Category Archives: Flinders Street Station

drawing on a coffee cup

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I had not decided what to write about in this weeks blogpost.

Until I drew on a coffee cup and posted it online on Instagram and Facebook.

I was overwhelmed with number of ‘Likes’ . 500 plus in only a few hours.  I have never had so many Comments and Likes.

That made my decision to share it with everyone. I drew on this paper coffee cup today to put in my sketching exhibition NEXT WEEK (that will be next weeks blogpost).

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Melbourne. Flinders Street Station drawn on my coffee cup.

I did some other coffee cup sketches today. And I have done it in the past too.

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another coffee cup – close up sketch of features

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St Pauls Cathedral, Melbourne and my Lamy Safari Joy ink pen

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Sydney. Erin’s sketch class at lunch

Sydney. Crane on Cockatoo Island

10Apr14 Cockatoo Island cutlery

Sydney. Cockatoo Island serviette and wooden takeaway cutlery (I drew the Sydney Harbour Bridge on it).

Hello Mebourne

I have been in Melbourne for two weeks, after moving from Sydney,  and have found it easy to continue my normal sketching patterns. I carry my Moleskine Watercolour sketchbook and watercolour pencils with me everywhere. I have the opportunity to quickly capture my new daily life.
 
 
Corner of  Collins and Elizabeth Streets . commuters on their way to work
 
At Flinders Street Station, looking at the timetables and platform notices



Fitzroy Gardens

 
I am also using my lunchtime to sketch the buildings around me. I have been very fortunate with the weather.
Supreme Court Library dome

Supreme Court Library window

 

 
 
On the weekend
 
I have sketched with Urban Sketchers Melbourne twice. At the moment they are focusing on sketching in the inner city Council District of Booroondara, which includes a number of suburbs including Hawthorn, Kew, Canterbury. It is in preparation for a urban Sketches exhibition at Town Hall Gallery Hawthorn in November. If you are visiting Melbourne, drop by and visit it. So I am getting to explore parts of Melbourne as well as meet new urban sketchers. I already knew Evelyn, Kym, Angela and Jodi from previous visits and am happy to be able to sketch and chat with them on a regular basis now.
 
This Saturday’s visit was to Maling Road, Canterbury. A charming shopping village with beautiful shops, cafes and the weather was perfect too.
 
Classic fruits store

 
My lunch, of course

Sketching in Melbourne

Last week I spent three days in Melbourne.
 
I had many adventures and did many pages of sketches in my Moleskine watercolour Sketchbook with my watercolour pencils. These are a few.
 
This is the view from my hotel. overlooking the old Melbourne GPO tower . It also gave the view of the tops of lots of  buildings and the back of The Royal Arcade Coat of Arms. So much sketching potential not enough time.
 
 
When I first arrived in Melbourne, I sketched while waiting for the hotel shuttle to arrive at Southern Cross Station.
 
Then I explored Melbourne. My first stop was the beautiful State Library and its dome.
 
one hour later I had to give up
 
While I was at State Library I saw the Dromkeen Children’s Literature Collection and sketched a grandmother telling a story to her grandson. The exhibition was of original children’s book illustrations. Some amazing illustrations.
 
In the evening I had arranged a meeting with Melbourne Urban Sketchers at the wonderful Luna Night Markets at the Queen Victoria Markets. Lots of crafts, food, great live music  interesting people all under the cover of the  markets. It was a crisp night, but I did not notice it until leaving. I was fortunate to sketch with Jodi, Angela and meet Erik, Ilsa and  Alyeesh
 
This is my main sketch of the night. A few of us sat against a wall and sketched what we saw in front of us. This brightly clad group stayed at the table for ages ! Great subjects.

People warming themselves by the fire sites
 
 
 
The next day  I explored more of Melbourne
 
 

I walked by this laneway -It is called Melbourne Place . It is  not a typical trendy café laneway, or one with the famous graffiti, but one that was in use. I had to move aside for a few cars to drive in, I also was asked  directions by lost tourists.

 
I think that this is my favourite sketch of my stay in Melbourne.  It is at the street end of Melbourne Place. I had to sketch it too. LOTS of peeling paint
 
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 and I could not leave Melbourne without a sketch of Flinders Street Station. This was about 4pm it was getting chilly, I was tired and then the drizzle set in. I took that as a sign to leave and find somewhere warm.

 
A wonderful time. I still have some sketches to complete and hope to visit again soon.
 

Melbourne sketching

 
 A weekend in Melbourne provided me with an opportunity to sketch.


I went to Melbourne to visit my four sketchbooks I had entered in the Sketchbook Project. Read all about it here. They were on tour in Australia from 1- 9 November. I visited with friends on the final day in the final hours. They had to kick us out. http://www.alissaduke.com/p/sketchbook-project.html

But my Melbourne adventure started from the moment I left work on Friday, and arrived at the airport to find my plane delayed an hour. Sketching time !!!

baggage on the tarmac

and then on the plane

passengers on the plane

On arrival in Melbourne there was time for iconic sights as well as the iconic Melbourne weather (four seasons in one day !) Sydney does not have trams, so I was determined to draw one while I was here. I looked for the classic yellow and green trams, only to discover that they did not go down the street I was on – just very old grey trams and ones with flashy advertising



Skybus from the airport and a Melbourne tram

How could I not sketch the Flinders Street Station ?- a stunningly beautiful building

 
 
 
 
I met Evelyn and Kym , Melbourne sketchers at 11am and we sketched the historic Melbourne City Baths from across the road. We just sat down and started sketching, then it started to rain. We could (an perhaps should have) moved under shelter , but just put up our umbrellas for an hour and a half. We had our photos taken by many groups of Asian tourists walking down from the Queen Victoria Markets.
 
 
 
 
 

The rain has an interesting effect on  watercolour paper and watercolour pencils.
I spent a very long time on the pencil set up. We each  considered whether to add colour tour pages. I sort off wish I had not. It would have been difficult in warm, dry weather on a dry day as I could but find the right combination of colour. But added challenge of damp changed the way colours and lines reacted. In the end it actually stopped me from being fussy about the result, as it was so uncontrollable.

Were those Melbourne sketchers testing me with the weather elements or was I testing them??? Either way, we all passed!




Sketching in the rain just sketching in the rain, a Glorious feeling I’m happy again. Kym & Evelyn



me & Evelyn. Thanks Kym for the photo.

 

Then the rain got heavier, we decided we were cold and went to find lunch !

 

and then to The Sketchbook Project exhibition at the Victorian College of Arts.

Fabulous concept, amazing books ,wonderful atmosphere and the creative juices are flowing !!! We shared the books we borrowed and got to see a lot of books made by other Australian Sketchbook Project entrants of all ages.

 
 
 



  1. get a library card, choose a book, get a random book as well and enjoy!



with Evelyn & Kym
Halina, Louise & I browsing through my Paris travelogue sketchbook. The sketchbook is based on the holiday I took with them in 2007, so we were reliving our holiday

 

sketching the Sketchbook Project

the next day it was cold , but not raining! the famous coffee shops of Melbourne laneways beckoned. I was talking to much to draw more than my coffee, and even then it was cold.

 
and after a days adventure I was back to the airport again