Last Sunday, late in the afternoon I had just finished off an A4 Watercolour when I looked out the window and saw the beautiful Spring light. It was too much of a temptation and I knew I had to get out there and go for a walk.
I finished up walking 3.3 km (2 miles) down at the Camden Bike Track which runs along a major river in the Sydney Basin. The track is about two minutes walk from where live which is great.
Here are some images I shot on my walk with a phone camera. Such a relaxing walk to cap off my Sunday.
Yesterday, myself and approx. 50-60 other Urban Sketchers attended the September Sketch-meet. Our destination was the Sydney Opera House, which in a month’s time will have been open for 50 years.
I remember watching the opening in October 1973 on a Black & White TV set from our home approx. 13km/8 miles from the Sydney CBD. I still remember running up to the bridge over the railway line half-way between my suburb and the next so we could see a whole mass of balloons being sent into the sky from the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Of course we could not see the bridge itself, but we did see the the a mass of balloons rise in the distance.
The Sydney Opera House is one of the most uniquely designed structures in the world.
I must say I was very pleased to attend this Sketch-meet as this the first standalone Sydney Sketch-meet I have been able to attend this year.
Rather than try to sketch the whole building, I chose to do a section of it and am very happy with the result.
As you can see from the first photo, it was perfect weather and it was quite a relaxing experience. I find the whole experience of sketching/painting, meditative, particularly when I do minute details, like the tiles in the ‘Sails.’
One of the things that I really look forward to at the the Sketch-meets is the ‘Throwdown’ as seen in the photos below. It’s wonderful seeing all the different styles and mediums that people use to create their Art. So inspirational.
All-in-all it was a great morning of sketching. It is so great to get together with a group of creators.
The ‘Urban Sketchers’ are a world-wide movement which is in over 60 countries, 394 cities with over 120,000 members. For more information, check out their website https://urbansketchers.org/ so you can find a chapter near you.
Last Sunday, I completed my first A4 Watercolour painting for what seems like an eternity.
My Watercolour Sketch a Day continues to roll on…as of today it is 4 years and 216 days however, getting to do an A4 Watercolour has been a challenge over the last 13 months. With moving house, growing the business, family and personal health challenges and other projects it felt for a while there that it was almost impossible to do one.
I’m happy to say that ‘I have broken through that barrier.’
The first A4 painting I was doing on Sunday was going well…until it wasn’t. It was of receding mountain ranges and, after laying the relevant washes, I wrecked the mountains endeavouring to add detail.
The previous night I didn’t get a good night’s sleep and I was about to just walk away from my Art Room, when I thought, ‘maybe I could something simpler’, and at least I could come away with something. The image below is what I painted.
A much simpler scene to paint and I am pleased with the result given how tired I was. I do think in hindsight that the rocks are not punchy enough so I will work on that next time.
Still, as stated previously, I am pleased with the result and I had fun which is the main thing.
Communicating Creatively 