Another HUGE sketching Saturday…
As per my sketchabout tradition, I started the day with a walk across the Harbour Bridge and a visit to Tara Tearoom. The tearoom is located on a street with markets so there are plenty of people to sketch if I sit outside!!! I have realised that one of the big problems with my sketching of people is that I rarely add colour… adding colour is SO important to me in defining my sketches and it is also the part that I love the most (I love drawing too but often the colour hides linework that I wasn’t happy with!)…so doing these sketches today were a bit of a lightbulb moment.
Also- about drawing maps… they do not need to be accurate to record your movements – in fact this one shows a lot more than I would be able if it was accurate- Sydney Harbour is not that narrow!
Ok… a lovely time sketching my tea and scone. A new tea cosy Leroy came to visit me. (Please note: if anyone finds this tea cosy offensive please let me know and I will adjust/remove it – I personally was very attached as a child to a similar knitted toy that my nanna made for me…but do not want to offend anyone)
BTW, I discovered this week that in Devon the cream goes on first and the jam on top but in Cornwall it is the other way around. This is the first time I put cream first and really enjoyed it and will stick with it I think! So I am now a cream first(scone) as well as a milk first(tea) girl!
Time to head for the gardens(I was supposed to get there early for some focused sketching)…but it started raining and blowing a gale – nevertheless(i love that word!) I sketched with the threat of rain – this is a wonderful art installation made of building fragments. I have wanted to sketch since I discovered it but it has either been rainy or way too hot to sketch in the sun…so at least I have the first sketch now…but of course I want to go back some day!
Next- a lovely surprise – an open day at the nearby Conservatorium of Music with some events in the garden – so I had to sketch it! Next, lunch with some sketchers before the really sketchabout started. (BTW, I didn’t sketch what I was eating!)
Another great group today and thankfully it did not rain! About 25 people – really getting to know some of the regulars and lovely meeting new people each week!!
I started by sketching an art installation which was a little challenging – had a lovely chat to fellow sketchers in the middle.
Then time to actually draw a detail of a plant and then another Moreton Bay Fig – love these trees. More chatting to new sketchabout attendees – it is such a lovely social event. I have worked out that as long as I get my sketches 80% finished, I can chat a lot and still sketch my usual amount (just a bit more to do at night!)
I went in search of Sadami and found her sketching musicans back up at the Vista Pavilion and then I joined in sketching- just as a jazz performance started- it was WONDERFUL!!!
Once again…I am a little nervous of sketching people with others looking around me but adding the paint helps me. Did a few sketches on loose sheets – takes some of the pressure off!
Finally…time for the big walk back to my car (I walked a total of 8km- 5 miles today) and I was cold and needed a hot drink…so ended up back at Tara for the second time in the one day! (Oh Liz!!!) and then felt so revived that I then stopped to sketch on the bridge on the return walk. Trying a bit to hard to make an interesting spread and connect the two sketches.
BTW, there are baskets with communal knitting in the tearoom.
Wow! Big day…all I can say is that I am so glad for the end of daylight saving tonight – I have need that extra hour to finish off my pages and scan and post these!
7 Comments
I have been following your blog for a little while now, and just wanted to say thanks for all of your posts. I love your style … it comes across on paper as feeling free and relaxed (don't know if it feels that way when you are doing them!) … and fun! I have just started trying to sketch more, and your posts inspire me to pick up my journal and head outside.
LOL, I'm exhausted just reading about it, Liz. Love the fig tree and the leaf detail. I can see your 'people' confidence growing already. Great post.
that's a LOT to achieve in a busy session and it's great, so lively and full of the atmosphere. The maps really add another dimension, adding context.
Communal knitting sounds fun!
Hi Liz, I have also followed your blog for a while. Can't believe the amount of detail you put into your sketches, something I really must learn from. Keep up the good work. Oh and by the way, I live in Devon, glad you like the cream tea the Devonian way:)
thanks robyn and vivien!
Thank you colorfuldays for your kind words – yes FUN and free does describe my sketches and sometimes they are relaxed – certainly solo tearoom visits are the ultimate relaxed sketches. I do hope you get outside more- it really is the most fun way to sketch – I find it takes the pressue off being perfect because there is often a condition which makes it a challenge (sun, wind, people looking over your shoulder) which you can blame for its imperfection!
thanks ann! Yes, I am a devon way devonshire tea girl now definitely!!!
Hello Liz ! I just became a follower of your blog because your sketchbook is SO inspiring ! Thanks a lot for those colorful pages.
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case Iâ??ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
generic nolvadex
NEWSLETTER
Subscribe for first notification of workshop + online classes and more.