I was delighted to be invited to have a stall to sell my greeting cards at today’s local East Melbourne Library Community BBQ. We were very fortunate to have good weather (after some some shockingly hot few days) for our outdoor event.
There were stalls and people from the local Melbourne Men’s Shed Inc, East Melbourne Community Herb Garden Group, East Melbourne Historical Society and Melbourne Rooftop Honey. and me . I took along a selection of greeting cards printed from my drawings of books and libraries, Christmas themes and nature sketches and I was pleased with the amount of sales.
This free community barbecue (sausage sizzle and curry puffs) had Christmas goodie bags for children and festive poetry readings. The queues for the food were long and people stayed around and chatted for a while as well.
I had fascinating conversations with local people who were visiting the library to borrow books or to visit the BBQ. We think about 400 people visited (based on the number of sausage in bread and curry puffs that were eaten). I caught up with friends and met new people (including three who live in the same apartment block as me !)
I also had a poster about my watercolour pencil classes which started a few lovely conversations and some potential bookings.
Well done to everyone who was involved and thank you to East Melbourne Library for organising this great event and inviting me to be involved ! It was a wonderful community event.
Yesterday was a very special watercolour pencil sketching class – Christmas High Tea at Dromkeen.
I arrived at the historic homestead Dromkeen to find the dining room magnificently decorated for our Christmas High Tea watercolour pencil class. I have held classes in the beautiful room here during the year, but on Saturday it was looking grand and festive. Dromkeen is about 1 1/2 hours from Melbourne and hosts a wonderful array of events during the year, It has a children’s literature centre, art gallery and tea rooms. Denise and Bernadette cooked a beautiful selection of savouries and sweets, which were set on on the tiered plates and we also had tea and coffee. It was all so beautiful to sketch and to eat.
There was full class of ten and they all went home after the three hour class with full stomachs and many sketches. There was so much to choose to sketch: the appealing food, pretty plates and matching tea cups, ornaments or tiered plates
It was a lovely way to end my classes for the year, There are more watercolour pencil sketching classes planned for January, February and March next year, These include Travel sketching, Nature sketching and Sketching Memories and Nostalgia. Details of times and dates and bookings here
This past weekend I took a long weekend to travel with a sketching friend, Angela ( instagram @lunchsketch) to Warrnambool and Port Fairy . We were going to Port Fairy for the Exhibition Opening night of the Blarney Books & Art Biblio Art Prize. We both had entries accepted. It was such a thrill so see mine exhibited among so many creative works. That is another story….
A long weekend gave us three days of sketching ! I completed 25 pages of sketches (Angela was about the same ) and two postcard giveaways on Instagram. Today I am showing you the sketches from DAY ONE – the Great Ocean Road, My sketches are with watercolour pencil and Lamy Safari ink pen.
The Great Ocean Road is a famous drive with 243-kilometre (151 mi) stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia . Built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932 and dedicated to soldiers killed during World War I, the road is the world’s largest war memorial. The road is an important tourist attraction in the region.
It has beaches and stunning craggy cliffs composed of limestone and sandstone. You look out on the wild and windswept Southern Ocean. The coastline is dramatic ! The stories associated with it are too.
The day was grey and cool ( 16 degrees) and very windy along the coast, At the stops where stayed and sketched we found a sheltered nook to stand in.
The tourists came in waves as the buses came and left. They did not stay for a long time. As sketchers, driving by car, at our own pace, we are fortunate to be able stop and stay longer. When you sketch, you look and observe and see things that a quick photo would not see. We sketched and could hear the waves crashed in on the rocks.
Travelling the Great Ocean Road was a wonderful experience and the dramatic coastline continued to amaze me. I was very fortunate took have slightly local person (Angela) who could tell me a bit of background and stories of these places.
My entry has been accepted into Blarney Books & Art Biblio Art Prize. When you enter the competition you get given a book title to interpret artistically . I entered in June this year and got A year of Wonder : a novel of the plague by Geraldine Brooks. I purchased a second hand copy, knowing that I would draw on the page.
I read the book twice (and really enjoyed it) and have browsed through it numerous times in the last few months. My initial thought was that the drawings I would do in the book would probably be of the plague as it was described on various pages through the book. But in a moment of inspiration I noticed the references to plants in the novel. Looking further, I realised there were many references and knew that this would be my theme.
The novel is set in 1666 when the plague sweeps through England. It is based on the true history of the small Derbyshire village of Eyam that quarantines itself in order to prevent the disease from spreading further. It is written from the point of view of Anna and what she lives through in that time. It includes her observations of the reaction of villagers as they descend into social chaos with increasing fear, paranoia and suspicion. Anna’s resilience grows as she takes on a role as healer. During this time she learns about medicinal plants and they work to help the community at this time.
This weekend I have scanned the pages I have drawn on. I will post the book shortly to arrive in time for the Saturday 7 December Exhibition Opening Night at Blarney Books & Art in Port Fairy. If you are Melbourne, It is about a three hour drive. I would love to know if you are going to visit. My friends Angela & Jodi also have their projects in the exhibition. I believe they have both done paintings for their titles.
You can view all of the above drawings on my Flickr site
I also entered last year, drawing on the pages of a book of my own choice .see my blog post about my entry Blarney 2018 entry
I realised last year that when people were at the exhibition looking at my book, which was displayed open on a bookstand, that they did not turn the pages to look at the different illustrated pages. This weekend I am working on a poster of all the images, which I plan will stand next to the book, and once again, all pages will be bookmarked with a ribbon.
Once again, it will also be available for purchase.
On Saturday I held a Nature Sketching with Watercolour Pencil class at the beautiful Dromkeen homestead ,just outside of Melbourne. This is a short post showing the sketches I did on the day.
After playing with the watercolour pencils inside and learning what they do, we head outside and observe a tree up close. A little time is spent observing the details, intricacy and character of one tree.
This is a practice sketch I did in the morning. 15 minuteswe then step back and sketch a bigger scene
This final sketch is an explanation of how I built up a page. It is quite hard to explain what you do, when you just do it without thinking. I would love to video this one day.
I had eight enthusiastic students and beautiful day. We were very lucky that the weather cleared and we had a bit of sunshine and warmth.
I have a variety of Watercolour Pencil sketching classes over Spring and Summer at Dromkeen and in Melbourne. Please contact me if you have any questions. See all the details on my website
I was in Sydney for a work conference and I put all of those sketches on last weeks blog. I had arrived a few days early and spent time with Sydney sketching friends. There were hours of chatting and catch up and also pages of sketches. I also sketched before and after work, Here are a few Sydney icons, most of them completed quite quickly.
Last week I attended a conference in Sydney. Unlike my previous conference in early October the Brisbane Sketchfest 2019 , this was not a Sketching conference, but the International Association of Law Librarians. There were 132 Librarians from 25 countries here in Sydney to learn about the Australian Legal Landscape, A unique learning and professional opportunity for everyone, by attending lectures and social events in day and night.
Of course I sketched, and with the encouragement of the local organisers, shared my sketches on social media. Most sessions went for 45 minutes,but some of the walking tours were an unknown and shorter time. All of my sketches are done on location. This means that they are creating an impression of the moment and are not portraits. They give you a sense of the event, the people and the space they are in.
After one lunchbreak we re-entered the room and one of my sketches was up on the big screen (below) – very exciting. I was introduced to the delegates and my sketches on Twitter were followed and retweeted. It was wonderful to be able to add something a little different to the event.
I also sketched before and after events. There are many sketches of the Sydney Opera House, ferries and Harbour Bridge, and I will be scanning them this week and adding to my flickr account. I put all of my sketches on Flicker. I post one a day to Instagram, some to Facebook and different facebook groups, depending on the sketch.
I was in Brisbane last weekend for Sketchfest 2019 and wrote last weeks blog about the Workshops I attended. I also did a lot of my everyday sketching while I was there. This includes the usual on the Skybus and airports and airplanes.
and some food
a few Brisbane scenes
I also sketched outside my comfort zone at Dee Bop Jazz Club, I felt all very grown up sketching at a jazz club.
I recently travelled to Brisbane (2 1/2 hours flight) to attend Brisbane Sketchfest 2019. It is the first Australia wide urban sketching gathering and welcomed sketchers from around Australia and New Zealand, Noumea and Asia to enjoy a four days of sketching workshops, walks and events.
Brilliant photo by Henrik Richards of our last day ‘throw down’ before the closing drinks
From 10 to 12 October, 12 instructors from Australia and Asia delivered a diverse and fun program showcasing the Brisbane River, South Bank and Wickham Terrace plus Eat, Drink, Draw sessions at River Quay and King George Square. A ticket and registration included
access to 3 workshops
access to 2 sketch walks; and
evening activities
It was just like a Urban Sketching Symposium, including the ‘goodie bag’ of sponsors gifts. I have been to the Annual International Urban Sketching Symposiums in Barcelona and Manchester and I felt that this was equal in the quality of workshops, the organisation of the registrations and the whole event. A BIG thank you to the organisers. The difference was the size – 175 participants instead of 500. However I still did not get to meet many of them. But I did get to say hello and sketch with urban sketchers I had been following online and I also met new sketchers – some from my own city of Melbourne.
Below are three workshops I attended
PAUL WANG – Beautiful Eyes – lets go window shopping
PAUL is a passionate art and design educator from Singapore. Inspired by his interior architecture and stage design training, his sketches are always bursting with dramatic colours. He is an Urban Sketchers’ correspondent for Singapore and also serving actively as an advisory board-member for the Urban Sketchers’ organisation. The title of PAUL WANG’S workshop is Beautiful Eyes – Lets go Window Shopping. “We cannot help but look into the eyes of a stranger or a friend when we meet. Windows and doors like our eyes are openings to spaces and even secret stories beyond. They let light and air into the room. Zooming in and drawing these openings as strong focal points can help draw us into the sketch and hold the gaze of the viewer.“
This was outside of my comfort zone as I was using watercolours and had to learn how to use them.Paul generously provided us with the watercolours in a palette. We were not learning how to mix colours, thank goodness. (It was only 3 hours), My learning curve was on how much water to add to to the colour (or colour to add to the water). and to remember to clean my brush thoroughly between changing colours, It was great to learn how the wax resist pencil (goes on clear) to define window panes and iron lace. I currently use a white gel pen afterwards to add that effect.
We walked up to Spring Hill and were based initially in a lovely area to learn, before heading off to choose a building and window to paint. There was a bit of rain that had us headed for awnings but it did not dampen our enthusiasm.
RICHARD BRIGGS HOW TO CAPTURE URBAN CHARACTER WITH LIMITED CONTENT
Richard is a practicing artist and British registered architect based in Sydney. His simple line drawings explore the hidden gems in our cities encouraging us to look at the streets in a different way. Workshop title: How to capture urban character with limited content. The aim of this workshop is to focus on the urban spaces in Brisbane’s CBD and look at how to capture the key characteristics by using a line based approach with limited content, and to not sketch everything that you see
In this workshop, the initial focus was on observing and thinking and writing down our reactions in words. This is a different approach to my travel sketching workshop , where it is all about capturing the moment in a short amount of time and making quick decisions. I loved the idea of looking deeply. We were in historic Burnett Lane in Brisbane (freezing cold and pouring rain at one stage) . It is a busy back lane providing access to the other street facing shops, and it shows the history of Brisbane through the old entrances, fading signs, stairs that lead nowhere and lots of functional pipes. There are now a few cafes and street art too.
This was the most challenging workshop, as I found it difficult to put the concept onto paper. I could understand it in my head, but put too many lines down as I fell back into my usual technique. This is where the Workshops are so important as they plant an idea in your head. It is hard to master a technique in three hours, (and that is why Symposiums and Sketchfests are so exhausting) but it may appear at a later.
ROBYN BAUER – TREES WITH TEXTURE & TONE
Robyn is a full time artist, who exhibits & teaches extensively, and was a co-founder of Urban Sketchers Brisbane in November 2016. Her workshop is titled Trees with Texture & Tone. “Sketching opens our eyes to the world that surrounds us. It enables us to see and understand things more clearly. A city is made up of many components and creating sketches that celebrate this diversity can be very rewarding. This workshop is about seeing how trees fit into the mix and will focus on using various dilutions of black ink (tonal values) to render our discoveries.”
A wonderful learning experience with Robyn, I love to draw nature and trees, but had not used mixed media to represent them, I had fun experimenting with the diluted ink and layering with pen. Splattering with a stiff brush was fun too.
Brisbane Sketchfest 2019 was an amazing event and once again I would like to thank all of the volunteer organisers who put this event together. It was wonderful to meet and sketch with so many people from around the world in the beautiful city of Brisbane.
This week I set up an exhibition of my Nature Sketching Sketchbooks in East Melbourne Library (near the MCG train/tram stop). The exhibition is on for the month of October and is in conjunction with the launch of my Spring/Summer watercolour pencil sketching class, some of which are nature sketching.
The display cabinets in the library
three cabinets of sketchbooks
on the spot sketches, The Pacific Black Ducks were sketched on the way to work. The little duckling had died and I found him in the gardens on the way home and drew him.
very very quick sketches of King Parrots and a Cockatoo. They never stay still for long , but often return to the same spot.
I was very fortunate that the display cabinets were available for the month of October and I quickly put together this display. Linda, from the Library & I spent two hours installing it on Tuesday. I am very pleased with the result and how the sketchbooks and objects look. If you are in Melbourne, please drop by and have a look.
quick sketches following a magpie aound
There are some quick sketches done on location and slower observational drawings of objects done at home with the object in front of me. I walk through Fitzroy and Treasure Gardens and sketch the trees and ducks regularly, so I could display a few of those. All are sketched with watercolour pencils in Moleskine Watercolour Sketchbooks. I love to teach about the joys of sketching with watercolour pencil and have some sketchwalks through the gardens to share hint and tips and how to use the watercolour pencils.
Setting up the exhibition
It takes more time to prepare the set up of an exhibition that it does to put it in the display cases on the day. I spent a day on the weekend going through all of my 87 sketchbooks and choosing pages that I might be able to use. I draw daily and have lots of different subjects (food, travel, buildings). Some nature themes started to emerge – the slower observational drawings and quicker on location sketches. Once the sketchbooks were chosen I spread them out over my lounge room floor to group and balance stronger images.
Choosing the sketchbooks
arranging the sketchbooks by theme
all packed up and ready to take to the library
setting up in the library
I have used these display cabinets before and am aware of their limitations and how my sketchbooks can/need to be displayed . There are some sketchbooks that need to be displayed at eye level and they will be different to those on display on the bottom shelf.
I always receive lovely comments from visitors to the Library and am thankful that the library supports local residents by offering these spaces to use.
