Time for learning

Many of my sketchbook drawings sit unfinished this month. Partly due to time restraints, but also due to questioning my progress and reflecting on how I deal with transforming what I see in front of me into a drawing in my sketchbook. I'm learning about foundations in drawing which I've never really had taught to me beyond High School. Most of what I've learnt about art has been through picking bits and pieces out of books and videos over the years. So this past month has been very positive and a little confronting. I've always wanted to study drawing with a group, in a course in some way and suddenly I have 2 talented people showing me and guiding me through this.

 

First week with Jorge Royan's Sketching Workshop.With the help of a viewfinder, learning to draw perspective from interesting points of view (I was sitting on a chair, atop a cabinet to sketch my kitchen - hoping my kids didn't note this for later repetition).

 

I've had the great fortune of partaking in an ongoing online sketching workshop with Jorge Royan and I've also begun a course with Liz Steel in my local area of Manly. These people are both Urban Sketchers I admire for their quality of work and now as I begin to see them as teachers, for their processes, assistance and encouragement as well.  

 

Week 2 (above and below) with Jorge Royan, creating depth using layers, framing and perspective.

 

 

Liz Steel's class is all 'live' - which is fantastic and inspiring and intensive for the 3 whole hours. We drew first in the studio and then went outside for our next session. It was great to sit and focus on the basics with some still life settings. I repeated the process of starting with contour lines before then focusing on volume when I drew whilst at a restaurant for Mothers Day (fortunately kids draw alongside of me and husband was content with the newspaper 'til I was finished!).

 

 

Urban Sketching in Newtown

The most recent USK Sydney sketchwalk was held last Saturday in Newtown. For those of you unfamiliar with the area it is vibrant. Full of great cafes, restaurants and funky shops and fabulous old architecture with just the right amount of grunginess to make it interesting and accessible to all.  A few of the regular USK group are locals which I believe helped in finding the perfect spot for us to draw.

 

 

 

I was already keen to have a shot at drawing this building but as I arrived it began to rain... and well you can read the rest on my sketch! This was the most "jouranlling" I've ever completed on a sketch. It seems the lack of capturing the drawing motivated me to get it down in words.  

 

 

In escaping the rain we went to The Pie Tin just around the corner where I caught up with a sketching Instagrammer (nice when virtual friends become real ones!) and so was happy to sit, chat, eat and draw until my time was up.  

Urban Sketching in Old Balmain.

Balmain is full of historic big houses as well as sweet old little homes. If you journey down Darling Street past all those cafes and wonderful shops you will find Balmain East, also known as Old Balmain.

 

 

 

I could walk and sketch for days about the small suburb and still have more old buildings to choose from. On the corner of Johnston and Darling Streets I found a fine cafe to settle at and drew this building opposite. I'm not sure of its original purpose but it was established in 1870 and the cracked walls and peeling paint just added to the character of the interesting facade.  

Sketching through March

My current employment (beyond child wrangling of kids and their various activities) is of a sparodic nature. Days or weeks of work which leave little time for creativity followed by days or weeks of time where I can get outside, enjoy the sunshine and sketch, sketch, sketch. I'm really grateful for this type of job as it suits my wants very well.

So March has been a great month for getting out and about. I returned to The Bower on the walk from Manly to Shelly Beach to draw one of my favourite buildings in the area. This is the spot I started my first urban sketch about 6 months ago.

 

I also had the good fortune this week to meet Liz Steel at her favourite teahouse - T2. A fabulous spot for tea, scones, discussing sketching and a bit of artwork.

Manly has its fair share of cafes that I am still to discover. Foundary Fiftythree was one I visited for the first time last week. It's exactly the kind of place I love to draw because it is well styled with lots  great vintage bits and pieces throughout. Nice character and good coffee.

Urban Sketching - Crane Crawl, Cockatoo Island, Sydney.

The weather forecast for Saturday was very dismal with LOTS of rain. 12 sketchers made the journey via ferry out to Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour and found that weather forecast to be spot on.

 

It was my first time to the island which offers a great range of things to sketch - Convict, Ship Design, Industrial and Historic Residences Precincts. The focus for the sketching on this trip were the various cranes dotted around the island. However the heavy rain made this shortlived and forced us into the Industrial Precinct where we found huge rusting machinery to draw.

 

 

 

I divided my day into taking footage for a video and this drawing. I would love to tell you what it is but I truly have no idea. I'm assuming it was either part of a ship or machinery to perhaps make a ship. Anyway, I can say not knowing what I was drawing threw me a little. I struggled with the freedom of not having a preconceived idea of what it 'should' look like.

 

 
USK Sydney at Cockatoo Island - Crane Crawl. Saturday 02 March 2013 from Chantal V on Vimeo.
  

I'm keen to go out there again and see the other areas. Looks like a fun place to explore. A bright sunshiney day would have been a very different experience but the isolation, damp and sound of rain on the tin roof all added to the historic and peaceful atmosphere.

A Week of Coffee

A week of coffee. In order to overcome my fear of filling the panoramic shape of my new watercolour notebook I set out to draw a coffee an hour a day this week (yes, the hardship). Gastronomic rewards aside, it actually looks like I learnt something! By the end of the week I'm filling more of the page, playing with reflections, shadows and instensity of colours.

 

I watched Danny Gregory's interview with Tommy Kane this week. Tommy draws amazing, detailed sketches with pen from the start and accomodates any errors on the way. I agree accepting the errors this way builds confidence of just getting stuck into what's in front. I wouldn't always do this but when I'm trying to get results from short sittings it seems to help.

A morning coffee at Manly Wine.

 

 

It only dawned on me this week that despite being a wine bar this place might be open early enough for my morning coffee. The flamingoes are only the first of many things to draw here.