July 10, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Animals and Cafes

Continuing on with the catch-up, there were opportunities to draw at two of our regular coffee shops last week.

Queueing for coffee, pen and ink,1 July 2014

Queuing for coffee, pen and ink, 1 July 2014

The next day I attempted to draw this dog waiting for it’s owner.

The same dog, several times, pen and ink, 2 July 2014

While I’m OK with the position of the body, getting the dog’s head the way I wanted really eluded me. I suspect that I’ve not looked closely enough at the relationship between the position of the animal’s eyes and ears. No doubt there will be plenty more dogs I can draw in future.

Later in the week we once again took to our bikes to ride around the lake. This time I was ready with all my gear to sketch the swan and or any other nearby waterbirds. But nature isn’t always obliging and we saw nary a swan. The wind was blowing a howling gale so finding a spot to sit without being blown into the water was hard enough. I did manage to draw two Masked Lapwings that briefly landed near where we were having lunch. As I was simultaneously trying to complete a painting of part of the nearby pontoon I decided to dampen my paper to see how it would work. I like the quality of the resulting line quite a bit.

Masked Lapwings, pen and ink on damp paper, 4 July 2014

I ended up having to abandon trying to paint as the wind shifted and we couldn’t bear to be sitting still any longer.

This week I’ve managed one cafe drawing, at a new locale, which I’m sure will offer more drawing possibilities. Unfortunately I was distracted by sitting on an icy metal cafe chair, outside, because the cafe was full, waiting for the fog to lift. Cold winter mornings are not conducive to making detailed drawings! I added the colour after I got home.

Play area and shade sails (definitely not needed this day), pen and ink and acrylic marker pen, 8 July 2014

July 8, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Sketching Catch-up Mt Taylor

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blind drawing, kangaroos, Mt Taylor, pen and ink, powerlines, snow
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Looking back at my small sketchbook today I realised that I haven’t posted any drawings from the last two weeks. So here goes.

On 30 June after a weekend of vile wet and cold weather we finally had a clear day. Suffering from mild cabin fever we took the opportunity to walk along the fire trails on the lower slopes of Mt Taylor, part of the Canberra Nature Parks reserve system. The main reason was to get a view of the snowfalls on the Brindabella Ranges (please excuse the dodgy panorama which I stitched together in Photoshop rather than with a special program).

Snow on the Brindabella Ranges, 30 June 2014.

The fire trail also runs beneath the powerlines. I quite liked the looping repetition of the lines.

Powerlines on Mt Taylor, pen and ink, 30 June 2014.

As I finished this sketch I became aware that I was being watched by two locals, a female Eastern Grey kangaroo and her joey.

Eastern Grey kangaroos, pen and ink, Mt Taylor, 30 June 2014.

At the bottom of the fire trail we came across evidence of other artist’s in the area. Someone, some many, had been making Goldsworthian interventions in the bush. Good to see. (BTW the small rocks come from the fill put on the fire trails for maintenance, they haven’t been taken from the bushland).

A ‘Goldsworthian’ intervention on the lower slopes of Mt Taylor, 30 June 2014.

June 28, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Heaters

When I looked back over this week’s sketches I realised that I had made only one. A poor sad solo drawing of the new heaters that our local coffee shop are using.

Heater at the coffee shop, pen and ink, 25 June 2014.

This prompted me to make another drawing to keep it company. Here is my column heater, getting quite a work out during our first really icy blast of winter for this year. This is quite a mix of media, acrylic paint marker, conte crayon and marker pen.

Heater, acrylic paint marker and conte crayon, 28 June 2014.

Heater, acrylic paint marker, marker pen and conte crayon, 28 June 2014.

June 27, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

The Kurrajong

A favourite walk of ours is to the small stand of kurrajong trees (Brachychiton populneus) that grow on the shoulder of Mt Taylor. These trees are often referred to as ‘bottle’ trees, for their swollen trunks, although it is not a strong feature of this particular species of kurrajong. I took only my smallest sketchbook, made by a friend of mine, and my ink pen on this walk. The book is approximately 70 x 100 mms, (or 3×4 inches).

My tiny sketchbook.

I did three sketches. The first of the triple trunk of the main kurrajong tree, which has seeded it’s offspring in the bush around it.

The triple-trunked kurrajong, pen and ink, 16 June 2014.

Next my interest was captured by what I could see behind the tree. This is a series of high voltage power cables that traverse this side of the mountain – they actually hang in much smoother curves than I could draw! It was a challenge to try and capture the light-grey cables against the darker toned eucalypt trees on the higher slope of the mountain.

Power cables against the hillside, pen and ink, 16 June 2014.

Last of all was a small cluster of dead leaves which were highlighted by the late afternoon sun.

Dead leaves, late afternoon, pen and ink 16 June 2013.

June 22, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Tales of the city

Here are some drawings I’ve done over the past few days. First a blind drawing of the Academy of Science building, also known as the Shine Dome and familiarly called ‘the Martian Embassy’ by locals. Behind it stands one of the newest developments in central Canberra, the Nishi Building in the New Acton precinct.

The Academy of Science Building, also called the Shine Dome (a.k.a ‘the Martian Embassy’) and the Nishi Building, New Acton, pen and ink, 20 June 2014.

Outside the Nishi Building, (which I’ve written about here) is the sculpture ‘Carbon’, it appears to be extruded from the buildings’ understorey and extends along the facade.

Carbon, by Steven Siegel,
pen and ink, 20 June 2014.

The city of Canberra was designed, originally by Walter Burley Griffin, who was inspired, in part, by the Garden City movement. In practical terms for Canberra residents today it means that the city incorporates large areas of bushland. Along with the natural landscape come lots of native animals and animals and cars don’t interact on an equal basis. Every day kangaroos die as a result of being hit by cars. Yesterday I came across one such victim not far from my own house. It was a female Eastern Grey kangaroo, our most common kangaroo species and while the species is not in any way endangered it is still a sad experience to find one of these beautiful creatures dead on the roadside.

A dead Eastern Grey Kangaroo, pen and ink, 21 June 2014.