On a quick four-day visit interstate to my hometown, I sketched a lot. Today’s page is all about a two-hour sketching catch-up with an art friend Anna from Shiny Happy Art. I have only known Anna for a few years, but we talk art for ages when we catch up. Our meeting place is the delicious ParisiAnn where we eat and sketch Ann’s amazing creations.

We have very different styles with our art. I sketch in my spare time with my watercolour pencils for fun and journalling. Anna is a full-time artist, art teacher and always has many creative projects on the go. But we both agree that anyone can sketch and anything is sketchable!

We chose our pastry treats from the counter display and have a great coffee.

Thankfully Anna took lots of photos along the way so I can share our creations in progress. The table started off tidy and then we took over.

Below is a video that shows the sweets off! I(I couldn’t figure out how to reduce it in size)

Below are my final pages.

At one stage Ann bought out a colourful cake for a client to collect (Andrew’s wife’s birthday). We had to sketch it quickly! it was not out long as the weather was so warm.

We gave ourselves 10 minutes. Then agreed on another two minutes at the end!

and then it was time to go…

This Saturday I held my last Travel Sketching with WatercolourPencil class for the year.

I do have a final “Christmas High Tea sketching with Watercolour Pencil” class in December at Dromkeen homestead, just outside of Melbourne. See their Facebook page for a link to booking in the next few days.

I thought I would give a little overview of my travel sketching class. My first sketch was at Southern Cross Station waiting for my VLine train. The journey takes about an hour and trains leave hourly.

I arrive early. Waiting time is Sketching time!

It is a two hour class. Participants can purchase a sketchkit from me or bring their own gear. Many people already have watercolour pencils and don’t know what to do with them. The waterbrush tends to create the most excitement. it is basically a tube filled with water and a brush at the end. It is used instead of paintbrushes and containers of water. It is perfect for travel sketching.

I introduced everyone to their equipment and we played and scribbled with the watercolour pencils before heading outside.

There are three 15-minute stops to sketch. Part of travel sketching is being able to choose your subject quickly and start getting colour and lines on the page. Travel sketching is all about seeing opportunities and making the most of them to document your travels. So, 15 minutes is a good amount of time.

I bring three of my own sketchbooks from my last UK holiday as well as half a dozen published books to look through. These sketchbooks show different people’s linework and colour – all very different. There is no right or wrong. I also have my current sketchbook and pencils.

Below are two of the more popular ones.

I was able to share a sketching hint which I had used that morning. Wearing sunglasses lets you look at people subtly and sketch them.

There are lots of art adventures leading up to Christmas and into the new year.

Happy sketching everyone.

Last weekend I spent just over 24 hours in Ballarat, an hour north west of Melbourne.

Friends and I went to explore this beautiful historic regional city.

These are the sketches I made during the visit. My friends are not sketchers, but are very happy with me sketching and disappointed if I don’t!

It is a different style for me as I added large titles to each page.