A Trip To The City

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.

Till next time!

Written & Photographed by David Johnson

3 January 2026

Blue Sky, White Sails

Things That Attract My Eye – Part 20

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. 🙂

Till next time!

Written & Photographed by

David Johnson

28 January 2025

Things That Attract My Eye – Part 11

These images are just random images that I have taken over time, when the opprtunity presents itself. Hope you enjoy them. 🙂

“In The Drainer” – Walking into the kitchen one late afternoon I was struck by the design elements of 2 plastic, translucent cutting boards and a wire cooking implement that were draining after being washed.
“Internal Design” – Sydney Opera House. The family went into see a Show at the Opera House and we were waiting to be allowed in so me eyes started wandering… 🙂
“Towards Enlightenment” – Taken at Lake Burragorang (about 10 minutes drive from where we live).

Awareness. One of our greatest gifts.

Till next time!

Written & Photographed by David Johnson

29 February 2024

Things That Attract My Eye – Part 10

The images below were taken last week when my Wife, Susan & went into the City (Sydney) for lunch to celebrate our 27th Wedding Anniversary.

After a long lunch, we took a casual stroll around Circular Quay just relaxing and enjoying the views.

“Seeing Double” – The Sydney Harbour Bridge reflected in the windows
of the Sydney Opera House.
“Mosaic” – Reflections in an office building at Circulay Quay. Taken from the Cahill Expressway.
“Design” – Part of the large sandstone tiles at the front of the Sydney Opera House.

Beauty is all around us. We just need to be ‘aware.’

Till next time!

Written & Photograpghed by David Johnson

29 February 2024

Urban Sketchers Sydney – September Sketch-meet!

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.

Till next time – Happy Sketching!

Written by David Johnson

3 September 2023