Gordon's Bay and Clovelly

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This scene was sketched near the Clovelly beach car park and is the route to Gordon's Bay.  I was tucked in beside a building in order to keep myself in shade.  I love the poles that dance around the view.

                              

This is a view of Gordon's Bay which is a beautiful secret spot accessible by foot.  The racks of boats belong to a local fishing club.  The bay is great for swimming, snorkelling and scuba diving and there is even an underwater nature trail.

                                   

I returned to Clovelly for this sketch and these two last drawings were done today, January 1, 2015.  The weather in Sydney has been glorious and it has been wonderful enjoying our coastline.

Clovelly

 

                                    

Clovelly is a small beach side suburb in Sydney's east.  It is 8 km from the central business district so a very popular place to live.  In the above sketch I am looking across the narrow bay, the beach is to my left.

Below is the headland and you can see the bay that has the beach at the other end.  It's a great place to snorkel and is more protected than other beaches for swimming.

        

It was a beautiful day to spend at the beach.

 

Christmas 2015

                                 

I love to go to St Mary's cathedral in Sydney at Christmas to hear the carollers and see the projections on the front of this magnificent building.  It was a very hot day when the sketch club met to do this very thing.  Some friends and I went around to the back and sketched this scene in the shade with a cool breeze keeping us comfortable. We could hear the carollers which was great. This is only a portion of the building.  

                                  

I sketched this scene of my little tree and mostly my daughter's presents before she arrived on Xmas day.  It was a bird themed tree this year as well as the Christmas card. A lovely day!

Christmas Card

       

This year's Christmas card is my rendition of a Superb Fairy wren.  There were a pair of these tiny birds in my backyard and they even laid eggs.  They don't really have gold on them, that is my addition.  The boys are a beautiful blue and the girls are brown.

        

A whole flock!

                           

This is the soft material which is carved to make the print, like a stamp.  It's much easier to carve than the traditional lino. I drew the image on the block and carved away the bits which I didn't want to be black.

                      

I rolled the ink on to the carved "lino" making sure it is completely covered .  Just turned it over onto the page from a old Boys Annual book.  After it dried I added some colour using gouache.  Then added the gold leaf by painting the area with special glue, waiting a little while and then placing the fragile gold leaf on top.

The printed page bird was then mounted on a card with double sided tape.

Wishing you a very, very merry Christmas.  I  so much appreciate you having a look at my arty endeavours!

Surry Hills restaurants

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Sydney Urban sketchers got together yesterday morning in Surry Hills. There are some international sketchers in Sydney at present so we got together to enjoy their company.

The above sketch is the Rogue cafe on Crown S.  A few of us sketched the back of this restaurant in a little lane with the owners motorcycle parked outside.  It was a sweet scene and I was happy with the sketch.  We finished and we're leaving when the manager called us back to have a look at our sketches.  The owner loved mine and bought it! Unfortunately I don't have a picture of it.  We returned after lunch to sketch the front.

     

This is the view from a table at Bourke st Bakery, a well known cafe in Surry Hills.

                                   

We had lunch at this cafe, called Kitchen Book.  A delicious meal and a great day!

Twelve Days of Christmas-part two

I finished the 12 days of Christmas project on the weekend.  I collated all the individual sketches on to a map with the tree.  Gold leafed the pears and those are the reflected things you see.  It was quite a fun project to do leading up to Christmas.

                     

Maid a milking.

                      

Lady dancing.

                              

Lord a leaping.

                                           

Piper piping.

                          

Drummer drumming.

Callan Park

                                 

A group of sketchers along with John Haycroft spent the morning doing our thing at Callan Park, the site of an old Psychiatric  Hospital from 1883.  John had us think of drawing a vignette which fades to nothing at the edges.  I have to think about that a bit more!  These are my sketches from the day, about half an hour each.

        

                                  

                                  

  

Twelve Days of Christmas-part one

                        

Sketch club members are involved in a little project responding in sketch to the Twelve Days of Christmas song.  Here is my first one, a partridge in a pear tree.  Okay, my Partridge is a ground dweller and is hanging out below the pear tree.

                         

These are my turtle doves.

                          

French hen.

                          

Calling bird.

                           

Goose a laying.  This is a Canada Goose of course.

                           

Swan swimming.

I haven't done the gold rings as I think I will combine it with a lord leaping or lady dancing.

The rest of the twelve days are to come.

    

   

Martin Place, Sydney

                                 

Urban Sketchers went to Martin Place yesterday to sketch the Chrsitmas tree. The tree is outside what used to be the General Post Office and the clock tower and building you see is part of this.

You can't see much of the tree, just the bottom bit.  Last year I went to Martin Place and did sketch the tree   See below.

                                      

Dental Hospital, Sydney

                                

Sydney Dental Hospital was built in 1940 for the dual purpose of providing modern dental treatment for the impoverished as well as providing a training ground for dental students.  It is one of the best examples of the interwar functionalist style.  The Dental hospital was designed by Stephenson, Meldrum and Turner in 1937.

This building is situated between Chalmers St. And Elizabeth St opposite the entrance to Central station.

The sketch below is further down the street looking at a railway bridge, Central station.

Sydney College of the Arts

  

                          

I put a call out to Sydney Urban Sketchers yesterday morning to see if anyone wanted to sketch today.  It was great, six of us and one pup came together to sketch at Sydney College of the Arts.  This is one of the three main art schools in our city.  This campus was previously a psychiatric hospital, built in 1881.  We couldn't get inside the campus but there was plenty to sketch from the outside.

There is talk about this campus closing and moving to the main campus at Sydney University.  It is unfortunate as this would be a very interesting and stimulating environment for art students.

      

Burlesque sketching

                                                  

I joined a friend at a monthly get together of sketchers who have a Burlesque model.  The model wasn't dancing but was holding poses.  These coloured sketches were 25 min poses and the pencil sketches were ten minute ones.  There was wine, cheese, crackers and cake.  What a great time and I look forward to going again in the new year.

       

         

         

           

 

Manly

        

Sydney sketch club went to the harbourside suburb of Manly today.  In years gone by this suburb was a place that Sydneysiders went on holiday. One of the great things about it is that there is a harbourside and an ocean side to swim.  The above sketch is on the harbour side quite near where the ferries come in.  

                                   

       

   This is the barbourside beach which is netted so people can swim without fear of sharks.  It wasn't a hot day today but there were still people in the water.

Woolich Baths

                                    

Sydney sketch club went to Woolich Baths on Sunday.  The weather was inclement, raining on and off.  The rain was mostly "on" when sketching the above scene.  Those white dots on the walkway were actually produced by rain drops.  I had my umbrella over me, trying to balance paper, paint and pen.

Woolich is a beautiful suburb along the peninsula from Hunters Hill in Sydney.  Magnificent homes with wonderful views, alas living there is only a dream for me.  Still.... free to sketch and enjoy at any time.

       

Walking down the path ( seen in the first sketch) to arrive at the baths. This dock separates the baths from the boat access area and these boat houses.  There were several guys fishing and had evidently caught and released a very large flathead. Not sure if that was a fish story or not.

For those who do not know what baths are in Australia....they are bits of the harbour, river or beach that is fenced off so hopefully sharks can't get in but the water is fresh and, depending on the fencing, goes  in and out with the tide.

I will return to this very picturesque place.

Exercise In Perspective

                                

I took part in an impromptu gathering of Urban Sketchers this morning.  We met at Circular Quay and instead of the glorious views of the Opera House or the ferries or the Harbour Bridge or the historic buildings all around.....no...... I was inspired by the perspective at the spot where the international cruise ships dock.  It was a rainy morning and not the usual crowds.  

Sydney Fish Market

     

                                      

                                      

Urban sketchers met at the  Fish markets in Pyrmont on Saturday. Sydney fish markets is the largest working fish market in the Southern Hemisphere and the 3rd largest in the world in terms of the variety of seafood.

This fish market incorporates a working fishing port, wholesale fish market, fresh food retail market, food outlet and Seafood cooking school.  Besides all that it is a great place to bring overseas visitors.

We had a wonderful seafood lunch sitting out under umbrella with these views and more.  A great day!

Sculptures by the Sea

  

        

Sculptures by the Sea is an annual event along two km of the Sydney coastline from Bondi Beach to Tamarama.  This is the 19th year of this public art gallery which only lasts for a little over two weeks.  it is very popular and thousands of tourists and locals swarm along the tracks enjoying a bit of culture.

Whenever I go I marvel over the beauty of the place that I am lucky enough to call home.  The coast is a marvellous backdrop to the art. The sculptures are really interesting, clever and beautiful.  

         

This sculpture called "acoustic" made haunting sounds like whale cries.  You could hear it quite a distance away.

                                    

There are over a hundred sculptures created by both Australian and overseas artists.  Well worth a visit.