Cockatoo Island in the Spring

Watercolour in Molekine watercolour sketchbook.

I went to Cockatoo Island again today.

I think I could sketch there every week for the rest of my life and not run out of interesting textures, shapes, lines and colours to explore. Here are today's sketches, all done in an an A5 Moleskine watercolour sketchbook.

I love these large machines that remind me of guardians of some sort. They look out over the water towards Greenwich and gradually rust further. Huge, patient relics.

I have painted a group of them before (see all my Cockatoo Island sketches here) but this time I wanted to zoom in on just this one.

There are pipes of all sorts all over the island. Ugly but interesting. This large set of pipes is in a cave on the sandstone wall. Pen and watercolour.









There are many surprising things about the island, but one is the lovely attention to detail in the windows of the sandstone factory. As with the pipes above, this was a quick sketch in pen with a watercolour wash.