The room was full at the beautiful Old Treasury Building to listen as Dianne Reilly spoke of his life and great talent depicting the daily life of diggers in search of gold in the goldfields.
I was trying to make the drawing different by adding colour to the richness of the grand furniture.
Melbourne Rare Book Week Day 2. There were five amazing talks on today
I was able to attend three today. The day started with free Rare Book Appraisals by three experts. People brought along their books and prints to be appraised, find out about them and get a value.
There were already a few people gathered when I arrived and a steady stream of people came in during the time I was there. I overheard some interested snippets of conversation!
A quick tram ride across town to Armadale Cellars to hear Michael Hince talk on wine publishing in Australia, An entertaining talk, in the cellars surrounded by wine, What else could I sketch!
In the evening Susannah Fullerton and Chris Browne presented on the literary greats who visited Australia what they observed. thoughts of Rudyard Kipling, Mark Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson were some of the readings given.
What a day !
The first presentation was about the rare books survey at Museums Victoria Library. An appreciative audience asked lots of questions . There were a few librarians in the audience.
and in the evening historian Shane Carmody spoke of the cultural legacy of Bishop Goold, the first Catholic Bishop of Melbourne. An audience of about 80 enjoyed his interesting and entertaining talk. 
I have been the official urban sketcher at Melbourne Rare Book Week (MRBW) for the past two years. Each year during the week I write a daily blog post, posting my sketches from the events I attend. If you would like to see the sort of events they have held in the past and my sketches from them just click on this link . You will see all the results of a search of my blog.
I am honored to be involved again this year and will be sketching at over 20 of the 43 events. held during the week. I will be writing a blog daily from this Friday to the following Sunday.
Then my blog post returns to its usually weekly format
What is MRBW? A week of interesting and entertaining lectures, presentations and exhibitions.
It includes a wide variety of interesting topics on book-related themes, and entry to all events is free of charge. There is something for all interests and taste. They welcome bibliophiles, established collectors and those new to book collecting.
How does my sketching work ? I look at the program for the week and circle the events that I would like to attend and can get to, There is often an overlap of times of two events and sometimes not possible to travel from one to another , even though they are generally all in Melbourne CBD. I don’t have to book for the event (many have seating limits due to the space they are held in) and I usually stand at the back of the room. Therefore there are lots of “backs of heads of people’ sketches. If there is an interesting feature to the room ( Tonic House has a wonderful internal brick wall) I add to colour to it. I have been to some places previously and know what to expect, and others I need to decide on the spot. But that is the joy of sketching on location! Tackling the unknown is all part of the joy urban sketching .
Events go for 45 minutes to 90 minutes, All of my sketches are done on location, not from photos . They capture the event and are an impression of the moment. Sometimes I manage to do two sketches. Some are on single pages and others are double page spreads, I decide on format at the time.
All of sketches are done with watercolour pencils and Lamy Safari Joy ink pen in a 13 x 19 cm Moleskine watercolour sketchbook.
AND I get to hear amazing people share their passion and knowledge for their area of bookish expertise. !
I hope you enjoy my reporting of the event. Please say hello if you attend any of them and see me sketching !
Of course, I knew that I would sketch there. It is ‘given time’ as I knew how long the washing and then the drying was going to take.
These are the first weeks’ sketches. I also had lunch there.
Above is my most recent visit . I wish the I had taken photos along the way . You will have to use your imagination as I describe the step by step process of creation of this page.
First I sketched the washing machines and dryers with my Lamy Safari ink pen in my Moleskine 19×13 cm watercolour journal. I am generally never unhappy with a page of sketches. However, at this stage the page just didn’t feel right , so I added the black watercolour pencil and it softened the page.
I knew that I had lots of time left so I started drawing the laundry basket in Payne’s Grey watercolour pencil and then added more colour and then the used the waterbrush to pull the colour across the page . I then drew over some of the finer, harder lines of the basket edge and pattern of holes.
I still had dryer time , so drew one of the tokens in Cool Grey IV watercolour pencil.
Once at home I wrote my notes on the page.
Then instagrammed – and received a lovely reply from the Laundromat .
and then decided to write this post. I hope that it explains my thought process.
If this was in another country and I was on holidays It would be travel sketching, and this is the sort of page I would sketch when travelling, as it is all part of the journey. Join me in travel sketching classes in Melbourne. For more details: https://www.trybooking.com/eventlist/travelsketching
I am running Travel Sketching classes in Melbourne in over July and August.
In the cooler/cold Melbourne Winter months it not practical to run my Travel Sketchwalks in East Melbourne, However, you can still sketch in the cold weather and I have TWO travel sketching classes to inspire and motivate you.
Have you ever wanted to sketch as you travel, adding a drawing to your diary or creating a whole travel journal, but not sure where to begin?
In this class learn to use watercolour pencil to create a travel journal. Learn to look and see in a different way – it is all about capturing the impression of the moment. Your sketches in your travel sketchbook will bring back memories of a time and place when you look at them.
Learn to use watercolour pencil to sketch the food you eat, your drinks and the places that you stop for meals when travelling, capturing the impression of the moment.
Looking back at the pages of your sketchbook you will relive the sights, sounds, taste, and smell through your lines, colours and words on the page .
For more details on dates and prices and to book for one or both classes at www.trybooking.com/eventlist/travelsketching
I look forward to seeing you and sketching with you !
Man With a Van removalists
I sketched the removalists while sitting on the stairs waiting.
The night before the move – all the boxes lined up. I meant to add more detail, but ran out of time/ energy.
My bears in my backpack.
Now that the absolute basic are in place in each room I can spend time organising my art cupboards, greeting card supplies, travel sketching class kits and everything else. Fun !
I have over 30 boxes of books to unpack at some time.
We strolled to Fitzroy Gardens and had a delicious lunch at Kere Kere Green cafe. I sketched the outdoor area while we relaxed for a while before going back home to unpack more boxes.
A house warming present of a nest that was found on the ground . It is tiny and from South East Queensland – does anyone know which bird it is from. This is now the smallest nest i have and will join my others in a display cabinet, when I unpack them.
If you like the idea of a nest housewarming gift , I have a series of greeting cards printing with my watercolour pencil drawings of feathers and nests available for purchase on my ETSY site
What is it ? MRBW includes a wide variety of interesting topics on book-related themes. There is something for all interests and taste. So, once again they welcome bibliophiles, established collectors and those new to book collecting. It culminates in the Melbourne Rare Book Fair.
For the past few years I have been involved in a few ways including being the official sketcher on location at many of the events during the week. To see my sketches from previous years , just type MRBW in the search box at the top right of the page and you will get a list of results to click-through to. These will give you an idea of some of the past events and what I sketch.
This year I will be sketching on location at many of the events, and am also involved in the Melbourne Library Service part of the program. I was commissioned to draw the posters for the MRBW events. They have five events .
My original watercolour pencil drawings are on display on East Melbourne Library alongside some very interesting rare books that began the Gothic novel and later books that were influenced by them. My drawings also feature in the Melbourne Library Service brochure and their events in the MRBW program !!! It so exciting to see them in print and to be involved in this unique event.
The planning for this year’s week began as soon as 2017 event finished (and even before that). In February three of us spent a long weekend, watching classic films based on the classic (and very readable) Dracula. Ideas for the posters were put down on paper, there was lots of google image searching and putting sketching concepts on paper.
All of this came together in Stage One this Saturday as we put up the exhibition of rare books, artifacts and my art work.
I also decided that it was about time that I read some of these classic (and not so classic) Gothic novels including Dracula, The Mysteries of Udolpho, The Castle of Otranto, A Sicilian Romance, The Raven.
It has been a creative event so far and I am looking forward to attending and sketching the events in June/July. !
There is no blog post this week as I have been busy packing.
Back next week with a Melbourne Rare Book Week update,
Happy sketching
I arrived early and sketched for about 20 minutes outside the Supreme Court before going into work in the Library. The Supreme Court is the highest court in Victoria, and this building was opened in 1884. The heritage-listed building is a wonderful example of the classical Renaissance Revival style on a grand and imposing scale.
Photography is not allowed in the courts (apart from the library.) and the court rooms are usually only open when a court case is in session. So today provided me with an opportunity to sketch inside a courtroom, as this is not allowed when a trial is on. Last year I met a court sketcher who explained that the court sketchers were employed by the media organisations, not the courts .Her sketches of people in court were amazing, capturing character and features in such detail.
Court Four – an overview of the room (yes, the walls are a pale pink) and a close up of a turned wooden feature. It was hard to capture the size of the elaborate architecture and features. Court 4 is the original central criminal court. It was the venue for the first sitting in this building in 1884. Court 4 remains the venue for many of the state’s murder trials.
Banco Court – just a small part of the judicial bench. I was not sure where to begin with in both of these rooms and could have planned my page a lot better. This court has elaborately moulded plaster in its ceiling and upper walls, and marvellously fitted joinery in the furniture of the room – the The Judicial Bench, the jury box, etc
I also had the opportunity during the week to draw the Judicial wig and wig tin of Justice John Barry.
I have spent time in the past drawing with my watercolour pencils in the library and then (from photos outside of the courts) the Dome, windows and doors of the Supreme Court of Victoria, I have had them printed as greeting cards and they are available for purchase on my ETSY online store .
