I did some sketching of planes on a recent trip to New Zealand.
At Melbourne Airport
And Dunedin Airport on the way home via Christchurch and Auckland. That's cows in the paddock. The tiny Air New Zealand plane arrived for me to sketch just 7 minutes before I had to leave!
Good thing our flight was not disrupted due to the fuel crisis at Auckland Airport and we got home as planned. (Damage to the pipeline bringing fuel to Auckland Airport was the cause of the disruptions which lasted several days).
Marker pens, #Moleskinesketchbook 3.5”x5.5”
Armed with my sketchbook and paints we took a drive to San Remo, Victoria, Australia. The beach away from the touristy cafe area was just beautiful but the wind was freezing! No wonder it was so cold, we were after all close to the southern most tip of the mainland of Australia. I only managed a quick gestural setup with pencil and painted it at home from a photo reference.
Looking across to Philip Island and beyond to Bass Strait.
A bit of history.
The San Remo Jetty.
Pelikan feeding takes place every day at noon (at the fish and chip restaurant by the jetty). Beware the tourist prices if you eat there, 2 pieces of fish (Gummy Flake) and one serve of chips will set you back almost $20. It was a good lunch I'm pleased to say.
The gulls were feeling rather left out.
Watercolour, #MoleskineWatercolourAlbum, 5x8.25ins.
After attending several workshops in Singapore recently it's been good to take stock of the last 5 years. Conclusion – I'm an urban sketcher and sketchbook artist rather than a plein air painter. Here are some favourites since I started in 2012. Some are favourites because of the stories they tell or the memories they conjure up.
2012. A group of evangelists descended on me for the hour I spent sketching the corner of this quaint street near where we lived for 3 months in Taipei. This first el cheapo sketchbook served me well. In those early days I worked mainly just with black markers.
2013. A sketch at Sydney Airport before embarking on the start of our 8 month stay in Singapore. The more time you have the more details get added. This was a longish wait.
2014. Back in Edmonton, Canada and a sketch done with the Edmonton Urban Sketchers group at the University of Alberta. Watercolour before pen lines seemed to work well.
2015. A snippet of a week in my life. One sketch done on each of the days.
2015. A record of our one bedroom apartment. Edmonton, Canada.
2015. This was our favourite fruit stall man at the weekly Century Park Market, Edmonton, Canada. He gave me a bag of peaches for sketching him.
2016. So nice to be part of USk Singapore again for the next 5 months. This was sketched in Chinatown at their first sketchmeet of 2016. It was almost Chinese New Year and the festivities had begun.
2016. Sketching moving performers was a challenge at the Spring @Bukit Pasoh event with USk Singapore.
2017. So pleasant sketching at Emerald Lake Park in Victoria, Australia while squawking cockatoos circled overhead. Watercolour before pen allows more freedom. I'll have to try this more often.
