth and detail.

Faber Castell watercolour pencils

• Light Chrome Yellow
• Light Yellow Ochre
• Raw Umber
• Bistre
• Walnut Brown
• Burnt Umber
• Schwarz
• Warm Grey II
• Burnt Ochre
• Orange Glaze

I took a break from my blog last week as I was drawing a series of five posters commissions that will be shared at a later date . This week’s blog includes some local everyday sketches in my sketchbook from the past two weeks. I carry my sketchbook and watercolour pencils with me everywhere and take and make opportunities to sketch in spare moments.

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I will usually sketch my coffee or food. The more you sketch something, the more practice you get and build your confidence and technique.

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Then there are the everyday sketches (above and below)

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And every now and then something out of the ordinary happens in the everyday and I take the opportunity to capture that on the page.

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I was walking to work and looked up to see three hot air balloons above Melbourne, one very close by above Captain Cooks cottage in Fitzroy Gardens. They actually move quickly, so I got some initial sketches down on the page to get the comparative size of the balloon to the buildings and then added details of the trees and building after the balloons had left. watercolour pencil.

We have a local Community Garden built out the back of our local Library. I had been told that they were ripe for the picking and collected these wonderful foods. Well done everyone who was involved in the creation and maintenance of this wonderful community resource. watercolour pencil

Interested in Sketching with Watercolour Pencils? I have a series of classes on Travel Sketching classes held in Melbourne. You don’t have to be travelling to join the class, as you can see it is the same as keeping an everyday sketch journal. No art experience necessary as it is all about capturing the moment of your life on page. see more details