SketchingNow Adventure: Eastern Suburbs and South Head

December 3, 2014 | Leave your thoughts


Another totally sparkling day for my next SketchingNow adventure. To date I have gone south to Cronulla, north to Palm Beach and west to the Blue Mountains, so of course last week I had to head east.


I wanted to go to the mouth of the harbour and as I have been in Manly a lot over the last few years decided to head to South Head and drive through the Eastern Suburbs.


I didn’t end up having a big day of sketching, I just felt too tired, but I did some walking, got my feet wet and had a generally lovely time!


My first stop was a cafe. There are not a lot of options at Watson’s Bay and none mentioned in the Good Cafe Guide that I am working my way through for this SketchingNow adventures, so I stopped at Rushcutters, Rushcutters Bay on the way.


What an amazing interior!


Continuing a recent trend, I decided to have a breakfast meal (vegetarian option) and recorded it quickly playing with shapes and a few lines.


And… of course, I ordered  a cup of tea, which was very good. They have good coffee too, but I will have to leave it to a return visit to check it out.


My next stop was Macquarie Lighthouse which is the oldest and longest serving lighthouse in Australia. It was designed by Sir Francis Greenway and is beautifully proportioned and detailed. It was his sixth building in Australia (foundation stone laid 1816) but the original was demolished and rebuilt in 1883.   Sitting in the bright midday sun, sketching on the bright white paper of a Zeta sketchbook and faced with this crisp precise building involving ellispes was a real challenge… I will own that I am a little scared of challenges like this – there is just no where to hide any wrong angles or ellipse wonkiness and it is hard not to overdo the colour when wearing sunglasses. Give me a super complex Baroque building with lots of detail any day!


As we are looking at volumes this week in my Foundations online class, I used this as an example and approached it in a tradition way – line first then colour. I wish I had stayed just a little longer and attempted a shape-based version as well, but I do hate being in the full sun longer than I absolutely need to. This is a bit too tame for my liking.


I jumped back in my car and headed as far east as the road would take me – to the lovely harbour beach of Camp Cove…


and then started to walk around to South Head. The colour of the water was spectacular!


This was my very first visit to South Head which I find hard to believe, and I had no idea there was such a cute red and white lighthouse there – Hornby Lighthouse.


It is always handy when a passing tourist asks for permission to take a photo of me, because that gives me a chance to ask them to take one on my camera as well. (Hmmm, just realised I am wearing my sketching uniform – I love that navy and white blouse but I need to go on the hunt for something else that is also made of voile, with a small collar and cap sleeves – it truly is one of the best summer items of clothing I have ever owned).


I walked back and then along the waters edge of Camp Cove (sadly forgot all about my swimmers this week)…and then up and over Green Point – with stunning views back to Camp Cove on one side, and across to Watson’s Bay on the other. This spot has special significance for me: it was where my eldest brother got married and also the site of my very first architecture design assignment at university.


My plan was then to finish my adventure with afternoon tea (skipping lunch) at Dunbar House (where my brother and sister-in-law had their wedding reception) but sadly it was closed. I had to settle for Doyle’s Fish and Chips instead. Too tired to sketch any more and I wanted to get ahead of the traffic.


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