Five Ways, Paddington

                     

Five Ways in the Sydney suburb of Paddington is a hive of activity with cafes, a pub and shops a plenty.  Paddington was originally a working class suburb but now is an enviable inner city enclave that the working class can only dream of.

It's called Five Ways as five streets meet at the one point.  You can see four of the streets in the sketch below, the fifth street is to the right of the awning on the sketch's right lower side.

It was a lovely day, sunny weather with Sydney sketch club.

                               

Back to St Thomas Rest Park, Crows Nest

     

I met my sketch friends in Crows Nest yesterday on a beautiful spring day. We trotted along to St Thomas Rest Park.  This is the site of the first Cemetary on the north shore of Sydney.

Above is the Sexton's cottage, now a museum, built in 1850. Dogs are allowed in this park and they were present in abundance.

                                      

Hunters Hill wharf

                                           

Sydney sketch club went to Hunters Hill recently.  I sat at the end of the wharf in the above sketch looking up the hill towards Hunters Hill village. The ferry picks up the locals here.  What a beautiful day!

                                 

This lovely flower shop is on the corner and has a lady sitting in the alcove at the top.

Planting Dreams Exhibition State Library, Sydney

     

Urban sketchers enjoyed visiting the Planting Dream Exhibition at the State library in Sydney yesterday. Garden historian, Richard Aitken is the curator and we were lucky enough to have him show us around the show.  

The exhibition celebrates the 200 anniversary of the founding of the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney.  As curator, Richard Aiken got to sort through the library's collections to find rare and interesting items to illustrate the history of garden making. It includes paintings, photographs, books, sculptures and installations.

   

                                          

The show runs until January 15, 2017. Well worth a look around.

Fish eye perspective

      

I sketched the observatory again using the fish eye type of perspective. Spent time there on Sunday before seeing the Salon de Refuse' exhibition at the SH Irwin Gallery.  Lots of fun!

     

This scene is in East Sydney where a group of Urban sketchers went on Saturday afternoon.

Agar Steps

                                 

The Agar steps were built in 1870 and link Kent St with Observatory Hill in Sydney.  They were named after a local identity Thomas Agar who was born in 1829. 

The steps overlooked the quarry where many of the local houses sourced their sandstone.  

Sydney Sketch Club visited here and you can see a sketcher sitting in the shadows on the right lower corner.