Summer Break 2015: My week off

January 4, 2016 | Leave your thoughts

 
Well, my end of year/ summer break is over and it was definitely not a ‘hard break’. I ended up doing a lot more work than I expected (any blog post with more than 3 images and 3 sentences = work for me) … but that’s ok! It is hard to draw a line between hobby and work for me, and I did have a GREAT week – getting out sketching some days, and just relaxing on other days.


But most important of all, I do not have the usual ‘big post-trip scanning/posting burden’. With this post, on my first day back at work, I am up to date!  So I was able to just get straight into mapping out my week/month/year this morning as I resumed my morning cafe planning sessions. Yay!

Here are a few comments on individual sketches and then all my sketchbook pages in full:


An evening sketch of the famous Sweetness The Patisserie at Epping. After posting this on Instagram, I heard from the owners that the building has been sold. It is a pity, both for the future of Sweetness and because it is one of the few buildings with a bit of character in Epping’s shopping precinct.

Warning: big image up next….


(Oh ah! Don’t you love how big a vertical image is when posted full width?)

This is a gorgeous terrace house in Newtown, sketched while having a great chat with Wendy Shortland. We have been so overdue for a catch up (my fault!) and always have so much to talk about. More about this sketch in a separate blogpost coming up.


My evening walks in the past two months have been just that – walks with no sketching. But after a very lazy day at home, I wanted to sketch. So I took out an old Escoda #8 travel brush and my small palette as a minimum kit. It was a completely different experience to my normal palette and dagger brush and I found it challenging.

I really want to work out a minimum kit that I feel comfortable with, so this is a goal for the next few days as I get back into my daily routine. (Note: if the rain stops… we have a very wet week ahead)


On Saturday I went to Ashfield to explore the area prior to a Sydney Sketch Club event in the afternoon. I wanted to check out two churches (the first didn’t have good lighting and would have needed to sit in the full sun – something I try to avoid) so I settled for an hour at St John’s Ashfield.

It was hard to get a shady spot to sit that had a view of the sunny sides of the church so I ended up sitting up close. This was a quick warmup sketch – paint first and ‘wacko perspective’ due to my awkward position.


I wandered around to the side and did a second sketch – more distortion, but this time it was intentional!


I wandered down the street to work out what public building belonged to a tall brick tower I had seen on my arrival. It was a HUGE crazy Queen Anne mansion – Amesbury – I was blown away. I set myself a challenge to do this sketch in 10 minutes working from one part to the next. Fun but slightly insane!


Time for lunch at Envy Deli Cafe in Summer Hill. A quick sketch while I was waiting for my order. These days if I have a limited amount of time, my choice of media is normally my Sailor Fude pen (Green 55 degree with mixed grey ink).


Ashfield Park with Sydney Sketch Club. After walking around saying hello to a number of people, I settled down to sketch this view of being under the tree canopies and the intersection of two paths lined with huge date palm trees. I did this entire sketch while actively engaged in a conversation about why I shouldn’t miss the architectural profession!


I had to hit the road early but managed one more quick sketch at the top of the hill before I left. I like these two very different aspects of Ashfield park.

And finally… here are all the pages in my sketchbook including a few people’s sketches, a text page, and a very out of character sketch which I will be discussing in a blogpost soon…











 


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