I continued sketching my ranunculus last week as they opened.

all of sketches are in watercolour pencil

and some other sketches during the week

It was a cold Wintery week in Melbourne

On Saturday I held a class at The Johnston Collection.

The day before the class I drew some of the objects from around my own apartment for practice.

The Johnston Collection is a house museum of Georgian fine and decorative arts in a historic Melbourne townhouse.

It is a unique opportunity for a small group to sketch ‘on location’ at The Johnston Collection. We start with a cup of tea or coffee, and become familiar with watercolour pencils and how to use them. Then we try out new skills and pencils and explore the ground floor rooms of The Johnston Collection’s exhibition house, Fairhall. Everyone selects objects to record in their sketchbook, and record their impressions.

No equipment or previous experience is required, a sketchkit is supplied on the day – just bring enthusiasm.

The current exhibition SWAGGER is inspired by interior decoration and the performance of fashionability, Swagger examines the life of an English gentleman of the 1700s and 1800s. Each room of Fairhall, an 1860s townhouse in East Melbourne, has been re-imagined to evoke the worlds of Regency rakes, dandies, military figures, and men of business and leisure.The adornment,  surroundings, and behaviour of fashionable gentlemen reveal their unique tastes and style. 

I filled in some time waiting for the class to arrive and sketched some of a frame of a painting in the room.

Here are some earlier sketches I did on location.

This event is supported by The Colin Holden Charitable Trust.

Everyone had a lovely time and had lots of questions to ask along the way. I think some of them may continue to be inspired and motivated to keep sketching when they got home.

I look forward to ongoing involvement with The Johnston Collection and to see ther next reinterpretation of the house in September.

I dived into my box of 126 Faber Castell watercolour pencils to try to match the colours of my nail polish and shoe ribbons. I try to match these to wear with my black work outfit everyday.

While it is not important to have exact colour match when sketching, sometimes I like to.

I also have lovely vintage suit that I wore to Goodwood Revival last year. I have been wearing it this week and really wanted to try and capture it on paper. I also documented its history on the page.

The colours I experimented with were

• Phthalo Green
• Pine Green (in my sketchkit)
• Helio Turquoise
• Derwent Inktense Apple Green
• Derwent InktenseTeal Green

Here are the Faber Castell greens and blues to choose from

I also just started sketching a beautiful big bunch of ranunculas (buttercups) today that I will continue with over the next few evenings after work.

Tonight it was all about exploring the colours and thinking about the page.

• Magenta (in my sketchkit)
• Rose Madder (in my sketchkit)
• Middle Purple Pink

I like to scatter them across two pages in my Moleskine 13cm x 19 cm watercolour sketchbook. It is not a botanical art work and it will have that unfinished looked and some flowers won’t have water added to the pencil on the page

I had another wonderful Nature Sketching with Watercolour Pencil class on Saturday at Royal Botanic Gardens of Victoria on Saturday. It was a very brisk 12 degrees (Celcius) and enough of a breeze to stay inside for the sketching. Usually the first 45 minutes are spend inside at the table learning about the pencils, paper, waterbrush and playing with pencils and then we go out to sketch. Not today.

On Saturday I bought the outside in by collecting leaves and taking cuttings from the plants around the cottage.

I have some of my sketchbooks out on the table open at a nature sketching page for people to look through to get an idea of my style. This is just one way that watercolour pencils can be used.Everyone likes to look through the other pages too, I think that it gives an idea of the sort of things that can be added to sketch journals.

On Saturday, all the participants had their own watercolour pencils. The pencils have often been in a cupboard for years. People come along for many varied reasons. They are from all backgrounds. Some have not done art since Primary school, other’s have different levels of experience with other mediums or work with textiles.

. My parting words in class are:

• I hope I have motivated and inspired you to the wonderful world of Watercolour Pencils

• Play with the pencils on the page. Find out what marks they make and what happens when you added water to the page.
• Have your sketchboook and pencils on the desk or bench so that you can pick them up easily. If they are shut away in a drawer you will forget them.

Happy Sketching

International Nature Journaling Week 1-7th June 2025
Conversations with Nature : This year the theme was exploring the conversations we have with the natural world.

Each day there were video interviews, presentations and a lot on contents on the website. This is their introduction to give you an idea

Explore the website – there is lots to discover! You can Start Here and then find out How to Participate in the week. There is a page for Parents & Teachers, one for the Reluctant Artist and a page on sharing the Written Word in our nature journal pages. On the Blog you will find posts from nature journalers around the world, sharing ideas and knowledge on different aspects of journaling. The Books & Inspiration page will point you to books and websites where you can learn more about nature journaling and nature connection. Sign-up to the newsletter to receive updates and ideas.

I had limited time this week and did not get to spend as long on each page as I hoped. I also found these themes very challenging as they were prompts for concepts and involved words.

Once I decided what to sketch I was in my comfort zone. But before I put watercolour pencil to paper I had to do a lot of thinking, processing and decision making.

Day 1 Describing the indescribable

Day 2 Playing with words

Day 3 Exploring nature through poetry

Day 4 Storytelling with nature

Day 5 Listening attentively

Day 6 Sensing the world around us

Day 7 Creating a vision for the future

Each year that I join in INJW I enjoy it. I learn so much about looking at nature and experiencing and ways to express it on the page. I only wish that I put more of this into practice in my daily sketchbook for the rest of the year.

See my previous years’ sketches here

INJW 2024 Exploring the natural processes within the cycle of life. Ithttp://alissaduke.com/2024/06/international-nature-journaling-week-3.html

INJW 2023 Sensory Safari http://alissaduke.com/2023/06/international-nature-journaling-week-part-2.html AND http://alissaduke.com/2023/06/international-nature-journaling-week-2.html

I have a Nature Sketching with Watercolour Pencil Class this coming Saturday at Royal Botanic Gardens of Victoria. I hope to pass some of this on.