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

Journal Lessons

It’s been well over 2 years since I started ‘formally’ journalling and it has been a thoroughly interesting journey.

I started off with a (writing) Poetry journal in the form of a Visual Arts ring-bound A5 book and an A5 Moleskine Watercolour journal then in my next journal, a Paper Mill A4 with Ivory sheets, I combined the two interests.

On the writing Poetry front, I noticed that my Lamy Safari Fountain Pen’s nib now writes a bit rough after using it on 110 gsm paper. I won’t make this mistake again.

The Paper Mill Journal seemed like a great option at the time as it would hold Watercolour but was smooth enough to write on with a Fountain Pen. The one thing that kept gnawing at me though was that the paper was too smooth for Watercolour.

I’ve also tried a Strathmore A5 190 gsm Watercolour Visual Journal which was ok though I think I prefer the Moleskine A5 200 gsm.

I now write my Poetry on normal paper that is contained within an A4 Journal that is approx. 3.0cm thick and it works rather well and have been utilising both the A5 and A4 Moleskine Watercolour Journals of late.

It would be so nice to find ‘a one Journal fits everything’ though so far I have not seen anything that will fit the bill, short of making my own Journal.

I’m sure that I will try a home-made one in time. I’ve seen examples where people have ripped out the pages of a book and repurposed the cover for their home-made journal. Being a book lover I would find this extremely hard to do so I would have to make the covers myself as well.

I have a few commitments that end on 30 June this year and plan to spend a little more time investigating in a home-made journal then, so till that time, I will keep experimenting.

Have you found a Journal that meets all your needs?

Written by David Johnson
March 2020

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Paper Mill Journal (Ivory Pages)

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Poetry Journal (Normal Paper)

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Strathmore A5 190 gsm

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Moleskine A5 & A4 200 gsm