Melbourne Rare Book Week continued …Monday to Sunday

Today I am continuing  last weeks summary of the first three days of Melbourne Rare Book Week (MRBW).   On this page are a selection of my sketches from over the past week. 

All of my MRBW sketches can be seen in my flickr album here. I still have a few more to add from the final day at the Fair. 

I attended 23 of the 60 events held in MRBW. The talks covered a wide variety of subjects. All of the speakers were so knowledgable about their topic and passionate about sharing their knowledge with the audience. I started to see familiar faces in the audience of some events at the week progressed and we talked about which events we had attended and why we were there. 

I have been thinking about how I approached the challenge of capturing these events on paper.

I had not been to many of the buildings or spaces that events were held in. And if I had, I did not know how they were going to set up on the day. I had between 45 minutes and 1 1/2 hours to sketch, with my watercolour pencils, Lamy Safari ink pen in my Moleskine Watercolour sketchbook.

I wanted to make each page unique, as each event was. I planned to do this through the use of colour, my position in the room or features of the room itself . I needed to make these decisions within a few minutes of arriving and take my place before the talk began. As part of MRBW , I did not book for any events so that I would not be taking the seating of a registered attendee. Many events were fully booked with a waiting list. 

I was fortunate to have access to a few places before hand and was able to access the collection and use some of the objects as background to the page. The books above are in the Melbourne Cricket Club Library. I could not resist the wonderful illustrated spines. 

It was an exciting and interesting week of sketching and book – my favourite combination !

 

Melbourne Rare Book Week    (MRBW) has begun again for another year!

      Melbourne Rare Book Week commenced in 2012 as a partnership between ANZAAB, the University of Melbourne and eight other literary institutions. 

      In 2017, over 60 free events will be held at libraries, literary and historical societies and            bookshops throughout Melbourne, attracting local, national and international visitors. Melbourne Rare Book Week is a major attraction for book collectors, librarians and all who have a love of words, print on paper and literary heritage. 

I am official urban sketcher for MRBW and will be attending as many events as possible over the next week, sketching at the talks. I hope to capture the essence of the people, the place and the events on the page. The talks go for 45 minutes to 2 hours. 

Here is a link to my sketches on my blog from 2016.   Melbourne Rare Book Week 
Last year I blogged every evening about that days events.

This year I am scanning my sketches and 

• instagraming at the end of the day alissaduke1 
• all sketches are posted on the MRBW facebookpage www.facebook.com/RareBookWeek/ 

You can follow me there. 

Here are some sketches from the last three days. 

 

DAY 1 FRIDAY 30 JUNE

DAY 2 SATURDAY 1 JULY

DAY 3 SUNDAY 2 JULY

All events have been incredibly interesting and the speakers have shared their passion and knowledge of their specialised field of knowledge.  I am looking forward to the rest of the week !

This weeks blog has my sketches from this week. I sketch everyday, but not always in my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook when I am involved with other projects . It has been a busy week, so I will leave you with pictures  …

 

 

Last week I wrote about setting up my stall for Craft Victoria HATCH  markets . Yesterday the big day arrived and all of the preparation paid off. It was a wonderful day. 

The venue was an old factory (I think) in inner city Melbourne and had a good vibe, even when there were quiet moments. There were about 30 stall holders including jewellers, ceramicists, textile artists, print-makers and more all retailing their handcrafted wares.

I went with the expectation of no sales and taking this as a learning experience. At the end of the day I did make some sales, met some amazing stall holders with a passion for their craft and willing to share their experiences and knowledge. I also had conversations with some interesting people visiting the market . A few friends turned by to lend their support and also an instagram follower visiting from interstate introduced themselves. 

I sketched a few times during the day but forgot to take any photos of the room in full swing.

Visitors seem to come in waves s throughout the day, giving time to talk, tweak the stall, eat snacks and take it all in. I handed our  business cards, talk to some people about drawing and gathered a few names for my mailing list. I now have am occasional newsletter which will be sent out to subscribers when I have  upcoming events or exhibitions or new card designs It is a separate sign up than this weekly blog.  Sign up on the right had side of the page if you would like to receive this. I plan to email the next one out tomorrow. 

Craft Hatch program supports emerging makers and who have never had their own market stall before. The program includes mentoring and professional development guidance, and is a perfect way to get a face-to-face experience. It lived up to all of that !

I arrived home at the end of the day inspired and motivated but exhausted!

When I first decided to ‘do something’ with my art as a business I was advised that 60-80% of my time would be spent working on the business (i.e. not drawing) and I have found this to be true (but it makes me appreciate my drawing time even more) .

I am working on four  projects at the moment – a commission, an exhibition, workshops and a market stall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought I would give you a glimpse into the behind the scenes of my first commercial market stall. In April I applied and was accepted for Craft Victoria HATCH market.  HATCH are markets for emerging makers in Melbourne. Since then have been to a mentor session, asked questions in their Facebook group and received lots of support.

In the last two weeks I have been very busy working through checklists that have been provided, with lots of hints and tips from previous stall holders. Last weekend I did a mock up to see what would work on the day.

Things I needed to do

• I needed a banner for my stall. I decided on a pull-up banner that could be used at all sorts of future events (including my next exhibition). I had an initial concept and a local printer did a wonderful job of bringing it all together. I looks so good and makes me feel very professional .
• Create a Newsletter – people can sign up to a mailing list on the day at the markets or on my blog site. I tried myself, but ended up paying someone .There is now a button where you can subscribe, This is different from my Weekly Art Blog. It will be occasional and emailed to subscribers when I announce exhibitions, events, new cards – add your name now if you would like to receive it.
• Decide on how much stock to take on the day ie how many copies of each card. I decided 15, with 5 on display and the others in a box under the counter

• Decide which cards to display. There is  room for 20 of my 36 designs. I will bring the others in a little display folder to show people (had go to Office Works to find folder)
• Set prices – they should be all the same retail and my store , so they are now $7 everywhere
• How much float? I will need lots of two and one coins as the price is now $7
• I decided to be cash only and not tackle using credit cards. It may lose me some sales, but will decrease the stress for me on the day.
• Needed to purchase paper bags and bought 500. It is a big box. Then decide how many to take on the day . I decided on 50
• Table cloth – The one I have had creases from never being used – I needed to get it drycleaned
• My table is against a back wall – I have three A4 picture of one of the drawings as a work in progress, Then I have finished product framed – I had to find suitable photo frame (at Red Cross store yesterday)
• Checked out the space during the week – Great place – I discovered it had Masonite wall – had to buy 3M hanging tabs – as my pins and blue tack would not have worked
• How to pack it all up to transport on the day by taxi
• It fits into a suitcase, a backpack, the pullup banner and the two display stands that I have wrapped in bubble wrap.
• When I checked out the venue I saw that I could be dropped outside the door by the taxi , unload my gear There are 30 stallholders all arriving at the same time

The BIG day is next Saturday and I am looking forward to the experience, the people I will meet – the other stall holders and the market customers.  It is predicted there will be about  500 on the day. Drop by if you are in Melbourne

map of where to find HATCH

Today I am sharing a “work in progress”. I am currently sketching for my upcoming local exhibition in East Melbourne. The exhibition will feature my travel sketchbooks and is going to have sketchbooks open at travel pages (in display cases) and also display a few (reprinted by Blurb) completed sketchbooks for people to browse through.

It will also display this sketchbook, which features my impressions of East Melbourne.

So that it can be viewed on display, I chose to use an accordion (Japanese) fold sketchbook, I have had this particular one in my cupboard since it as given out in a sponsors bag at 2013 Urban Sketching Symposium. It is a Sennelier watercolour sketchbook.

In keeping with urban sketching guidelines, each sketch is done on location. I made a decision that sketches would take 5 to 35 minutes. In that way I would not spend ages on a drawing , when it is supposed to be all about impressions and sketching to capture a moment.

 

 

I am using my FaberCastell Watercolour pencils and Lamy Safari ink pen.

It is not purely spontaneous, like my everyday sketchbook. I have planned my pages in advance, creating a mock-up. I am balancing close up and distant views over the pages.

 

I will be writing more about this closer to the event in June. 

This weekend I have decided to put links to previous blog post where I have talked about the practical part of my art . I realised that this information was not currently all in one place on my website. (Sometime in the future I will redesign my website). I sometimes get asked about watercolour pencils or sketchbook travel journalling and it will be great to be able to provide people with a link to this page.

 I have written it under four headings

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

Watercolour pencils, pen and sketchbook

These first three links are the key ones to read about what equipment I use and how I use them daily 

Me and my watercolour pencils This was my  very first blog post I wrote and it is still current today !  It was the first time that I thought and wrote down the steps of how I use watercolour pencils and the equipment I carry daily.

Five watercolour pencil tips  – a must read !

Customised pencil wrap How I carry and use my pencils everyday

My studio  where I sketch at home and my table layout

Other equipment 

My travelling Visconti ink pot  travelling with ink 

New and old pencils changing colours for changing cities

New city new pencils changing colours for changing cities

Testing watercolour papers – when I had to find the equivalent of my Moleskine sketchbook in a large size

Thoughts and processes

Why I sketch what I sketch 

Writing on sketchbook pages – someone asked why I wrote on my sketchbook pages and I wrote my thoughts down

My different styles of sketching Examples of quick sketching and slower sketches

Sketching while walking – really quick sketching !

Travel sketching 

Sketchbook travel journal  – my original ideas – A 2012 blogpost with my thoughts on what I wanted in a travel sketchbook journal

Sketchbook travel journal – the reality In 2013  I had the opportunity to put all of my thoughts and ideas in practice. This post review what worked (most things) and what didn’t (a few things) in reality. 

Travelling with a sketchbook I considered further some of the practicalities of travel sketching . 

Step by step blogs 

These are blogs where I remembered to take photographs as a I drew an object. They are not  a ‘how-to’ guide but a look at how I use my watercolour pencils to build up lines and colour to create a finished drawing. 

Feathers   and  a small nest 

   

Chocolate cake birthday card and Biscuits

 

 

Books on shelves    and Library ladders

I have been writing a blog since March 2013. That means I have been posting an art blog for four years. It is now weekly and I share art adventures, my weeks sketches or my other sketching and drawing experiences.

I hope that my musing and sketches provide inspiration, motivation, curiosity about watercolour pencils, urban sketching and sketchbook journalling.

Looking back through each month I also realise that my blog is a valuable for me to refer to  and remember and reflect on my art life.