Sketching on holidays - Customs House, Geelong

When I first started using Instagram, places I have known for years started to have a different appeal. Where I would once walk past an old building perhaps without a sideways glance I was now searching for interesting corners or rusting old signs to photograph. Likewise with urban sketching, I am seeing my surroundings with fresh eyes.  This is most obvious to me when I return to Geelong for holidays to see my family and spend time where I grew up.

Here's a sketch of Customs House down by the foreshore in Geelong. I had previously dined here with my sister, but had never stopped to appreciate the combination of sandstone and bluestone in the building or the ornate gate. Sitting outside on the grass on boxing day I drew bricks, trees, lamp posts, counted windows and replicated the length of each blind. It may sound painfully boring to some but for me its like a meditation and I leave with a greater appreciation of architecture and design.