Sketching in The Rocks, Sydney. Updated and Ongoing!

Police Station building, the Rocks.

The Sydney Sketch Club has set a challenge to draw all the buildings along George Street in The Rocks. It was started in January 2014 and I began with the old police building.

I drew this in Water-soluble graphite which is a favourite, especially for buildings where there is a lot of shadow. This is painted in an A5 Moleskine watercolour sketchbook. It is now a rather nice cafe with some of the old cells available as little private rooms.

The Russell Hotel, The Rocks, Sydney

Sketching in the Rocks, Sydney

The Russell Hotel is still a hotel :-) This was lightly drawn in pencil then in black ink with watercolour over the top. It's larger - in an A4 Moleskine watercolour sketchbook.

































I joined the Sydney Urban Sketchers for a coffee catchup in Surrey Hills and then a sketch in the Rocks, Sydney, on Christmas Eve. This time I had a time limit so worked much more quickly. The building was the 'English Scottish Australian Chartered Bank' building. It is sketched with minimal preparation with pen then watercolour then a little more pen work.

This is actually the first of the buildings in the stretch. I used grey mixed ink for this one and am really enjoying the softer look of grey rather than black.

It is in an A4 Moleskine watercolour sketchbook and was painted in January 2015

There are many more to go and I'll add them as I go :-)

Another trip to Cockatoo Island - just for fun

Liz and I spent a great day at Cockatoo Island, something we've talked about doing for a while since it seems to be a favourite place for both of us.

Liz sketches very fast and my challenge was to try to be much faster and freer so I wasn't holding her up too much. While she still did two or three sketches to my one, I also worked on A4 Moleskine this time rather than my usual A5 so I had a bit more splash room. A great day. She tells it pretty well...here.

We started at the old electrical boxes, as the weather was looking threatening and these were something I'd seen a number of studies of at the Urban Sketchers workshop and wanted to tackle without getting too fiddly....

Old electrical boxes at Cockatoo Island

The we went to the convict area. Last time I went to this part of the island it was stinking hot so this was a good day to paint this lovely wall.

A wonderful sandstone wall at Cockatoo Island

And after a well earned lunch with some compulsory paint and pigment chat, we went to draw the crane. It started to rain so we took shelter in one of the tunnels. Liz did three paintings while I did this one but I have still managed to be a bit looser than usual.

One of the many rusting cranes at Cockatoo Island

A great day with a good friend!

Urban Sketching

I joined the Sydney Urban Sketching group for a cold first-day-of-Winter sketching trip at Sydney University yesterday. It was really nice to be with an enthusiastic group of talented sketchers recording the beautiful sandstone buildings.

View through the archway into the main quad

I started inside the entrance to the main quad, thinking it may be a little sheltered but it was a bit of a wind tunnel.

Goethite (Daniel Smith) is a great colour for sandstone, and the granulation creates the stone texture with ease.

I then moved into the stone corridor and painted one of the many grotesques. (Not gargoyles my niece reminded me, since it doesn't spurt water.) They have great personality. I used a neutral grey watercolour pencil for the initial sketch, then my favourites Goethite and Bistre (see earlier posts - a mixed grey i this case made with Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine).

Out on the grass looking at the main building was such a daunting view that I picked up one of the many leaves blowing about and had fun with the wonderful range of textures and colours.

There were some wonderful sketches of the buildings, sculptures and fine details at the end of our 3 hours. What a great way to spend a Saturday morning.

A grotesque. 

Back to my real comfort zone of leaves, but love the colours!