It was cold and overcast on our visit to the coffee shop this week. The bulk of the tables are outside so we sat under a gas patio heater, which along with the umbrella and tree formed the subject for my drawing. The water colour was added after I got home.
Gas heater, umbrella and tree, 5 June 2013
I finally made it back to one of the National Portrait Gallery’s drawing days. This time rather than have a set piece to draw from there was a musician, Rose Maher, playing songs for Reconciliation Week.
My first drawing was of Rose and her father (whose name I didn’t catch), backing her up on guitar.
Rose Maher and her father at the National Portrait Gallery
Next I tried the jug and glasses on a small stool, with dramatic shadows provided by the bright sunlight streaming in the window. The watercolour was added later.
Pencil sketch with watercolour
My final drawing was of some of the other people participating in the event. The watercolour was added later.
‘Drawn In’ 26 May 2013 at the National Portrait Gallery
The next sessions , if you are in Canberra, will be held on Sunday 9 June and Sunday 7 July from 1pm to 3pm. On Sunday 26 June there will be a special life drawing class with Braidwood artist John R Walker (fees apply).
Another speaker at the Designing a Capital forum last week was the artist Geoff Farquar-Still, whose sculpture of a paper aeroplane has come to rest not far from the coffee shop we frequent.
Geoff commented that, when this work was first placed near the High Court building, children played on it, assuming it was a piece of playground equipment. I’m not sure why the piece was moved (I do recall a sculpture competition being temporarily sited in that area), but I’m sure that in its current location, adjacent to a children’s playground, it’s still getting similar attention. Interestingly, the surveyor working nearby had to be convinced that it was a sculpture and not just another piece of playground equipment.
On our weekly excursion to the coffee shop the question is what will I draw today. This time it is the letterbox and part of the convenience store facade.
Well the exhibition has been taken down but I am pleased to be able to link to the essay written about the show by the curator Peter Haynes. The essay can be found here.
Single Tower, Leonie Andrews 2013
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