Back to Cockatoo Island... exploring textures with Jane

April 4, 2014 | 3 Comments


My photos and sketches from a wonderful day on Cockatoo Island with my great friend Jane Blundell. We have quite different styles of sketching but we have SOOOO much in common…and the day went past really quickly! Was really nice to be back to the island (2 weeks since the expressive urban sketching workshop I taught with Paul Wang) so I could just do lots of sketching for me. Love this place – never tire of exploring and sketching it!



Jane was interested in seeing the electrical boxes that we sketched during the workshop…. so I did another version.


VERY slow for me… talking non-stop and using a new sketchbook (Stillman and Birn A4 Betaspiral bound book)…so it worked well for Jane. Really love the contrast between Jane’s beautiful watercolours and my crazy loose dumps on the page!




Then we went to the convict precinct and sketched a lovely sandstone wall. I did a version in the Beta book and then decided to just go for it in my usual A4 moleskine… this was an exercise in just exploring the texture of the wall and having fun!


It was then time for lunch (past 1pm!) so we headed down to the special Biennale Bamboo Dumping Bar that is in the big industrial shed. Very cool interior and details.


I have to keep up with my food diary…so here is a quick sketch of some of the dumpings (in fact more than I actually ate myself) Notice in the photo Jane is sketching food too!


Then we had to have some pigment play time… this is an absolute must for any time when Jane and I catch up!


After lunch we wanted to sketch one of the cranes but it started raining – thankfully we were able to shelter in the entrance to the straight tunnel (what is its name?). I was working fast… so did two attempts…


And in fact also did a third in my daily sketchbook (alpha book) … oh! I almost forgot… I did a very quick sketch of the drawing office in the morning while Jane was finishing off her electrical boxes.


Exciting things seem to happen every time I go out sketching. While we were sketching in the tunnel someone walked past who knew me!


Lisette (from Holland) has been living in Australia for a year and is going home on the weekend. She was hoping to attend some of my classes but we couldn’t quite make it work… and had never met! So how special to meet by chance in her last week in Sydney.


And finally, I had terrible traffic on the way home – stopping so much that I was able to sketch… a little crazy but it kept me sane! (I won’t bore you with my breakfast and dinner sketches from today… this post is already too long!) No… changed my mind… here is breakfast (the dinner spread is not yet finished.

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