Category Archives: tools

Drawing in Dad’s shed

I originally published this blog in January 2014. It is now September 2017 and Fathers Day in Australia. I though that I would share it again. These memories are timeless. 

 

I have a yearly visit home to Toowoomba (in Queensland) from Sydney at Christmas. It is a week or two catching up with friends and family and falling into a familiar routine. This usually includes de-cluttering cupboards and being highly distracted by childhood memories.

It also involves re-exploring my Dad’s workshed in the backyard. It is a step into the past. Dad died in 1987 and although much of the larger machinery and tools are gone, it still has shelves and cupboards of work tools and bit and pieces. Dad was a panel beater by trade and a handyman, inventor the rest of the time . He seemed to have every possible item to fix, nail, screw, clip, polish, cut, drill … The tools are stored in specially labelled  containers and drawers or hanging up above the workbench, on the wall. Most of these items are still there and have not been moved

So much of this is part of my childhood

01Jan12 the Shed
drawn in 2012

This year I decided to draw some more of it. These are all done in watercolour pencil and Lamy Safari Joy ink pen. If a clean out is ever done (hopefully this year) it may not be there next time I visit.

 
 
 
I stood in front of a wall and started drawing the tools and containers. I decided to add the colour to the (old Dixibelle margarine containers circa 1970).
 

 

 

 
 
I then drew the wall above the main workbench, over two pages. I was not sure where/if to add colour to the page. I do not need any of them in my life in Sydney, but wanted a memory. That gave me the idea to draw some of the tools on the page. I chose a few and bought them up to the house and drew they over two days.

 

This is what I did New Years Eve !  (wire strippers and washers)

 

a G-Clamp and pop rivets
 
 
This is what our dining table looked like New Years Eve – a drawing in progress 
 
 
 I have no idea what many of these objects are and the labels are a mystery. It was the job of my brother & I (and Mum to ) to sort through and to separate buckets of nuts and bolts ! I did not inherit my Dad’s mechanical and technical nature, although he also had a creative side (woodturning and pottery). This is not the first year I have drawn tools from the shed. Previous Christmas visits have also provided opportunities. I think I am done now.
 
 

05Dec10 Drawing from the shed 1 of 4050110 20f 4 shed drawing 050110 3 of 4 shed drawing 31Dec10 spirit level from the shed pt 1 31Dec10 spirit level from the shed pt 2 1 and 2 Jan11 drill attachments from the shed pt 2 1 and 2 jan11 drill attachments from the shed pt 1

Drawing woodworking tools on pages

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I am finally able to share these drawings online.

On Friday I gave a very belated birthday gift to my friend Louise, who I have known since childhood. I drew on pages on an old book “Hand-and-Eye Training Book II for Boys” that Louise gave me (specifically to draw in). The pages are falling out, but in good condition to draw on.

I knew that I wanted to draw woodworking tools on the pages, as that is the subject of the book and an interest of Louise and her family.  

I think that I spent longer on putting that page together than the actually drawing.  I had to decide on which tools to depict and then research the images online and changing them to suit the angle I wanted them to sit on the page. The pages did not take much watercolour pencil on them and I had to be careful not to  cut through the page. 

I enjoyed getting the gleam of the wood where I could.

Faber Castell water-colour pencils used: 

 

Light Yellow Ochre
Light Chrome Yellow
Bistre
Burnt Umber
Walnut Brown
Schwarz Black
Dark Sepia
Paynes Grey 
Cool Grey IV

A gift made with thought is always appreciated by friends.