Sydney University

Sydney University, water color and charcoal

Sydney University was founded in 1850 and is the most prestigious university in Australia.  The grounds of this university are considered one of the ten most beautiful in the world.  The parkland was glorious today in the winter sunshine.  I sketched the above while sitting at the end of a bridge over the pond with ducks.

Below is the sandstone Gardener's Lodge which is now a coffee shop.  I was at the back of the lodge, it is prettier at the front but I loved the palms so chose that view..

Gardener's Lodge, water color and charcoal

Adrian Feint

Adrian Feint by Nora Heysen

I went to an art auction preview on Saturday.  It was a funny place, everything a bit topsy turvy and upside down.  Piles of etchings on tables that a person could rifle through, sculptures here and there and  paintings  hanging crookedly, salon style.  There were a number of gems there including an etching by Adrian Fient.

This etching was done in the 1930's of men packing oranges in a truck.  I have been trying to find it online but have been unable to. 

Adrian Fient was born in country NSW in 1894.  He studied in Sydney and in Paris and worked as an illustrator, commerical artist, gallery director, painter, printmaker and bookplate designer.  

 He was known as a man of style and good taste, living in Elizabeth Bay and exhibiting his work around the country and in USA.

Here are some book plates, etching and a painting by Mr Feint.  I enjoy the stylized look of the time.

book plate

Hibiscus

book plate

Brownies

Brownie with yogurt and berries, watercolor

This Brownie recipe is always a hit when I serve it to the family or to my work mates.  The secret is using almond meal rather than flour or you could a mix of the both (or just flour).

Ingredients
250 g (9 oz) dark chocolate, chopped
175 g (6 oz) butter
175 g (6 oz) white sugar
3 eggs
1/2tsp vanilla extract
100 g (3 1/2 oz) walnuts, roughly chopped
100 g (3 1/2 oz) almond meal or flour or mix of both
1 tsp baking powder

Heat oven to 180 degrees C (350 F)
Butter a cake tin or baking dish measuring 25 x 30 cm (10 x 12 inches).  Melt chocolate and butter in a heat proof bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water, stirring occasionally.   Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 min.
Beat sugar and eggs until pale and creamy.  Fold chocolate mix into egg mix.  Add vanilla and walnuts.  Sift in almond meal/flour and baking powder.  Fold gently until just mixed.  Pour into baking dish.
Bake for 30-40 min or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out moist but not wet.  Allow to cool in dish, then cut into squares and remove.  Dust with icing sugar optional.
The top will sink, crack and look like a disaster but this is good.  Give it a try.

Brownie ingredients

Bottlecosm terrariums

Dinosaur terrarium

My daughter Claire has a great interest in nature and gardening.  She has been making terrariums with a difference,creating little environments with plants, moss, rocks and figures. Many are very amusing with  little figures doing things like rock climbing and riding bikes.  Claire has been selling them at Glebe Markets or to friends and everyone is loving them.
These sketches were done recently when both Claire and I were suffering from flu.  We had a lovely few hours sketching together.

insect eating plants

Have a look at www.facebook.com/bottlecosm  for some of the terrariums for sale.

Claire's business card

Queen Victoria Building, Sydney

Watercolor and ink, Queen Victoria Building looking at the side entrance

I love to bring Canadians to see the Queen Victoria Building as it's a beautiful example of Victorian architecture.  It was built in the 1890s and takes up an entire block on George Street next to Town Hall.  It was built to be a market place and there were even studios for the well known painters of the time, painting portraits of  wealthy society folk.  When I came to Sydney in the 1980's this building was boarded up and there had been talk of it being pulled down.  Many years of restoration later we have the most beautiful place to shop, stroll, eat and take in the ambience of a grander time.

warercolour and charcoal, inside looking into a dome

Top floor

Sketch done 6 months ago of the side of the building

The Rocks

Ink and watercolor, The Russell Hotel

The Rocks is a historic area in Sydney.  It is located in prime real estate, beside Circular Quay where all the ferries and ships come in, across from the Opera House and also next to the Harbour Bridge.  This area was established soon after the colony's formation in 1788.  The original buildings were made from local sandstone and this is where the name "The Rocks" comes from.
By the early 20th century the buildings in this area were  in poor condition.  The Bubonic plague broke out and the goverment intended to tear the buildings down in order to manage the disease spreading rats.  Many of the buildings were demolished but this stopped when WW1 started.  In 1968 the state goverment again intended to redevelop the area but a group of local residents and the Building Union managed to save it.
The Rocks is a beautiful  spot, popular with tourists and locals.  There are markets on the weekend and great restaurants too.
Sydney Sketch Club started a project here in December last year and we returned this past weekend to continue it.  We made concertina books so we could sketch all the buildings along George St.
Above is my sketch of the Russell Hotel which is always makes me think of my friend Chere who went there on her honeymoon.
All of this work is in progress.  I look forward to returning and getting some more of the street on paper.

partially completed, ink and watercolor

Partially completed, ink and watercolour

Bourke St Bakery

Watercolour and charcoal

Bourke St Bakery is a great place for coffee, lunch and to pick up fantastic bread.  Paul Allam and Paul McGuiness are bakers/chefs who started this business in 2004.  The first Bourke Bakery is in Bourke St Surry Hills in a tiny terrace house.  People line up along the street to pick up their coffee and the rest.  There are a number of these bakeries around Sydney and this one is in Mitchell St Marrickville.
Each of the bakeries make a particular thing, for example at one they make the bread, at another they make the pastries etc.  Then in the early morning they run around delivering all the goods to each other.
Bourke St is also starting classes in baking including bread making.

 It was a lovely winter day today and people were enjoying their food and drink outside.  I read the newspaper inside with my coffee and then was inspired to do this sketch on the footpath opposite.

Another night time sketch

Watercolor and charcoal

I went out again tonight to capture the night in watercolour and charcoal.  I was hoping the moon would be in sight as it was last night, but no....   This is the third sketch I have done looking from the balcony at night and I think I will have to go further afield in order to do more.