National Art School

   

                               

I spent the morning at the National Art School today as it was an open day.  This school is an important one historically, many well known Australian artists having graduated from here.

This campus was originally the Darlinghurst jail which opened in 1841, completed in 1885.  It was built of Sydney standstone cut in large blocks by the convicts.

The building sketched was the chapel which is in the middle of the site and there are six cell block buildings radiating from it.

When the convicts went to church the males were downstairs and the women upstairs.  The men would throw notes up to the women and when restoration occurred a few years ago they found one of those notes.  

This site became an art school in 1921. It's a wonderful place, well worth a visit.

Commanda General Store

     

This fantastic old store is in northern Ontario  in a place called Commanda. This store was built in 1885 and continued into the 1930's. It is a museum now and very original.  The photo below is part of the habidashery section with cabinets of threads, ribbons and sewing bits.

                  

                    

                         

                

                     

This is a view of about a quarter of the store.  Twice the length of the counter you can see and then another counter on the other side.  Windows across the front supplying light as you can see in the sketch.

In the Canadian summer the museum is open and you can also eat in the little cafe in the rooms to the right of the store.  It's a wonderful place and would be an ideal movie set.

Another visit to Tempe Railway Station

   

         

Last week I sketched the upper ticket office at Tempe Railway station and felt very excited and enthusiastic about the heritage buildings.  I returned there this morning and went down to the original platforms to sketch one of the 1884 station houses.  Being early Saturday morning here weren't many people about but I did have a good conversation with the station master who appeared to enjoy what I was doing.

The original station master's house is seen to the left of platform 3, see above sketch for it's location. You can see the chimneys.  I went around to the front of it, sitting under a tree surrounded by foliage to sketch this.

    

Tempe railway station

        

This is Tempe railway station which was built in 1884.  More railway platforms were built here in the early 20th century and I think this yellow ticket office may be from that time.

The station is next to the Cooks River and when it was built the river was a very popular spot to swim and boat.  Crowds would arrive from the train to enjoy the tree lined river.

The suburb of Tempe itself was a very fashionable place to live and there were many fine homes and mansions here.  Unfortunately, in the 20th century the area became less desireable, mansions were torn down and industries moved in.  Tempe is becoming trendy again now partially due to it's closeness to the city.

Airport Sketches

                                  

Travelling often means time sitting and waiting in airports.  Here are some portrait sketches done in Sydney and Toronto airports.

                                     

                                  

                                  

                                        

                                      

                                       

                                     

                                         

  

   

Businesses and memories from the past

      

 Times change, of course, and places you used to frequent as a child no longer exist.  This building used to be a butcher shop and I have many memories being sent there to buy minute steak and waiting for Mr Bradley to cut it up and wrap it in brown paper.  It is  a real estate agency now.

                         

This used to be a barber shop and will soon be torn down for redevelopment.  It was lovely inside with a wall of mirror, marble shelf and coloured bottles.

                                 

This house was built about 1908 and was much fancier at that time with upper and lower verandas.  It used to hold a pharmacy on the ground floor but no longer.

       

This is a convenience store and has been there all my life and well before.  The building beside it used to be my grandfather's office.  It was a tailor shop originally.

It's been great recording these buildings and thinking about their history.

Stewart Cove

          

Nippissing is a very large lake in northern Ontario and Stewart's Cove is one of a number of inlets that people have boat houses. People who have islands require a place for their boat, thus the need for a boat house.  They are twenty five feet wide and are a very basic structure, just an opening for your boat, access on the other side and wooden landing areas inside.

The odd boat came in and out this morning and it was a quiet, picturesque and very charming place.

                           

Clark House

                                   

This is Clark House built in 1886.  It was built for William Clark who was an important person in the history of my home town, Powassan.  Clark was given a free land grant to clear and farm this rich agricultural land.  After the railway came through his land he subdivided and sold it off to other pioneers.   He also donated land  for churches and schools.  

Clark House was the second house built in the town and faces the street that holds it's name, Clark St.

Along this street there are many handsome homes,  the public school , the Catholic Church and the United church sits at the end.

Clark House is Georgian style and has seven bedrooms.  It is basically the same today as it was in 1886.  It is presently a museum and there is some farm equipment outside including this threshing machine.