Marrickville Fire Station

          

Marrickville Firestation was open today to the public.  The fireman were available to talk to people about fire safety at home and kids and adults could sit in the trucks.  This building turned 100 last year and it is still in fine form.  This building sits beside Marrickville Town Hall on Marrickville road.

Before coming to the fire station a friend and I went to Bourke st Bakery for a coffee and cake.  Here are folk waiting for their coffees.  Bread in the background.

Every day in May sketches

  

       

The Every day in May sketching project continues for a little while longer.  We have been given the daily themes and sometimes they seem a bit ordinary.  I thought the sketch above was kinda nice even though the topic isn't that interesting-m for measuring cup. The cups are Nigella ones and the fabric below is a vintage tea towel.

       

M for metal anything.

                              

M for Muppet is a topic I would have never chosen.  This guy was fun to sketch though.

 M for mountain.  These are the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains in NSW.

 This is m for matches.  These matches are actually stick pins.  The Australian artist Brett Whiteley made huge sculptures of these originally.  These were sold at an exhibition of Brett Whiteley at the Art Gallery of NSW years ago.  The woman I bought them from went to this exhibition and wanted her boyfriend to buy a painting.  She was disappointed when he bought these stick pins for her.

The month of m sketches continues.....

   

Enmore theatre

      

The Enmore theatre is a favourite for Sydneysiders as a venue for  a wide variety of performers from the Rollingstones to the local ballet school.  The big names like it because it is an intimate space and the local performers like it because it is well... local.

This theatre is the longest running live music venue still operational in New South Wales.  It was built in 1908 but had a big renovation in 1920 and this palladium Art Deco style is what still appears today.  The building has evolved over the past hundred years and this results in an architectural fabric which includes elements of art nouveau, Edwardian, Art moderne and various Art Deco styles.  It is classified by the National Trust and is listed in the Historic Building register of the Australian Institute of architects.

This place brings back fond memories for me of attending many years of my daughter's ballet concerts at the Enmore theatre.  Good times.

Every day in May sketching-part two

    

                                       

The project sketching every day in May continues.  I haven't been as good as others and have not done the M sketch each day but most.  The above sketch is M for Monet.

                                     

M is for magpie.  The magpie is a beautiful bird with a great call.  They are good mothers and want to protect their young so attack people riding or walking in their nest area.  It's scary.

                         

m is for metacarpal. I used watercolour pencils which was okay until I added water, then it turned rather bright.

         

         

M is for marble.  These marbles are hand made so not perfectly round.  This is a solitaire game aiming to have as few marbles as possible left at the end.

Hmmm, I may have a game now....

   

  

Daily sketches

I have a little moleskin brand sketchbook which is in my handbag ready for a few available minutes for sketching.  Very often I am waiting for a person, for example an interpreter and have five minutes to scribble.  So that is what these drawings are, scenes from the car often of streets, cars and electricity poles.

                                          

                                   

                               

                   

I'm beginning to enjoy sketching vehicles!

Every day in May sketch project

   

                                  

The Sydney sketch club has a project this month to sketch every day.  Each day has a theme and each  starts with the letter "m".  I signed  up for the project but am afraid to say I haven't sketched every day. The above portrait is today's sketch entitled "me".

Here are my efforts so far this month.

                               

  This day was "multiple of anything".  My multiples were clean dishes in the dishwasher drawer.

                                

"mule"-this particular mule carried our luggage when I was in Morocco last year.

                                  

 This is under the theme of "masterpiece " and is a sketch of George Lambert's painting A Sergeant of the Light horse.

                            

This day's theme was "magazine ". This is Artist Profile magazine with Chuck Close on the cover.

 "Mauve, was the theme for this day

"M" was for map on this day and I sketched on a map rather than sketch a map.

Well, more than two more weeks of "m"s so more unusual sketches to go.

   

Looking back at Service stations

   

     

I have had a fun project this year sketching service stations.  I thought I would gather them all up in one blog post and here they are.

My father had one or two gas pumps next to the general store he had in the 50's, 60's and 70's.  When I was a child I would hang out around the pumps listening to the conversation and seeing interesting things, like the giant snapping turtle Donnie Dungen had in the back of his truck one late afternoon. But...that's another story.  So, I suppose it makes sense for me to be attracted to the service station.

The service station above is located on Parramatta Road, Summer Hill in Sydney.  This  station is Art Deco in style.  It was a very hot sunny morning when this was sketched, very early before it opened.

This service station is in Marion St,Leichhardt and is P&O style as you can just make out from the curve of the main building.  That little brown creature is a dog which was tied up from the moment it took for his owner to get the newspaper.

 

     

This old service station and taxi rank was not purpose built but rather a colonial building made into a service station in the 1960's by the current owner's father.  The owner told me the building was a Baby Health centre before his dad bought it.  It is located on New Canterbury Road in Dulwich Hill.  When sketching this a few taxi drivers came along to talk and suggest I do their portrait.

                                                 

This is a Victorian building converted into a petrol station years ago and no longer in use.  It is amazing that the pump is still there although quite rusty.  Located on Canterbury Road, Summer Hill.

       

Here is another Victorian building turned into a petrol station years and years ago.  Located in Norton St Leichhardt and still in use.

                            

     This was built as a service station in the 1930's but is now a Chinese restaurant.  Located on Marrckville road, Marrickville.

           

This is a big place originally owned by our former prime minister John Howard's father in Dulwich Hill. It is situated in the side of a hill.  Purpose built garage, Art Deco style.

      

I love this place located on Canterbury Road at Campsie.  I sketched this on a Sunday morning and the mechanics were already there, working away.

Princes Highway, Sydenham on a very hot summer day.

    

Holley's Garage on Canterbury Road, Canterbury.  Built between the wars and still in use. It is Spanish Mission style.

Spanish Mission style purpose built garage on King st, Newtown.  Unfortunately, no longer in use and is in disrepair.  This was the first service station in the series.

      

      

This is a very unusual style of service station built in the 1930's.  Located on Cleveland St in Sydney.

    

    I hope to find some more service stations, this theme is not finished yet.

  

    

     

     

    

 

Tulips, middle age to old age

   

  

                      

The life of flowers is a metaphor for our own life.  Last blog post sketches showed the tulips in youth to middle age, looking bright, strong and vibrant.  These sketches show tulips as they grow old, still looking like their selves but weaker and darker.  It has been fun sketching these flowers nearly every day and recording the changes. The above sketch was done seven days after purchasing the bunch.

                                    

I sketched this on day 7 on a map of Outer Sydney, maybe near where they were grown.

                                   

This sketch was done eight days after buying the tulips.

                                  

Poor old tulips on day 9. The stems have become weaker and the flower colour is darker.  Last sketch before this bunch will be composted.