I am going on Annual Leave tomorrow for six weeks in England.

This week’s blog post will be the last until I return in October!

I am taking four sketchbooks and my sketchkit and some spare watercolour pencils . Below are some of my sketches in preparation. I will be sketching ALL THE TIME and posting to Instagram daily (alissaduke1).

Below are my outfits for Goodwood Revival Historic Motor Racing Festival. Three days of car racing from 1940’s-1960s . Everyone who attends dresses in outfits of the day. HERE are my sketches from 2018.

I will have so much to share when I return. Also lots of exciting plans and classes planned for the rest of 2024 !

Happy sketching

Alissa

Did you know that it was International Lion Day on Friday? i didn’t I don’t usually know about these international days until they are over. There are calendars you can look ahead at to find these things out. Here is a selection.

My immediate thought was the Trafalgar Square Lions, which I will be seeing in two weeks in London. Then I thought of all the other lion sketches and drawings I have done and decided to share them all here. I sketch them every time I visit London. I know I have arrived and it is now a tradition.

and then there are the real lions at Melbourne Zoo. They are usually sleeping on the platforms, but have come close to the glass wall a few times. Magnificent!

Sketched in an old ledger.

I have also drawn a lion in a book It is an old copy of The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S.Lewis. It took a long time to locate a copyright free image online that had the right look.

All with watercolour pencils and ink pen.

This week’s blog is this week’s sketches.

A variety of subjects, many of these I have sketched before. Most were sketched quickly. The longest one was Affinity Quartet which was one hour in the Library.

A week ago at Melbourne Athenaeum Library – Affinity Quartet. It was a lovely way to end my week of Melbourne Rare Book Week events.

I spent most of the week finalising MRBW sketches, scanning and sending them to the various partners or organisations involved.

This past Friday, I was back to the traditional Prosecco.

Saturday on the tram – about 20 minutes

This evening – a Zoom chat with UK friends

a quick sketch of some of the London books I have on table.