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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I am excited to announce the dates for my Summer watercolour pencil sketching classes.
I have a variety of classes held at East Melbourne Library and at Dromkeen homestead at Riddells Creek, (about an hour’s drive from Melbourne).
All classes are three hours . You can book in for one on its own or different classes. Classes are booked through Trybooking– either through my website or the Dromkeen site listed below. Each booking includes the option of purchasing a watercolour sketching kit to collect on the day or bringing your own kit.
book for East Melbourne 2 November 15 December 18 January 14 March
book for Dromkeen 1 February
If you are planning a holiday or always wanted to sketch when you travel, join me on this inspirational class. It includes a walk around East Melbourne or Dromkeen, sketching with watercolour pencils to record your experience. Learn tips and techniques for travel sketching along the way.
Book for East Melbourne 30 November 15 February
Book for Dromkeen 16 November
Learn to sketch with watercolour pencils to record your experience of walking through and observing nature. The East Melbourne classes walk down to and around Fitzroy Gardens. At the Dromkeen classes we explore the trees and nature on the property. Learn tips and techniques for sketching along the way.
book for Dromkeen 14 December
Enjoy a sumptuous Christmas High Tea in the homestead dining room and learn to sketch with watercolour pencils to record your experience. Learn tips and techniques for travel sketching along the way
book for Dromkeen 21 March
Explore sketching with watercolour pencils to record those special memories and objects that are unique to you and your family. Learn sketching tips and techniques along the way.
One, two or three days of travel sketching workshops– what fun !
Alissa’s 3hr Travel Sketch & Walk Workshops.
Sunday November 10th
Costs: $AU55 for one day. $25 for Sketch Kit or bring your own.
Venue: East Melbourne
Time: 2.00PM – 5.00PM
Bookings here
This is followed by Erin’s Melbourne Full Day Travel Sketching Workshops,
Monday November 11th. ‘5 Simple shapes in Travel Sketching’ Tuesday November 12th. ‘Getting Loose with Watercolour’
Tuesday November 12th. ‘Getting Loose with Watercolour’
Cost: $AU150pp for one day. $AU275pp for both days.
Venue: Victoria Hotel mezzanine. 215 Little Collins St, Melbourne.
Time: 10.00AM – 3.00PM
BOOKINGS OPEN. erin(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)erinhill.com.au
A few weeks ago I wrote a blog post about a visit home and drawing nostalgia at home (part two). I shared some drawings of everyday objects from around the house I grew up in. I recently took a final trip home before the move and drew some more ‘significant objects’. Some are objects that I always remember being around the house, but I don’t particularly want to own them now. I also tried to find out the history and whether my family members had the same memories. (not always)
Others were quick sketches standing at the door, looking out over the back yard. A memory for me.
And now new memories will be made in a new place . Here are my first sketches as the shift was made.
I am planning a Nostalgia and Memories watercolour pencil sketching class in March as part of Summer classes. This was inspired by the these experiences and how many memories an object holds and how this can be captured on the page. My class schedule will be announced in the next few weeks. Watch this space.
I have been away the last two weekends, and although I have been constantly sketching, I did not have the opportunity or time for my weekly art blog. I have started scanning the 25 pages I have completed in that time and today are my sketches in getting from A to B. They are my ‘usual’ sketches on the bus to the airport, at the airport and on the airplane.
A few times a years the Museum invites people to register to attend the Drawing Studio and you can request a specimen from the Museum’s collection to draw. I attended this special event at the Melbourne Museum once before in February and wrote about it and shared my drawings from the day here.
A Melbourne Museum staff member was in the room all day and if we wanted the specimens moved on the table to a different angle they donned their gloves and shifted these fragile objects. Some have also been preserved with arsenic,so they are hazardous too. Wet materials were not permitted, so I was not able to use my waterbrush in the room. I got around this by adding lots of marks and colour with watercolour pencil on the page and then leaving the room and adding water to the page with my waterbrush just outside the door.
At 10am I started immediately on my sugar glider.
The drawing is in a A4 Moleskine Watercolour Sketchbook. I drew the shape lightly on the page to make sure I would fit him on the page. I worked on him solidly all morning. In hindsight, I probably should have done a few quick sketch from different angles, just to get in the mood. Next time I will take that approach. Yesterday I kept adding colour and detail til lunchtime.
I did not know how the specimen would be positioned when I ordered him. He is not in full flight. There is a membrane between the front fingers/paws and the back leg which allows the gliding between trees. In this specimen you can see all of the folded fur that would stretch out when gliding. His nose is a little missing and scrunched. They are usually pink, And I could not see his paws and claws on the branch.
I chose a sugar glider as we had seen them when I was young when we went on a camping trip at a National Park. I remember seeing them in the trees and feeding them, but I don’t think I saw them gliding.
After lunch I decided to move to other specimens in the room that other people had requested.
This hare looked simple, but was very difficult to draw. Three of us were sketching him from different angles and all agreed that it was a lot more complex that we all thought it would be. Not sure why…
Above are some birds from the collection
And now some real life live birds. Sketched on the way to the Museum. These two rainbow lorikeets were loudly screeching on the street sign above me. They never stay still for long. I was going to take a photo and decided to try for a very quick sketch, So glad I did. I sketched this in only a few minutes. I then walked up to the Melbourne Museum to spend over two hours on my next drawing of the sugar glider. From one extreme to another.Both were immensely fun an satisfying.
Saturday was a very Spring-like day in Melbourne, with sun shining with warmth and blue skies. I walked through the Fitzroy Gardens in Melbourne,looking for ducks to sketch, but they were not there as their pond was being drained. I easily found another source of inspiration in the Gardens in the form of daffodils!
Below are photos I remembered to take as a work in progress.
I sketched the city skyline and the daffodils.
This weeks blog is all about drawing to capture personal memories. I do a lot of quick on location sketch to capture the moment. The other part of my sketching is a little slower, with more thought behind the choosing the object or scene, and more time spent putting watercolour pencil to paper.
On a recent visit home I continued my drawings of everyday objects from around the house I grew up in. These are things that only mean something to me and some members of my family. I am sharing this to open your mind to the concept of capturing special memories on paper. These objects are not always big and exciting, but sometimes the small and everyday. In fact, the everyday can resonate more than bigger things. Objects that were meaningful to me , did not have the same connection for my brother.
I do not want to actually own or take away any of these, so drawing them is away of keeping them. I also would like to find out the history of the object – where did we get it, when was it used. I want to write down my memories and other family members’ memories .
Other family history and memory drawings can be seen at :
drawing my dad’s shed – This is one of my favourite posts and I get very nostalgic reading it
all in a flickr album. I have drawn family history items as well as everyday objects. Looking back over these I start to feel all nostalgic. Here are are few previous drawings
I draw these with the object on the table in front of me.
I finished the weekend by drawing the front gate. I started by sitting out on the footpath and realised that I wanted more time to get more detail (and it was cold). I took several photographs and am still working on this. I return home again a few weeks and have a few more things I want to draw!
In essence, it is all about drawing objects that I have have a connection with, no matter how obscure or ‘everyday’ it is. I hope this inspires you !
I had a flying visit interstate on the weekend. These are the sketches on the way there and back again on Airnorth airline.
