In Melbourne. the winter days are slowly getting longer. It is still cold (relatively). I am walking to and from work, This week I decided to stop and sketch at the same place each day (it ended up being two places). There were a few reasons I did this and achieved them all.

I wanted to get some pattern back into life. This included walking to and from work, instead of catching a tram.

• get into a pattern of sketching every day

• a return to being more spontaneous in my sketching choices

• exploring what can be sketched in 15 minutes

• using my watercolour pencils to capture a scene quickly

• preparing myself for an upcoming work conference/holiday interstate. I have a few days to explore Hobart and will be sketching it all!

This week I stopped at the corner of Spring and Collins Strreets onthe steps of the Old Treasure Building. There is a wonderful choice of urban sketching scenes to sketch. What do I choose??? In this week of urban skerching I decided I was giving myself 15 minutes to sketch and this included the time to choose the scene. The pressure is on !

However once you get that concept in your head it is easier. Juat choose something that attracts you, no matter how obscure. They are never ‘finished pieces’ on the page. It is just your impressions. I usually try and put some context, with the outline of buildings behind.

I sketched this from Town Hall, across the road from Regents Theatre (not OTB) . The building had been lit up in pink.

On the way to work this time.

Sometimes you don’t get to finish a sketch and that’s ok. This is part of the narrative and your story on the page. I had the whols of the Old Treasury Building steps to sketch. Then two wedding parties emerged from the Marriage Registry Office, and were obvously going to use the area for photographs. So I moved on. I was tempted to sketch the group, but stayed focus on my building sketch. I had 7 minutes on the sketch below.

My final sketch of the week is below. I am really please with ths one. My initial concept was to sketch the old building as a background and the grat big telephone/electricity pole in front of me as the feature. I changed ideas, A lot can happen in your mind in 15 minutes.

I think that I will continue this project this upcoming week as I am ‘in the zone’ for urban sketching and having such a fun time with my watercolour pencils.