Seems a great day to catch up on a few things, as, in Sydney, South-West it is 43C /109.4F today. Yesterday, it was 41C and the day before, 39C. Tomorrow, It’s supposed to be only 24C. Phew!
The following selection of images were taken across two walks I did this week in the same vicinity, one in that beautiful time of day before Dusk, and the others were taken earlier this morning (before the heat of the day arrived).
Last Wednesday, I walked 4.6 km / 2.86 miles & this morning I walked 7.25km / 4.5 miles.
In the last days before New Year, my Wife and I went into the City as we had booked a Show at the Sydney Opera House that night. We thought we would make a day of it, and so booked the 6 Head waterfront restaurant at The Rocks.
We drove in and parked at The Sydney Opera House ($40.00 all-day parking), which is a pretty good rate and then set off to The Rocks to have breakfast and then wander around the shops and galleries before arriving at the restaurant.
After the restaurant, and after stopping for a quick photo opportunity outside, when caught the train and headed South, back down the City to spend some gift vouchers we received as Christmas presents.
I went to Eckersleys Art & Craft store and Susan went across the rock to the Yarn shop.
At Eckersley’s I purchased an Arches Travel Sketchbook & a set of Kuretake Gansai Tambi Art Nouveau Watercolours.
From there it was off to Dymocks bookstore where I purchased a book, and it’s companion volume. These days, when looking for Art-related books, I really want something different. I don’t want to buy books that replicate in some way, information that I already have. So far, I am very impressed with my purchase.
From there, we went over to The Sydney Opera House to view the Show, ‘Now You See Me’ – The Four Horseman which have been inspired by the movies about four Illusionists/Magicians.
The Show was very entertaining and under the direction of the performers the ausdience en masse got perform their own magic trick.
It was a wonderful day out and as you can see from the photos, we were well blessed with the weather.
This article’s images come from a number of different outings:
Local walks
A trip into the City to see Penn & Teller at the Sydney Opera House
Our garden
Hope you enjoy them. Some are natural, a few are man-made. Beauty is all around us. If only we would take some time to practice awareness. This exercise can bring a bit of peace to your day. 🙂
Last Sunday, I had the pleasure of being part of ‘Artists In Action’ again.
My first appearance at this event, last year was so enjoyable I thought I would do it again this year.
Some 30 or so local Artist’s, some professional, some semi-professional, and some enthusiasts, all combined to showcase their art and craft at the Camden Civic Centre in Camden, some 60km (37m) south-west of Sydney, Australia.
It was such a fun event again. People of all ages came in to view our art and craft. There demonstrations and workshops, and people could enjoy having a go at creating art.
At my table, I had some my art on display and in between talking to people, I went about doing a couple of watercolour sketches, including my, ‘Watercolour Sketch a Day’ that has been going for over 5 years now.
As I did last year, I encouraged people who
‘had always wanted to try sketching and/or painting’ but hadn’t,
‘those that had been doing it but had stopped’, or
those who think that they don’t have time’ to go ahead and try it/take it up again, as it offers:
some great mental health benefits
it’s fun and relaxing
All-in-all a fun day! Looking forward to next year’s event.
We have moved house since the last instalment and so that opens up new opportunities for image-taking. Please the comments on each of the 9 images below.
Sunrise – Taken from our back deck.
Taken from our backyard. Have always enjoyed photographing clouds.
I was on my way to the gym one morning and had to stop the car three times to take Sunrise images as the Sunrise was so beautiful that morning.
Taken on a recent trip to the Sydney CBD to buy Art supplies and do some en Plein air sketching/painting. Always pays to look up!
I remember (as a child & not often as an adult), I used to lay on the grass and stare at the sky and watched as the cloud formed into different shapes. A very relaxing experience. Must do it again.
Lake Burragorang Lookout. This is a very popular picnic spot that is now only 10 minutes drive away from where we live. 🙂
This was another image I took that morning on the way to the gym. There are photo opportunities everywhere, so remember to look down as well. 🙂
Taken from the backyard again. Tempted to call this ‘Fingers of Light’ or ‘God’s Fingers.’
This one was also taken that morning on the way to the gym. So glad I stopped three times on the way… P.S. I did actually make it to the gym in the end! 🙂
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 Saturday-week, I went on my first Urban Sketchers Sydney ‘Sketch-meet’. It was held in Surry Hills, literally 5 minutes walk from the southern reaches of the Sydney CBD.
I had joined their Facebook group late last year after it popped up courtesy of Facebook’s algorithm however, life came up in one form or another between then and this month which prevented me from attending the monthly outing.
Sydney turned on some beautiful Winter weather for the day with 19C/66F forecast and predominantly Blue skies. A warmer day than we can usually expect.
I arrived a bit earlier and met up with one of the sketchers, who had already started sketching. As time went by, more and more sketchers turned up until there were approximately 40 people in attendance.
One of the leaders of the day, Julie informed us where the important things were like local amenities, cafes and pointed out buildings and other places of interest that we might like to sketch.
We are then given 2 1/4 hours to sketch/paint and once finished, we all met as a group and enacted a ‘throw down’ as they call it. This is where everyone puts their creations in a group on the ground so that we can all see the different interpretations of the scenes being sketched/painted.
After that, a group photo is taken and posted on the Urban Sketchers Sydney Facebook page.
I chose a subject with too many windows I think and it was certainly a challenge perspective-wise. It certainly was relaxing, sitting there in the glorious sunshine. One of the attractions of sketching is that it is such a meditative experience.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable morning and I am looking forward to the next one!
Thank you Urban Sketchers Sydney for a great Sketch-meet!
Communicating Creatively 