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 .

Happy Mothers’ Day  to all mothers out there and in memory of all mothers.   

My sketches of mum have been done in the last few years and have usually been done when she is visiting or while we are on holidays. I am so very fortunate have my healthy and happy mum in my life and that she has always been there for me. 

This has almost captured her ! It was drawn from a photo. But there was so much use of the eraser to get to this.

(Mother’s Day – where does that apostrophe go ??, there are so many opinions, but it is the reason of the day that is important)

The two coffee cups I sketched this week. My style is the ‘unfinished’ look. I sketch the object with the watercolour pencil that is the colour of the object. See a step by step blog. 

Note:

• the cup is not fully coloured in, but you know what colour it is. 
• You don’t need to draw the entire object – just the hint of the saucer is enough . The viewers’ mind will fill in the blanks. 
• I have drawn the muffin . I decided not to draw the plate the muffin was on, as it would have taken up too much of the page. And the muffin was more important than the plate. And I was hungry.
• I draw cups often and am comfortable with the circles and ellipses of the cups. Practice, practice, practice.

• I also sketch these Pacific Black Ducks regularly as I walk through the gardens and their everyday. I have sketched them so often and know what they look like and my pencil flows across the page.
• Like my teacups, I also use the same watercolour pencil on the spot as the colour of the duck . No lead pencil first and then going over it in colour. There is often not the time. No eraser – and I keep the watercolour pencil marks on the page of where I was finding the line.
• There were about 20 of these birds at the pond. If the one that I was sketching moved away, there would soon be another one in is position. This can also work with drawing people. There are some positions that are a constant. 

I hope this provides an insight into the way I sketch , Let me know if and how it has been of use. It is lovely to know when I have made even the smallest impact on someone’s sketching and understanding of watercolour pencils. 

An enthusiastic group  of six  – Lily  Beryl, Don, Bernadette. Denise and Trishia joined me at Arts on Burgundy in Heidelberg, Melbourne. 

See the end of this blog for links to my blog pages on practical sketching and watercolour pencil hints and list of sketching books I had today in class.

Today I followed the same format as my previous Workshop in January, but spent more time before we went out  explaining and using watercolour pencils. 

“Scribble hard on the page, HARD , HARDER.” This is because the more colour (pigment) you have on the paper, the more intense the colours will be and the more you can use them on the page. If you add water to a faint line it can disappear. I wanted everyone to understand this concept before we started out. 

I used the example (above) which I sketched on the bus on the way to the Workshop, to show how I use the ink, then the watercolour pencil and then the waterbrush on the page to achieve different effects,  

We then walked out of the studio to put theory into practice. We walked up a block , stopping for 15 minutes at Heidelberg Primary School to sketch, then walked a few blocks to the beautiful Heidelberg Park, doing two 15 minutes sketches.

Back to Arts on Burgundy for lunch in the studio and talk of travel and drawing. After lunch I gave a short talk on things to think about when composing a page, before a 30 minute sketch at St Johns Church. There was a wedding on, with people gathering before the service. They went into the church and the bride arrived and she didn’t stay long at all outside.

Then back to the studio for final talk and coffees and sweets provided by Sarah !

Links to other blog posts

In a  previous blog posts I talked about the practical part of my art .

I have written them under four headings

•  Watercolour pencils, pen and sketchbook
• Thoughts and processes 
• travel sketching
• Step by Step examples

Travel sketching classes

I have vacancies in my upcoming two hour Travel Sketching classes with two levels of charge – purchase a sketchkit or bring your own watercolour sketchkit. See more details here.

Contact Sarah at Arts on Burgundy to ask about more full day Workshops.

Books

Below are some books that I had on display (as well as my own travel sketchbooks). 

They are not’ how to draw’ books, but rather show different people’s sketches and styles. I’ve put links if you are interested, I will often borrow a book from my local library before deciding to purchase it.

An Illustrated LIfe by Danny Gregory

Reportage and Documentary Drawing by Veronica Lawlor

London You’re Beautiful by David Gentleman 

Taking a Line for a Walk by Christopher Lambert

Drawing Paris by David George Holm

Manchester Sketchbook by Manchester Sketchers

An Eye on the Hebrides by Marie Hedderwick 

A great book to start drawing is Danny Gregory’s book  Creative License .   It will open your eyes to creativity and drawing. I return to it regularly to refocus and relearn.

Urban Sketchers

Anyone interested in sketching on location with  Melbourne Urban sketchers, (facebook page) see their next events and see what other people are sketching in Melbourne. 

Happy sketching everyone. Contact me if you have any questions about my watercolour pencil sketching  or anything I mention on my blog.

I hope that you have a Happy and safe Easter holiday. Here is my annual Hot Cross bun sketch.