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 :-)

USK Sydney meetup

We had a few international visitors in town so Aussie USK leader Liz Steel organised a Sydney sketch meet. It was lovely to chat about the materials, pens and sketchbooks available in different countries while drinking coffee and sketching in the Rocks.

I wasn't taking too much care with these sketches but they are a record of a fun day out.

The first was done using an interesting Sailor pen with a 40 degree nib. Great for switching between thick and thin lines. We were sketching in the MCA cafe which has a great view of the bridge. It normally has a wonderful view of the Opera house too but there was a cruise ship in the harbour and those things are enormous!

We moved from the MCA cafe to the Courtyard Cafe for lunch. I did a sketch of the lovely sandstone walls surrounding the cafe.

Then it was time to go out and about and sketch a little corner of The Rocks. This was in a laneway looking towards Nurses Walk.

 A USK trip to Sydney with Liz wouldn't be the same without a visit to the Tea Cosy for some lovely scones. I am not a tea person but the many knitted tea cosies are rather fun :-)