Sketching creative people as they create

As a continuation of a goal to sketch more people on location, I have set myself a task to try and capture the focus of people set about their work. A sketch of the pastry chef at Pana Chocolate in Alexandria, through the glass walled kitchen was the first.

Next was my friend and artist Fiona Verity and her lovely Labrador Sunny in Fiona's Brookvale Studio. Fiona's work is as colourful and energetic as she is, so it was a joy to develop a sketch and at the same time witness an ocean collage emerge on the wall. So much so, that I have resolved to sketch many more creative people at work during the year.

 

 

My third sketch was the result of a morning with glass carver Kathy Elliot. Her husband Ben Edols creates the blown glass vessel and then brings it to their home studio where Kathy carves and creates surface designs.  Kathy has admirable strength and focus in addition to her skill, as she stood carving the heavy vessel at the lathe for the full hour I sketched! You can see more about the process of their beautiful work on this video.

Sketching in Melbourne

During a family trip to Geelong in December, my sister Suzette, my niece and I squeezed in a day trip to Melbourne. There is an overwhelming number of buildings I'd like to sketch there but many of them would take me 2 hours. So as not to bore my poor companions too much, we settled for a café in Hardware Lane in the morning and sketched this view from the outside tables. Lots of great little places to eat along this street.

 

 

On short notice we were also able to meet with fellow Urban Sketchers, Evelyn and Janice for lunch. I enjoy the fact that Urban Sketchers has created community both online and in real life that it is so easy to catch up with these friends and fill a couple of hours with talk of sketching, materials and travel.

Urban Sketchers Sydney at Mortuary Station

Mortuary Station, Regent Street, Sydney, from yesterday’s Urban Sketchers meet. This Gothic inspired style Sandstone structure was built in 1869. It’s original purpose was to receive the dead of the city, as they began their journey by train (along with mourners) out to Rookwood Cemetery. Such a detailed building that I appreciate so much more having sketched it. It as designed by James Barnet who also worked on the Sydney GPO in Martin Place and several other Sydney Buildings.

Urban Sketchers Sydney at Millers Point

Many historic buildings to sketch at Millers Point for the USK Sydney meet yesterday. My favourite is this one. The Lord Nelson Hotel was first licensed in 1841 when its landlord was William Wells, a former convict. It s believed to be the oldest existing hotel building in Sydney. (from the green historic plaque on the wall)

Urban Sketchers Sydney - Manly Jazz Festival

Urban Sketchers Sydney were entertained by free live jazz under bright sunshine today at Manly's annual Jazz Festival. We wandered from the ferry wharf along The Corso where some of us stopped to sketch in and around the New Brighton Hotel. Its an oddly shaped building due to its location on a very sharp corner of The Corso and Sydney Road.

Urban Sketchers Sydney - Surry Hills

Continued Sydney wet weather made Surry Hills cafes the perfect spot for our latest Urban Sketchers meet. There was the option of some great streetscapes and the more hardy sketchers braved the soggy conditions to sketch them. But the Book Kitchen in Devonshire Street proved too tempting for me.

 

 

 

The choice to stay indoors was rewarded with a nice clear view of fellow sketcher Chris. Followed by another angle of a couple on bar stools with their back to me. Great for a sketcher a little too timid to sketch strangers face to face. This time there was 10 minutes or so to study body language and profiles, and with the benefit of practicing contours lately, the shapes and proportions seemed to draw on my page much quicker and more accurately. There must be a tipping point on this sketching journey that's getting closer. When I will recall faces from photo references I've drawn in the past and have them start to seep into drawing from life. It's still a great challenge to sketch accurately when people are constantly shifting position and turning their heads in conversation. Maybe another thousand or so? I'm fairly sure though that contour drawing is helping me lots.

 

 

 

After my small triumph in the café the sun came out and I joined other sketchers across the road to record the Bourke Street Bakery. Another good spot for people sketching due to the queues! Very popular! This sketch was rushed as time was short and I think I spent as much time adding in the brick texture later  as I did doing the rest of the sketch on site. The day was made the merrier by a little girl Alice who came to chat and watch us sketch whilst her Mum queued. She had a real keenness for what we were up to. She signed my picture quite happily. Hope she went home to sketch!

Urban Sketchers Sydney meet at QVB.

It's been a busy few months and I'm a little behind with my posts!

The June sketch day for Urban Sketchers was at Queen Victoria Building. I chose to sit at a café outside the beautiful shopping arcade and make a study of 149 York Street which was once the Gresham Hotel, built in 1890.

Then in July we headed down to The Rocks - one of my favourite historical areas of Sydney. We had been offered to participate in the Aroma Festival by sketching on disposable coffee cups. They were surprisingly good to sketch on (once you get used to the curved surface) and took both ink and watercolour quite well. (The image looks a bit weird as we used the panoramic feature on our phones to try and capture the rotated surface of the cup).

Before and after the cup sketch I took the opportunity to sketch The Russell Hotel in George Street. This is one of my favourite hotels in The Rocks area due to that fairy tale like Scots-Baronial Tower. Many of the architectural features have been retained since the hotel was built in 1887.

Sydney Urban Sketchers at Town Hall

Hero Pen (bent nib), De Atramentis Archive ink with watercolour wash. 270gsm paper.

Yesterday our local Urban Sketchers group gathered at Sydney Town Hall. It's a fantastic area for interesting architecture with the surrounding buildings of the Town Hall and St Andrew's Cathedral as well as the Queen Victoria Building in the next block.

 

 

I've signed up for Paul Wang and Liz Steels' expressive sketching workshop in March, so my goal was to try to loosen up with watercolour and less line. An A4 Beta Stillman and Birn from Larry Post last year (the thick pages are great for working wet on wet, so I've been saving it for when I'm feeling more courageous) served well for this. Fate also had a hand with my other choices as my favourite Lamy pen and waterbrushes are sadly missing somewhere. However, with the most perfect of timing, Liz brought along a new Hero pen from her Penang/Singapore trip! I've tried a similar pen with a bent tip (Sailor pen) before and it gives a lovely variation in line thickness as you draw.

 

 





A strategy which worked well yesterday was to lay a first layer of wash down on one page for the watercolour only sketch, and then whilst that dried, sketched with the Hero pen in more detail on the other page. Picking up on preferred patterns and shadows from the detailed pen sketch that could then be layered back onto the watercolour sketch as the progressing layers dried.

 

Sydney Town Hall is one of Australia's finest examples of French Second Empire architecture. Designed by architect J H Willson in 1868, it is said to be inspired by Hotel de Ville in Paris. Festoons, finials and Mansard pavilions - lots to learn about this style of architecture that I have not drawn before.

 

These sketching mornings always pass so quickly. With not much time to go I found this carved angel figure at the front door of the St Andrew's Cathedral. So many, many, many more things to sketch in this area. Looking forward to returning.

Urban Sketching in Newcastle.

Formerly Australian Customs Offices. 1 Bond Street. Designed by James Barnet. Built 1877

 

On Saturday 11 January, a mix of Sydney and regional urban sketchers made their way to the Newcastle train station for our first regional meet. It was a fantastic setting with waterways, beaches and many old heritage buildings to admire all around.  Wonderful to meet several sketchers who we'd previously only known through corresponding via the Australian Urban Sketchers Facebook group.

 

Former AMP Building, 55 Hunter Street. Built 1927

 

Despite hopes of creating several sketches for the day I settled on these two buildings and became absorbed in the details. So many other buildings to sketch in the area that I'm very sure a revisit to Newcastle will be on the cards. Thanks to Phil Bamford who went to the effort of ensuring people found their way easily to buildings of interest and facilities in the area. It was much appreciated!

 

 

Sydney Urban Sketchers at the Maritime Museum

 

 

 

On yet another gorgeous winters day a group of us headed to the Australian National Maritime Museum. Many in the group had sketched here, but this was my first time. So many interesting things to sketch that I've not ever tried to sketch before.

 

 

 

I warmed up with a sketch of the Cape Bowling Green Lighthouse and then met with the others for an introduction and some tips on what's good to draw there. There is a fantastic range of boats to choose from. Some braved the tall ships whilst I settled on a pontoon to sketch the Epic Lass. Thankfully, it was quite a calm day in the harbour and the pontoon and boat only bobbed along quietly (at times the roll of the boat made for a change in perspective!) I liked hearing the tall ship behind me creaking on the tiny waves and gentle breeze. It made me wonder how much noise it makes in stronger weather.

 

Determined to get some colour on the page for this onsite sketch meant the boat alone took over an hour and a half to complete. I only had about 40mins left to go inside the museum and find a final subject to go with the boat and lighthouse. It was far darker inside than out, so the impression of the spot lit figurehead of Horatio Nelson was quite striking when I chanced upon it. I'm fascinated by these carvings because they give a personality to the old ships. It was really fun to sketch something that was already a caricature. I'd love to find more. I have a vague recollection of seeing a sketchbook online that was devoted totally to the sketches of figureheads! Fabulous idea.

 

Urban Sketching at the Maritime Museum, Sydney from Chantal V on Vimeo.

 

Thanks to the kindness of another sketcher, Phil, (who'd made a near 2 hour journey to meet with us all) for his guest pass and sharing his great knowledge of the Museum! Much appreciated!

Urban Sketching - The Boat House at Balmoral.

This week I headed to the recently opened Boat House at Balmoral Beach, Sydney

Ideally I would have grabbed a seat outside with water views but the café was so busy that my only option was inside. Fortunately the décor all around is beautifully styled so its not hard to find an entertaining angle.

All of the drawing and most of the watercolour was completed onsite in about an hour and a half. I added a little more shading and colour intensity when I arrived home. I took a photo of two fishing buoys and found a postcard by The Boat House for inspiration on the opposing page in my sketchbook. Completed with watercolour pencils for foundation lines, waterproof ink, chinagraph pencil and Daniel Smith watercolours.

 

On another note, I sketched for the first time in the dentist waiting room today and it really helped me stay calm and distracted. Definitely worth trying again in the future.

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 - 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.

Fighting the urge to detail

Last Saturday I went to Pyrmont to sketch with a group of experienced Urban Sketchers. They tend to work more quickly than I and with more detailed and accurate results. My aim on the day was to only use one hour or less per sketch (we draw for 2 hours). My preference here is still to offer more to these wonderful old sandstone townhouses by trying to capture its design and surface with further detail.  I am familiar with the term less is more but I have a real problem in recognising when is best to STOP. So time constraints for now seem to be still the only way I can prevent myself from trying to "finish" this in the way I am most accustomed too.

 

 

The rest of the week just flew by and suddenly it was Friday and I'd had no other opportunity to sketch. I took my sketchbook to my hair appointment and fitted this in before the weekend returned.