August 13, 2017August 13, 2017 by Leonie Andrews

National Arboretum Canberra

Today we had a large group of sketchers meet at the National Arboretum, which has some of the best views over the city of Canberra. The shape of the central building on the site is leaf-shaped from above, and the curve of the roofline echoes the nearby hills.

I worked on capturing the curve of the most prominent part of the building along with the view across to the telecommunications tower on the nearby Black Mountain.

I prepared my page with splashes of paint before sketching.

18 Comments

Chris Harv August 13, 2017 at 9:56 pm

Love what you are doing Leonie, fabulous sketch, love the way the tree is painted too

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1. Leonie Andrews August 13, 2017 at 10:42 pm
  
  Thanks Chris! I was pretty happy with the way the tree turned out. I think it was just about the last thing I painted.
  
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Claudia McGill August 14, 2017 at 2:08 am

I love the spare easy feeling of this painting.

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1. Leonie Andrews August 14, 2017 at 12:31 pm
  
  Thanks Claudia. I do surprise myself to see that some of that art traing has finally rubbed off. 😊
  
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anna warren portfolio August 14, 2017 at 6:49 am

Your colour splashes work in perfectly!

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1. Leonie Andrews August 14, 2017 at 12:47 pm
  
  Thanks Anna. I saw it online, it is a favourite technique of one of the people who established Urban Sketchers Singapore Tia Boon Sim. Of course now I can’t find the video that inspired me.
  
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  1. anna warren portfolio August 15, 2017 at 5:17 am
    
    I have a friend who prepares most pages of her sketchbook, either with some watercolour or a bit of collaged paper when she goes travelling – its the old thing of breaking down that white page, and leads to all sorts of interesting results.
    
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  2. Leonie Andrews August 15, 2017 at 7:14 am
    
    Yes, one of our group came along last Sunday with a board and a piece of paper collaged on it. The final work was so interesting.
    
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Mo Crow August 21, 2017 at 3:18 pm

beautiful work!

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1. Leonie Andrews August 21, 2017 at 9:58 pm
  
  Thank you Mo. Sometimes I surprise myself. 😄
  
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memadtwo August 27, 2017 at 11:19 am

For some reason your blog is not appearing in my reader, even though it keeps saying it’s already on the list. This seems to be a big problem with WordPress, along with comments disappearing and being put into spam…I’m going to unfollow and refollow to see if that works. I’ll also send another complaint…(K)

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1. Leonie Andrews August 28, 2017 at 11:08 am
  
  Thanks l didn’t realise that was an issue, but it would explain why some blogs l follow never seem to show up.
  
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  1. memadtwo August 28, 2017 at 11:49 am
    
    See my post today and drop them a line…
    
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  2. Rosie Scribblah September 7, 2017 at 4:09 am
    
    I find the same thing, I wonder if the Reader only shows a selection?
    
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emma cownie September 6, 2017 at 10:04 am

Great energy in your sketches.

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1. Leonie Andrews September 6, 2017 at 11:13 pm
  
  Thanks Emma. I love watercolour and have done quite a lot of experiments recently with prepared backgrounds to liven things up.
  
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Rosie Scribblah September 7, 2017 at 4:10 am

I love the way the prepared paper shows through

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Leonie Andrews September 7, 2017 at 7:10 am

Thamks Rosie!

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