Milk Bar in Summer Hill

                                     

Sketch club went to Summer Hill today.  This inner west suburb of Sydney is rich in Victorian, Edwardian and deco architecture

The Rio Milk bar has been part of Summer Hill for 55 years according to a man who told me the history of the place while I was sketching.  It is still open every day selling ice cream, lollies and soft drinks.  The passerby told me that the owner is a Greek man who lives upstairs.  He owns he building and has had many offers to buy but he declines them all.

                                 

My neighbour has sold

   

                                                                            

I have a really good neighbour, Wayne, and unfortunately he has sold his house and is moving across the harbour.  

Originally there was one house which was torn down and three smaller ones built in it's place.  I have the middle house which is very similar to Wayne's, as seen above.  The scene above was sketched from my driveway looking at Wayne's place.

Wayne spends much of the year travelling which makes him an excellent, quiet neighbour.  When he is in town he is busy helping everyone with their gardens, including me.  He is also good at encouraging people not to park across my driveway.  That is one thing I don't have the courage to do!

I'll give this sketch to Wayne as a good bye present.  Hope he likes it.

Chuck Close

                                                                            

I saw the Chuck Close exhibition at Sydney's Contemporary Art Museum today.  The exhibition was large and comprehensive.  The work itself is mainly huge as well.

Chuck Close is an American artist who has an interest in portraiture, whether it be painting, drawing, collage, printmaking or tapestry.

The exhibition included  work which showed how Close created the portraits. This was so interesting because the steps of the process are extensive and complicated.  It makes you aware of how talented this man is. 

Close had a medical event which cause him to be in a wheelchair.  He has modified his method of working and straps brushes to his wrists to carry on with his painting.

I really enjoyed this exhibition and was very impressed with this artist.

 Self portrait

 This looks like a photo but it is a painting.

Silk screen print

Portrait made by Close's finger print

 Collage

Back to the Cafe

     

                                                                     

On Sunday morning I returned to my local cafe to have a cuppa and do some sketching.  I preferred to be outside even though everyone around me was smoking.  There were some interesting characters there including a guy named Peter, see above.  This guy was in the next table to me and was so engrossed with his paper he didn't notice me drawing him.  He did realise what was going on by the end and kept watching  me which made it hard to complete the sketch.

Below is another man from the cafe.  He was sitting across the space so it was a bit easier to sketch him without him noticing.

I can't wait to go back to sketch and the coffee was good too.

                 

      

Five Ways, Paddington

   

                                                                            

Urban Sketchers went to Five Ways in Paddington today.  Paddington is an inner eastern suburb of Sydney with lovely leafy streets of Victorian terraces.  Five Ways is the junction of five streets and when I arrived at the allocated time there were sketchers already sketching on every corner.

Above is the Royal Hotel and you can see two sketchers in front of it and there were plenty more on my side of the street.

Below is the Gusto cafe on the corner of Broughton St.

We had lunch, then visited a gallery before heading homeward.  I did stop to sketch a group of musicians on the way. One of the musicians  came over and wanted to buy it. So that was great but I wish I could have taken a picture of it first.

                     

Edward Bawden

     

           

Brighton Pier

At a book stall at Rozelle Markets recently I came across a little Penguin booklet on the artist Edward Bawden.  It was first published in 1946 and was priced at three shillings and sixpence.  

I was unfamiliar with Edward Bawden but am loving his work.   He was born in 1903 in Braintree in Essex, England..  He was a painter, printmaker, graphic designer, illustrator, teacher and even had a go at designing and producing wallpaper.

Bawden was an official war artist in the British army, travelling to Belgium, France and the Middle East. The Penguin booklet shows quite a bit of his work from that time.  There are some wonderful urban sketches of cities like Saudi Arabia and Baghdad as well as portraits of military personnel.

I  really admire his work as shown here, so charming, witty and whimsical.

              

Covent Garden Flower Market

                 

The Road to Thaxted, 1956, linocut

Venice, lithograph