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

L                                     

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.