Sketching in Sydney 

A work conference in Sydney this past week provided me the opportunity to stay the weekend and catch up with my Sydney sketching friends . Of course my sketching adventures began on the bus to the airport.

It was empty so I focused on the back of the head of the man in front of me. Then more sketches of planes at the airport and then on the plane . 

I have been fortunate to travel often over the years and have been drawing these places and events each time . I am now becoming quite familiar with the proportions and perspectives of seats on planes .

At the airport each airplane is different and I look for the angles and curves of the nose. I always underestimate the size of it. I think they give it great character . The shadows make a huge difference to defining the shape too . And the length of the wings are always bigger than I think and the windows are smaller. I do comparative measuring of sizes of parts of the plane and put some light marks on the page before drawing (usually in a light grey watercolour pencil) .

As soon as work was over on Friday I walked to Circular Quay to sketch the Sydney Opera House . I was not sure if I would get another opportunity . I know I am in Sydney when I have sketched it!

and then there are the Sydney Ferries at Circular Quay…

I completed another six pages of sketches in Sydney, which I will post next week, before saying a final farewell to the Opera House and Sydney .

Farewell Sydney. See you again soon. 

Sketching at the football – well, not actually at the football, but in the grounds outside, Yesterday was the AFL (Australian Football League) Grand Final between the Richmond Tigers and Adelaide Crows.

I do not follow the game at all, but it was hard to avoid, especially, since I live a few blocks away from the MGC, where it was being played, and in the suburb next to one of the Grand Final Team (and they won) .

There had been a parade, people queuing for days to get seats etc, and the energy and excitement had been gaining momentum over the week.

I decided to walk down and to the MCG and to experience it and try to capture some that in my sketchbook. There were over 100 000 in the stadium and lots of big screens set up around the outside, with people having picnics, children throwing footballs and a general feeling of something BIG .

I sketched with Lamy Safari ink pen in my Moleskine Watercolour sketchbook and  then changed black and yellow pencils. I could/should have made it lot more colourful and added water to the pencil to reflect the energy. However, I just sketched what I did at the time and then went home just after the two teams ran on, Advance Australia Fair was played and the game began, It was getting cool, raining a little and I did not understand the game.

Below are my four sketches for from the hour I was there…

This weeks blog is a day late and shows the sketches in my sketchbook journal this week.

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The rest of the week I have been working on the fine details of my five new greeting cards. I delivered the originals to my printers today !

Have a great week.

Some of my sketchbook pages are at planned events and other sketched are taking opportunities when they arise.

On Thursday night I met Judy, Lionel and Angela (non-sketching and sketching friends) for dinner at Chloe’s Bar at Young & Jackson in Melbourne CBD. I arrived early and sketched. 

I knew that we would sketch and was disappointed that the iconic Flinders Street station was covered up with scaffolding. The room was quite busy and I grabbed a table for four in the centre of the room, but that meant that we did not have a view of the Cathedral – oh well , I figured we would sketch the interior, the people the food – there is never ‘nothing to sketch’!

AND then… 

About 20 Men In Suits descended on the room moving tables and chairs so they could sit together. …. www.meninsuits.com.au . Who are they?

In their own words

      ” Blokes who sing like blokes who can sing, together”

      ” We specialise in uninvited appearances in unexpected places at unscheduled times singing         inappropriate songs to unsuspecting audiences.”

AND then they started to sing acapella- and continued for an hour ( or was it more ? ) known and known songs.

Listen to them here   

We did not know how long they would be there. If I had known it was that long I would have taken more time building up the sketch and trying to capture more character of the singers – and they are all such individual characters !!!!

An unexpected, thoroughly entertaining evening .

They just kept singing and singing. So we kept sketching !

Lionel, Angela and myself, Photo by Judy

Some patrons thought they got great value for money  – singing and sketching as entertainment !

This week I had two opportunities to sketch musicians.  

You would think that musicians would be easy to draw as they don’t move much.

But, I find that they are difficult as it is hard to capture the flow of movement of the body with the instrument . When an instrument is being played the upper body (if it is a stringed instrument) they do move a lot !

Of course, like anything, this would become more comfortable for me if I practiced drawing musicians more often. There are enough buskers around Melbourne, so I have no excuse not to. 

I feel as though I need to choose between featuring the musician or the instrument, the individuals or the group. Sometimes the instruments will be the only colour as the musicians will be in black. 

 The quick sketch of the jazz band (above) was done at the end of the evening, most people had left the event, and the band, The Tom Barton Group  was on  their last two songs. This is why the singer and last musicians are not completed.  I did not have my sketchbook and pencils with me, but there was a pencil on the table and some programs that were blank on the back. I could not help myself but to start sketching. 

Once a month the Supreme Court Library hosts free Lyrical Lunchtimes, with the Bottled Snail company playing instruments  or in this case singing. Bottled Snail (named after a famous legal case) performers all work in the legal profession in Melbourne and also have amazing musical talents.

I don’t normally sketch at these concerts, as I am at work. But today I was able to stand back and listen and sketch. The first sketch was of the choir (above) was sketched on their last song . I knew I had to be quick and not mess around with too many colours. Today I felt like using watercolour pencil and not ink.  I could have added water after I finished, but decided I like the mark of the pencil here. 

The last performer played the piano (beautifully) . I started by sketching his head and body stance, as I was not sure how long he would keep his head down. I could have featured the piano with its wonderful warm wooden colours. However I wanted to set the context by sketching the background – the portraits and bust of the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of Victoria . 

Books, music and sketching – perfect !

Thanks Tina for the question about using watercolour pencil on location as an urban sketcher.  (in comparison to drawing at object in front of me, often with a more controlled situation and time) 

I had a look though my sketches that I have completed out and about on location.

Many are with ink only or ink and then watercolour pencil added as highlights. The times I  draw with watercolour pencil  I use the same technique as  still life at home. 

It all depends on the time available and situation . I have selected a few sketches completed on location in watercolour pencil. 

If there is a major colour in the building I am going to sketch I use the same technique as at home with an object in front of me. That is, to  draw the outline,/ structure in the colour of the building. I then use this become the colour as I add water to the page and drag the colour across the page.

The examples i have included in this blog range from really quick – capturing the moment to longer sketches of 1/2 hour to an hour. I hope that this gives you idea of how I use watercolour pencil on location. 

Very quick sketches

OR use the sky (it it is blue ) as the outline, Sometimes the sky is the feature – the fact that the sun is shining and it is a beautiful day. The Sydney Opera House (above) and Cruise ship in the Harbour (below) were very quick sketches. 

Thirty minutes to one hour sketches

Longer on location drawings 

Newcastle wharf graffiti – sunburnt and dehydrated but I wanted to finish it

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Barcelona in the residential backstreet in the city. The day after Urban Sketchers Symposium 2013 . I  sat quietly and happily drawing 

Please let me know if this has been of assistance or if you have any other questions

Mary asked me about my method with watercolour pencil.

The easiest way to explain it to show you. I have not attempted filming a work in progress yet  so I have taken photos along the way  and made lots of notes.

Drawing my coffee this morning at my local George Street Cafe in half an hour today . Jenny did an especially fancy design on top of the cappuccino that was a challenge to draw !  I also ordered a second coffee to drink , as I knew that this one would get cold by the time I finished.it. 

Photos taken every five minutes

I start the initial drawing with the watercolour pencils, drawing the outlines and contours. I usually don’t use a pencil (HB) to put in lines unless I am trying to figure out where/how big to draw an object so that is fits on the page. (it not cutting off the top of the Eiffel Tower) 

The cup will not change, but the coffee pattern will  flatten as the chocolate sprinkles sink into the milk  (and I may want to drink it!) so I start drawing the coffee first.

If there are solid areas of colour I  draw the areas of an object in the actual colour of object. Ie Ultramarine for the coffee cup and Raw Umber for the ellipses of the coffee. This means that when you add the water from a waterbrush or paintbrush the outside lines can be softened and almost disappear. Then there is no issue of having an ‘outside’ line or the pencil mark on the paper.

I put the lightest colours in first (Ivory)  and leave the shape of the white areas of the froth by outlining it in dark (Walnut  Brown) . I know my pencils well and the colours that they produce when water is added (sometimes they can change, becoming more intense, bringing out the yellow, or green in a colour.) 

I tend to move all over the page, adding colour here and there, building up colour and trying to be patient to allow the page to dry before adding more.

• The more colours you add and the more you drag colour across the page, the muddier it can become.
• sometimes I draw on the page, sometimes I take the colour of the tip of the pencil with the waterbrush and paint it onto the page
• remembering to sharpen pencils along the way to get hard lines for edges and fine lines

I hope this explains my process and provides an insight into the way I construct a drawing.  Another person will do it completely differently. 

Enjoy !

how do you use your watercolour pencils?