Tag Archives: clunes booktown festival

Clunes Booktown Festival – Creative project

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The last two weeks blogs have been about being Social Media Reporter at Clunes Booktown Festival last weekend.

There is one final project that is part of my role, which I am completing over the next few weeks.

The brief : The final creative piece is some form of artwork made in response to your overall festival experience. This piece is to act as a deeper reflection on your part about your experience of the festival, and to give you another opportunity to really get creative and experiment. You can think of this piece as either a summary of your whole experience, or an opportunity to really dive deep into one aspect of your experience you want to explore/portray.

For my Creative Piece I am going to be drawing in a book.

I planned to purchase a book at a second hand book stall on the day. I had in mind to purchase a book about books or language, I only had a little time to browse as I was sketching all day, and actually bought the two books in the last hour. The final book for possible drawing in was bought at Clunes Railway Station (walls lined with books) to read on the two hour journey home. I was attracted  to drawing on the dictionary, however the pages are rough and not fun to draw in. So, my decision was made.

My book is : Language and Ideas: a course in English Expression for Junior Forms. Book 1 by Lane, Brereton, Dobell and Nelson published by Hall’s Book Store Pty Ltd Melbourne 1964. Previously owned by David J Netherway (in child’s writing in pencil in the front page). Cost $4

I dithered for a few days about what drawings to do and where to place them through the book.
I decided on
• drawings of historic buildings of Clunes
• drawings of books
• drawings of people looking at books at the Booktown Festival.
I am undecided about events at the Festival
I photocopied a few pages of the book and did some experimental drawings on those to see what it would look like. Then I began to draw on the actual pages.

I decided not to start at the beginning of the book – just open a page and start . Lots more drawing and lots of ideas to add to the pages over the next few weeks.

Clunes Booktown Festival

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Last week I wrote about the amazing opportunity I have to be Social Media Reporter at the iconic Clunes Booktown Festival this Saturday, sketching all day at the event.

After an early start I arrived at Clunes (near Ballarat) at 9.30 Saturday morning. It is autumn here, so the weather was crisp, with people wearing jackets and beanies. Thankfully the rain stayed away and everyone could enjoy the outside and inside events.

I spent all day exploring, attending events, sketching for short and longer times. Almost all sketches were done with Lamy Safari ink pen, then watercolour pencil added on the spot to various areas on the page. There were many Panel Discussions, Book Launches, In Conversation and Author talks to attend. And then there was the main street , closed to traffic and taken over by book stalls big and small . There were arrows on walls to “MORE BOOKS” in unexpected places.. The number of people grew over the day, but it was never crowded. The people were a great mix of ages – everyone loves books !!!

Below are my sketches from the day. The brief was to actively engage with Clunes Booktown Festival , spreading the love of this wonderful regional literary festival through my sketches. I feel as though I achieved this. see all of these is full size on my Flickr site
https://www.flickr.com/photos/alissaduke/albums/72157704944609002

It was a very big and exciting day. Thanks to Jodi for alerting me to the advertisement for the position of Social Media Reporter at Clunes Booktown Festival for the day. I could not have been happier – books and sketching !! and a big thanks to Melbourne City of Literature for the opportunity . Clunes Booktown Festival is an amazing experience in a beautiful historic town and I will be returning !

And did I buy any books ? … that’s another blog post

next weekend – Clunes Booktown Festival

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I am very excited to share that next Saturday I am travelling to Clunes Booktown Festival
(Clunes facebook page ) as official Social Media Reporter for the day . I am there to spread the word and celebrate regional literary festivals that sometimes not celebrated as much as urban festivals.  I will be sketching and posting continuously during the day on my instagram page at alissaduke1  and facebook Alissa Duke Art with the hashtags #FestivalsRoadTrip and #clunesbooktownfestival.

I applied for and was thrilled to be awarded the position as Social Media Reporter by UNESCO Melbourne City of Literature based on my Melbourne Rare Book Week (MRBW) sketches, where I sketch on location at events over the week.  I am very excited as this role combines my love of sketching and books – what more could I ask for ???!!!

Below are some MRBW sketches

Located approximately 90 minutes from Melbourne by car, the small country town of Clunes is a member of the International Organisation of Booktowns, the only one in Australia. The original is Hay-on-Wye in Wales.  A Booktown is a small, regional, community-focused town with a concentration of booksellers – mainly secondhand or antiquarian bookshops.

Each year Clunes (pop 2000) Booktown Festival attracts over 15,000 people across the two day event to the historical town, tempting book lovers with its sensational line-up of speakers and enticing weekend explorers with its culinary delights and surprises.  

Here are photos from last year . I am hoping the weather will be the same – The predicted weather is 16 degrees and possible showers . Fingers crossed for no rain.

I will be sketching everywhere all day – on the streets amongst the books and stalls, at the talks and everywhere in between. As mentioned I will be posting continuously during the day on my instagram page at alissaduke1  and facebook Alissa Duke Art with the hashtags #FestivalsRoadTrip and #clunesbooktownfestival.  I plan to do some very quick sketches 10 – 20 minutes and maybe a few longer ones of up to an hour . Some will be in ink pen, with or without colour and others may be in watercolour pencils.  I will see what happens on the day.  It will be a full on day of sketching walking, looking, sketching and..  sketching.  I will be engaging with the events and sharing impressions of the moment through my sketches. Follow me and see what I sketch on he day.

The Festival features Australia’s largest book shop, with the whole of the main street given over to bookstores, with festival-goers able to browse rare and collectible books, go inside heritage buildings, listen to live music while sampling local food and wine, watch street performers, visit exhibitions, and immerse themselves in stories,

Clunes Booktown Festival is on Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 May at Clunes, Victoria. Tickets are $10 from clunesbooktown.com.au. and extra for  some speaker events.

Just going to fill my ink pen and sharpen my pencils now. !!!