High Tea at The Gables

secret drawing projects

an old drawing from Illustration Friday challenge “silent” from Nov 2011 –

I am doing a lot of drawing at the moment. However they all for an upcoming exhibition and a private commission, so I am not able to share them with everyone at the moment.

Here are some glimpses …..

Lost Trades Fair Part 2

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Lost Trades Fair PART 2

Last week I wrote Part 1 of my visit to the Lost Trades Fair in March. Here is the next part of my day of sketching at the Lost Trades Fair.

I have been asked about who runs the Lost Trades Fair and here is a little information about Glen & Lisa Rundell. Please see more at their website Rundell & Rundell . There is a wonderful five minute video that gives an insight into the day. It is really interesting and well worth viewing.
Who are Rundell & Rundell ? Lisa & Glen Rundell initiated and founded the Lost Trades Fair and it has grown so quickly with their passion, drive and organisation. LISA RUNDELL runs “The Chairmakers Wife” traditional trading store in Kyneton, with international traditional quality makers and showcasing work by local artisans that are part of the growing ‘Lost Trades’ guild of makers. GLEN RUNDELL is a Chairmaker, designer, woodworker, artisan, instructor and craftsman and holds bespoke workshops.

MY sketching day …
I wandered down the wide grassed areas , with white tents either side. I would choose a stall that looks interesting to draw, has a place for me to sketch, without blocking other people.

The first stall I stopped at was Whisky & Wolf , where I talked to Leon, the artisan leatherworker. I stood in the stall and sketched. There were the finely handcrafted leather goods in a beautifully displayed area – old fishing gear, a stuffed pheasant, old books and nests. I felt relaxed in these surrounds and started drawing the pheasant. I heard about the hand finishing and stitching of the goods, and how Leon got to be doing what he is today.

There are fascinating stories everywhere at Lost trades Fair.

I often observed a stall for a while, firstly for my own appreciation of the skill and knowledge of the person and their trade. Secondly, to see how the person is going to move around while I try to sketch them. Often they are making a specific object by hand in front of a growing audience. They stand alone, the onlookers kept back behind a rope. They explain the process of creating the object as they do it. Sometimes it involves repeating processes and stances .

Pete Von Trott – spoon maker was a great example of this . He worked on the same block of wood, using different tools, to carve it down to a fine wooden spoon. He told us about the timber (sycamore) , wood grain and carving and tools.

In the stall next to him was Glen Rundell with his wood lathe. Glen is the Chairmaker and features in the video.

But sometimes I didn’t discover how much someone moved until the person had changed positions and moved about. For example, Doug Tarrant, the blacksmith only used the fire to periodically heat the rods (I am getting all the technical names wrong here). He would pump with his foot, which would turn the wheel and add air to stoke the glowing coals. The majority of the time was spent with his back to me , talking to the onlookers on the other side of the table.
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Duncan McHarg is a custom boot and shoemaker. He uses traditional construction techniques, and described them to us: from hand sewing every seam, to measuring and making of the wooden shoes lasts. This fascinating 4 minute BBC video explains a lot

Sam Fray demonstrated the centuries-old craft of letterpress printing. Her company Wood Duck Press specialises in letterpress printing vintage, hand-fed, letterpress She was working on “Daisy” a 240 kg press built in 1905, describing how she found the press in a factory alleyway rusty, neglected and how it came to be the working press in front of us.

It was two months ago that I visited the Lost Trades Fair. Looking back through my sketches and writing this blog has made me realise that I will remember these people and their passion and their skill for a long time.

Lost Trades Fair Part 1

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In March this year a friend and I took a one hour train ride from Melbourne to the regional town of Kyneton (population 8000) to go to the Lost Trades Fair. It was first held in 2014 and has rapidly established itself as an event, this year attracting over 15000 people in two days.

What is the Lost Trades Fair?

“The Lost & Rare Trades Fair celebrates the art of skilled manual work and ancient and traditional trades and crafts, their special tools, traditions, languages and secrets which are now threatened by mass produced products in our modern society. Our aim is to unite people that still have these skills and reignite the significance that these trades and crafts have in todays environment, setting them on a steady path for the future, before they are lost to history. “

Read so much more about this incredible initiative at the website Rundell and Rundell

There were over eighty amazing, knowledgeable and skilled traditional tradespeople set up in white tents in the grounds surrounding the Kyneton racecourse. These artisans practiced their crafts and explained them to fascinated onlookers. It was very interactive and the people are passionate about their trades and craft. They included an armourer, cooper, fletcher and windsor chairmaker. The crowds grew during the day, but there was food and entertainment to sustain us.

A few weeks ago I wrote about my lunch sketch.

Last year I eagerly raced around, trying to take it all in, wanting to sketch everything and not miss out on seeing anything. This year I decided to focus on a few craftsmen and artisans, and be prepared not to see everything – quality not quantity. The stalls that I sketched were not chosen for a specific reason, I just happened to be there and there was a good place to sketch nearby. Sometimes the artisans did not know I was sketching them and others I chatted to while I sketched. I sketched 11 stalls. Maybe next year I will go for the two days of the long weekend.

A Country Affair – vintage coffee cart

On the day I took a while to ‘warmup’ and feel comfortable in my role as sketcher for the day.An initial wander took us to coffee. I sat down, trying to decide what to draw and what style to use. So I drew what was in front of me – the coffee caravan, In hindsight, it was far too ambitious. I should have stayed in my comfort zone and drawn my coffee, and then moved on to scenes.

I then sketched the leathergoods stall across from me.

I was also choosing which medium to use when – my watercolour pencils and my Lamy ink pen. I also brought along an A4 Moleskine watercolour sketchbook to try and draw larger, as well as my everyday 19×13 cm Moleskine watercolour sketchbook. My aim for the day was to attempt to give character and movement to a scene – capturing the moment. I was not attempting to draw a portrait (although it is always pleasing when the figure vaguely looks like the person) but some of them are such characters that they are unmistakable.

Sometimes I started sketching in pencil and capturing the moment. Once I discovered the person was going to stay still or repeat the moment I added colour and features. Here are the sketches. Note: The combination of light graphite pencil sketches and light watercolour pencil does not scan very well and I am disappointed that they do not look like my originals.

Dean the cobber – a really enjoyable time here as I sketched Dean mixing clay with an enthusiastic member of the crowd, who was really enjoying getting stuck into the mud. Her brother and then her family chatted to us . Dean builds a cob oven from clay, sand, straw and water. I was watching on and sketching but so tempted to join in. I could almost feel the mud between my toes. This was in an A4 page.

I was feeling weary so sat under a tree, but it had to be one with a view to sketch and it was the Spoonsmith.
This was the other sketch I did on an A4 page

Penny Farthing – attracting attention with the Penny Farthing Bicycles and steampunk gear. Large circles are difficult to sketch sometime so I tried to focus on the costume.
I will continue with Part 2 next week, with some more of my sketches from the day and the stories behind them.

You can see my sketches from last year

Lost Trades Fair 2015 Part 1

Lost Trades Fair 2015 Part 2

drawing in books project

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I am currently working on a project that involves illustrating in books (but only old cheap books!). Todays blog has a sketch about those books and some drawing in the books I found.

I have previously written about the concept of drawing in books.

The books were being sold so cheaply that they might as well have been given away free, At $5 a bag these filled my idea of cheap. Some books were old and some were newer (these are titles that you see at every secondhand bookshop)

Below are both “works in progress” in two books. The drawings are in watercolour pencil. I have discovered that in most cases I do not need to ‘prime’ the pages before I draw on them.

Undomestic Godess by Sophie Kinsella

Ross’s Outline of English History

Ross’s Outlines of English History

sketching my roast dinner

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A few weeks ago I visited the Lost Trades Fair in nearby Kyneton.

I wrote about sketching my lunch at the burger stall run by Sidonnia Hills Natural Beef

my sketch and my burger

Sidonia Hills were running a ‘photograph your burger’ competition. I entered a photo of my drawing and burger and was excited when I received a message that I had tied for first place.
My prize? 4 kg of beef cuts.

The first big dinner was held last night at a friends house (who loves to cook) . Roasted topside of beef and vegetables. It seemed only fitting to sketch my dinner as well.

Thank you to everyone who contributed toward the meal !

Louise cooking

I enjoy drawing food.

Enjoyed the main meal ? See some sweets and desserts on my flickr site

sketching at a conference

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On Saturday I attended a conference “Judging for the People,” honouring 175 years of the Supreme Court in Victoria.

I am a librarian at the Supreme Court Library and keen to learn more about Melbourne and Victorian history, so it was a fascinating day for me. There are associated exhibitions at the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and the Supreme Court Library, and a book to be launched next week that tells the stories behind the history.

I am practicing my reportage sketching at events. I decided to focus on drawing the speakers at this conference, after I had sketched my traditional “back of heads” audience scene. This is my comfort zone, so I was able to relax before taking on the more challenging sketching.

The session speakers sat at a desk while their fellow speaker took to the podium, and this provided me the ideal opportunity to sketch them . I have scanned the pages as I sketched them at the time.

I am going spend time in the next week or so thinking about how and where I add the writing on the page and to practice my lettering. I will think about who the pages are for and the information required. In this case, they are for me. However if the pages were sketched for the event organisers as a record of their event, I would need to add more information, explanation and maybe some quotes.

09April2016 conference session 1 The sessions were

What the docquicentannnial of the Supreme Court means for Victoria. (open keynote speaker)Session One Judge-made law and judicial independence (five speakers)

Justice Victoria Bennetts’s talk on Sir Robert Molesworth , (long time judge of the Supreme Court, 1856-1886) and his extraordinary matrimonial dispute, was bought to life by an actor. At intervals through her presentation he stood up, put on a wig and quoted from the relevant party – a court reporter, Editor of the Argus newspaper, barrister for Mrs Molesworth, Chief Justice Stawell and George Higginbotham, Solicitor General. Very entertaining and an unexpected opportunity for quick sketching.

Session Two Unexpected impact of the law (four speakers)

Session Three The Fourth Estate and Justice (three panelists and a moderator) . The Fourth Estate refers to the media. We watched a video of a judge (above) handing down a judgment that was televised .

All the talks were very fascinating and different and so well presented.

I also sketched the audience. My colleagues and I noted that there was a lot of tweed in the room.

I am gradually fine tuning my style of sketching people and how and when I use my pen and my watercolour pencils. It is a skill to be able to capture the likeness of a person on the page. I am trying to put one or two features down on paper . Often it is the shape of their head or hair, their sitting position and their clothes. I am trying not to add too many features on the face – eyes, nose, mouth, as this can get messy on the page.

My recent ‘sketching at events” included Dromkeen Literary Festival

I am following the work of Veronica Lawlor , who has recently written a book “Reportage and Documentary Drawing” and also Liz Ackerley who is one of the correspondents documenting the Urban Sketching Symposium in Manchester in July (which I am attending).

reusing sketches

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A short and simple blog post this week.

It is my nephews 10th birthday . He lives in another state and I have been disorganised and ran out of time. I bought a last minute present ( which he loved) and made a last minute birthday card. Usually I like to draw a customised birthday card, that includes something that the person likes or includes an interest they have . This time I used a sketch I had created a few years ago, printed it onto card and added a little extra to make it birthday card.

Below is the original, sketched in Sydney at the Australian Museum in 2011. (in two scans because it was over two pages)

Something serious and sensible and scientific , suddenly become a little bit silly.

Happy Easter 2016

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Easter Greetings to all of my friends and family

Here is my hot cross bun, Drawn and ready to heat, butter and eat.

My kettle is on the boil for my coffee.

Looking for more Easter bunnies, chocolates and hot cross buns?
Here are my previous Easter drawings

Easter 2015

Easter 2014

Easter 2013

Dromkeen Literary Festival

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On Saturday I was fortunate to go to the Dromkeen Literary Festival at Riddells Creek, 45 minutes train ride from Melbourne.

It is a festival celebrating Australian Children’s Literature and Storytelling, where “authors and illustrators bring favourite stories to life”.

the Festival Opening of the Making of the HUSH Treasure Book “Created for the Hush Music Foundation, famous for its original music albums used in hospitals all around the world, this book is a treasure trove that will delight and entertain the whole family”