Category Archives: urban sketching

I sketched with London Urban Sketchers!

 Another highlight of my London holiday (and there were so many) was sketching with the London Urban Sketchers on Wednesday 17 July . It was an event organized by Pete Scully with a  Jack the Ripper theme.
 
 Mum & I had been to the British Museum in the morning and were taking a day trip from London the next day, so this was a perfect way to spend a Wednesday afternoon in London .We later found out it was the hottest day we were London, at 31 degrees – just like Sydney weather. Just slightly more unexpected !
We met at Whitechapel station at 3pm. I immediately saw a few familiar faces, Sue Pownall (from Oman) and Pete Scully who I met in Barcelona. Mum & I quickly met other friendly London sketchers – Margaret  and Dawn and others ( who I didn’t get their names) . We were given a  Map with history of Jack the Ripper and the area – we could choose where to go, all splitting off to explore and draw different areas . Much like a Sydney Sketchcrawl. Below are our sketches and photos (and thanks to Dawn Painter too for photos)
 
 
 
 
We were each given an exclusive  Pete Scully mini sketchbook. Who needs to buy souvenirs when you have this! By the end of the day I only drew on a few pages. I had already discovered that I find it hard to multi-sketch-book
I decided to sketch old places – the older the better – there is history everywhere in London. And yet the area is so modern busy and hectic, right on a main road.
by alissa
 
 
by Lola
 
 
 
Mum & I & ?  sketching. we did not last long in the hot sunshine
 
 We started to sketch sketched with a few others at The Blind Beggar Pub(1894) , but it was in open sun at 3.30 pm very hot and intense.
 
by Lola




 
Whitechapel Bell Foundry and Palace on Pillars art installation by Alissa

 

We then moved onto the Whitechapel Bell Foundry (est 1570) (the yellow building in my drawing) and then down Whitechapel Road to Aldgate High Street

 
  
 I sketched with three guys (not sure who they were)  in the cool of Pret A Manger café, looking out over the street. The Gerkin, The Shard and other modern London buildings were on the skyline.  I was fascinated  by the modern building/art installation opposite us Palace on Pillars by StudioWeave (in my sketch above) .
 
 
in Pete’s book
 
 
 
 

 

I then walked across the road with Mum and we sketched in  St Botolph’s without-Aldersgate Church (1744)    This was my favourite. St Botolph’s  is the Patron Saint of Travellers ! that’s us.How could I not feel a connection to this building

 
 We then quickly walked to final meeting spot at Christ Church Spitalfields. Lots of other London Urban Sketchers had already gathered. We talked and sketched more
 
by Alissa

sketching sketchers in my Pete Scully mini sketchbook

by Lola

sketching sketchers in my Pete Scully mini sketchbook

 

 
 



by Lola


 
 
 
By 8pm we were tired and caught the tube home
 
 

Erin’s sketch class and travel journalling Part One

Today I was invited to Erin Hill Sketch Class to share my experiences from the Barcelona Urban Sketchers Symposium  and my travel journal sketchbooks from London (still scanning and uploading these) and Barcelona. I basically got to talk about what I love and enjoy to a group of people were really interested. Perfect. And I get to continue my “holiday high” even though I have been home three weeks now.

AND I am going back next Saturday to do it all again ! Fabulous . If you are in Sydney and would like to book into her class have a look at Erin’s website.

 
 
Using my new Moleskine watercolour accordion fold book.


I talked for half an hour (so much to say, so little time!) while the class had a look at my two travel sketchbooks. They asked questions about how I choose the workshops I did and what I learnt (which I hope I answered in the short time we had). I have a lot of full blog posts yet to come about these.

Although we officially then started Erin’s class (theme: floral) the discussion continued all morning and though lunch. We talked about formatting pages, where to start drawing, and writing on the page. Erin guided the students on colour, tone and formatting.

Erin had chosen a “floral” theme and we sketched two cacti arrangements that were on the tables (in 25 minutes) and then walked down the road to Rambling Rose:floral atelier to draw the inside or outside of the gorgeous shop. I was attracted to the black and white striped awning and the building, but also included some of my fellow sketchers on the page.

This little cacti had marks on it which made it look like a little Japanese figure. I found it hard to remember that it was a spiky plant!


I had also started my page and my day as if I was on holiday – the ferry ride, a map ,  scenes.

 
 

I also like to write comments on the page during the day. They can either be my reactions to places, sights, sounds or smells or just what I am thinking at the time. I think that it makes the whole page more personal and individual.

At lunch I got to show some of the class how I use my watercolour pencils and of course we  drew lunch.

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Urban Sketchers Sydney – National Maritime Museum

Urban Sketchers in Sydney met at the National Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour on a glorious sunny morning. Liz was not able to attend, but ten of us sketched from 10am til 12.30, some continuing on after lunch. Anthony, Jennifer, Annie, Wendy, Chantal, Ethna, Phil, John and Peter are in the photo below. Phil showed great enthusiasm and had a very early start to the day, travelling from Lake Macquarie.
 
 
 
 
There is so much to sketch outside the Maritime Museum, without even entering its doors. Lots of old and new boats, the lighthouse, city skyline, tourists, to name a few. It was hard to know where to begin.

our sketchbooks.
 
 
 I am still on a holiday high, even though I returned from Barcelona and London two weeks ago. Scanning my drawings every night helps me continue this feeling, as does sharing my experiences with anyone who will listen ! I gave an overview of my Barcelona Urban Sketching Symposium experience and was happy to talk to anyone who had questions.
 
All of my London sketches are gradually being put in the SET on flickr 
All Barcelona sketches from the holiday have been uploaded and in the following SET  on flickr
 
.
 
My sketches from the day
 
 I began with a little 1903 built boat, moored amongst the tallships and warships.  I consciously tried to think about some of the lessons that I  learned at the Barcelona Urban Sketching Symposium. For this I recalled the discussions at Barry Jacksons wonderful “Hither Thither and Yon” workshop. I concentrated on the Thither space. I leant SO much at Barcelona, both in the Workshops and from other participants I spoke to.
 
I realised that in my drawings I am building on the generous knowledge and advice shared by many online artists. From Kate Johnson, one of the many techniques I use is the Derwent Blue Grey (not watercolour) to draw the background buildings It is a nice soft tone and colour.
 
 
 
 
 
I then sat down with Ethna and distracted her by chatting. After an hour I moved on.
 
 
The skyline of Sydney. It was 15 minutes til lunch. But I HAD to add the blue sky as it was such a lovely day

A very aggressive seagull at my feet ( I had no food, so I don’t know why he was picking on me )
 

return from holidays

I have returned home after three weeks holiday in London and Barcelona.
For those who have been following my blog, you will be aware the BIG lead up and trip prep that occurred – including the weekly “drawing on an envelope” to my mum, who was my travelling companion and lives interstate, here is the notice board at her house with all my envelopes pinned on it.
 
all of my weekly envelopes to Mum from the 10 week countdown
The holiday exceeded all of my expectations and was filled with amazing experiences, sights, people, events and sketching.
 

Here we are in London outside the National Gallery – permanent grins on our faces
 
 
 
me sketching the Royal Albert hall from the steps in front of the Albert Memorial
 
I had always planned it to be a sketching holiday and much of the lead up was about my sketchkit,  as well as being a tourist and going to the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Barcelona
I filled two Moleskine watercolour sketchbooks with sketches on my three week holiday.
34 pages in Barcelona and 86 in London.
I have scanned and uploaded the Barcelona sketches and photos to flickr and USK BCN facebook photo album .
I will put a few up here on the blog

from the wonderful Luis Ruiz Workshop “Actors and Stage“



and lunch after the workshop – Tapas



Santa Anna 13th Century church – sketching early one morning before a Workshop



About 250 of us gather at the Barcelona Arc de Triomphe for a group photo & sketch

Sketching doorways on my own
 
 
I have lots of other blog posts to come.
  • My sketchkit and travelling – lessons learnt
  • London sketches
I am not sure about how to go about releasing my London Sketches . I may do a few at a time chronologically through the trip. It is a lot to scan and add commentary and a lot for people to read.

UPDATE all London sketches are being put in the SET one or two a day
www.flickr.com/photos/alissaduke/sets/72157634899452853/

I hope you enjoy sharing my adventure  .It was truly amazing

Cockatoo Island

Cockatoo Island is in Sydney Harbour and a wonderful place to spend a day.
 
It was a convict settlement from 1839. It was also the site of one of Australia’s biggest shipyards, operating between 1857 and 1991. The first of its two dry docks was built by convicts. Many of the original sandstone convict buildings and the dockyard and shipbuilding complex are still in place and you can explore them. There are also many, many cranes from its shipbuilding years. Sketching heaven !!

Now you can also camp overnight in tents as well as catch a ferry there for the day. It is a favourite place of my sketching friends to visit and we have been there often.

I caught a quick 10 minute ferry ride , but had time to fill in first at the terminal – by drawing !

 

some tanks
 
pipes on the side of a large beautiful old sandstone building




a very large crane and some tents for camping
the same crane that I drew on my coffee cup

There are so many buildings equipment and views to sketch on Cockatoo island. I had my watercolour pencils and Lamy ink Safari Pen with me and my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook. Last time I was here I especially brought large sheets of paper with me and some inks to experiment with . I had felt the need to sketch these cranes LARGE one day. I did a few, but it was raining, which does not work well with watercolours and ink . I can try again next weekend as it is the place for the Urban Sketchers Sydney next event !

I also found a sketch from my first visit to Cockatoo Island in Jul 2008. It was for an International Sketchcrawl and the first time I met an sketched with Liz Steel !
It was my first Sketchcrawl and I had only just begun drawing watercolour pencil. I am not sure if my drawing style has changed – but my confidence in use of colour certainly has !

Urban Sketchers Australia – Newtown

 

On a damp day in Sydney, nineteen sketchers met in the inner city suburb of Newtown for an Urban Sketchers Australia, Sydney event. We immediately headed a block away from busy King Street and scattered in the backstreets, sketching together and in small groups from 10 to 12.30.

Newtown is an inner Sydney suburb that went through (and still is going through) a transformation from a working class to a trendy cosmopolitan one. It is eclectic, individual, and unusual. It has a wide variety of 19th century commercial street architecture and includes a vast array of styles from high Victorian gothic, Queen Anne revival and Italianate. There are restaurants, cafes, bars, hotels, retail stores, book shops, fashion designers and food shops.

In the area we were sketching in there we got to see the back of buildings with their pipes, chimneys, garages back stairs and doors. The buildings are higgledy piggeldy, and the rooftops are so interesting to see. It was difficult to know where to begin.

On the day, the weather chose my scenes for me.

 

The first ink drawing was a quick one, just to set the scene for the place and day. This is how I like to approach a day sketching outside. I would like to show where I am first before throwing myself into the detail. I am trying to give context on my page by doing this. It is something that I discovered when doing my Sketchbook Project last year “Travelogue: Paris 2007”. I made a sketchbook of my 2007 holiday to Paris, as if I was actually there, but from photographs and diaries.  In 2007 I was not drawing as much as I do now, so I wanted to think about what I would have done, and prepare for future travelling.  I noted down my thoughts in the sketchbook along the way.

I will get to try this in July when I go to London and Barcelona !

I was able to sketch the above scene sitting down on a paper bag (wet ground), with a umbrella propped up over me, held under one arm. It rained lightly for about half of this first drawing. Not enough rain to wet the paper, but enough to make it damp. I could still draw in ink on in. Then I added watercolour pencil from the brush (as if the paper needed more water on it!). Then the rain stopped, I put my umbrella away and finished it.

I walked a few meters to sketch the pink building in the photo below , but was so overwhelmed by it, that I turned around and saw drew this park bench. It is obviously someone’s home, with its collection of flattened cardboard boxes. I think that we were all very aware of it all morning. I had been drawing the backs of houses previously and this was someone’s entire house. Very sobering.

It was then suddenly 12.30 . We all met up to show and discuss our sketches and to go to lunch. See the other people’s results from the day as they go online over the next week at Urban Sketchers Australia.

Our sketchbooks – all shapes, sizes and styles

Urban Sketchers in Sydney in front of a building that many people sketched on the day

I sketched my lunch and also did some more sketches on the train on the way there and back