Today’s post has a few pretty things to look at and not many words.
The 2 pm photograph of our sketchbooks and some of the food.
A friend & I visited Kyneton for a long talked about long weekend. Kyneton is a thriving country town 85 km from Melbourne in Central Victoria and is just over an hour by train. It has become renowned as a country destination for good food. It has Art galleries and lovely shops for home furnishings, craft, books, nurseries, gifts, food, wine and clothes.
These are my drawings from the weekend.
I started in my sketchbook the night before, drawing a map of the area and listing the train stops along the way. Then I sketched at Southern Cross Station.
Our cottage was newly renovated, stylish and also cosy and warm on a chilly weekend.
I sketched inside and out.
Exploring Kyneton
Kyneton Museum
Unlike a majority of towns in the area, Kyneton predates the Victorian Gold Rush having been established in 1850, and gold rushes started the year after that. Some of the finest Bluestone buildings to be found in Victoria are a main feature of the town and date back to the Gold Rush era when Kyneton was a major supply town for the diggings.
Food from the farmers markets
The food at the farmers markets. Delicious to look at and draw. The stallholders were delightful to talk to and we had some lovely conversations. A place to return to.
This new year is full of opportunities and promises many adventures.
Like my dishmop drawing (below) I am having a clean out in the New Year. 2015 has started well as I have successfully moved from a Blogger blog to a WordPress website, which you are looking at now. I still have the same address www.alissaduke.com
You may notice differences on my blog page formatting and I hope to smooth these out over the next weeks.
As well as a blog, WordPress provides the options of a Gallery (to display some of my drawings in themed groups such as food, travel, nature) , a Shop and more !
I am spending time looking at the process of getting my drawings from the pages in my sketchbook onto cards and prints.
I have been busy spending time working on my website, but have still been drawing everyday – even through a recent headcold.
 |
| breads, dips, meats. cheeses |
 |
| Sunnyboys – you have to be Australian growing up in the 1970/1980’s to know these |
Some iconic Melbourne – Flinders Street & tram
I did sketches at my friends – lettuce in pot that was sitting in the sink . I later printed it at home on a card and sent it as a thank you card for having me as their guest. We did eat some of the lettuce.
We also ate out.Brunch at Mossgreen tearooms in Armadale on Saturday. I have a page of notes next to write next to this sketch about our wonderful experience there. I sketched my breakfast while we were there. Scrambled eggs with salmon and dill.
The waitress watched and chatted to us as it was nice and quiet and early. She also loved to sketch and we left her inspired and with the contact details for Melbourne Urban Sketchers.
I took a photo of the tearooms from across the street and sketched it at home. I like to sketch on location, but I did not have the time and it was too hot.
DINNER
My friend Louise was cooking dinner from a simple recipe form the internet (she searched for something with spinach as she had a lots in the crisper) it was untried, but simple, so she tried it, I have no enthusiasm for cooking, but was happy to chat in the kitchen while she sliced, chopped and baked.
I was inspired by their home grown garlic (small but very strong smelling) and had an idea to draw the ingredients, spreading over two pages. It then moved to drawing all the ingredients and the finished results, which would hopefully be mouthwatering .
As I have used my watercolour pencils for the past five year I am very aware of the colours and how to apply them and what will happen when I add water (some colours change a lot !) I also know how textures can be achieved, although I am still learning all the time. That is why I am passionate about using them …
I then the decided to leave space to add the list of the ingredients and recipe.
The pressure was on to draw the ingredients before they were added to the pan. Some were drawn after the pie was in the oven (an onion is an onion). I grabbed some spinach before it was added and other being chopped. I could make a whole blog of this.
I realised that I would have to add tasting notes, as we were all a little disappointed at the bland taste .
The next morning I was up before the others, in the kitchen, had take the left overs (just as well there was some) out of the fridge and drew them before the others were up for breakfast ! This was the day I was leaving……
My plane to go home
