I was doing a long overdue clean-up on the table today and found a small group of car sketches, mainly on the back of car parking tickets and also on a paper cutlery sleeve we got at a cafe.
Here they are, all stuck into my visual diary and also some closer views. Pencil and wax crayons.
Our hope for a day of sketching more at the farm disappeared along with the good weather.
As there were cows on hand, so to speak, I decided to start with them. In fact this is one cow and several calves, two which have been abandoned by their mothers and one belonging to said cow.
A cow and calves. Felt tip pen and watercolour.
I then moved back to the riding arena (the family breed stock horses) and sketched this still life. The orange ‘ropes’ are slings used in conjunction with the heavy machinery for lifting things.
Farm equipment on the wall. Watercolour and pencil.
Yesterday (20 November 2017) we went for a pleasant walk around our local landmark Black Mountain. A walking track circles it below the summit. The walk is posted as taking 45 minutes to complete, but allowing for stopping to botanise and sketch we managed the circumnambulation at a cracking two hours and ten minutes!
Last week we finally left our Canberra for the first time in months to drive an hour away to the country town of Braidwood.
The village of Braidwood started to form around the 1840s and has retained many of it’s older 19th century buildings along the main street. As such, it’s a great place to sketch.
I was sketching across the road from the CWA (Country Women’s Association) building and the post office and then later further down the main street into town.
My first sketch was made on a page that I had prepared with white gesso and ink a few weeks back. I also collaged some paper onto my page, which I had made by printing from a gelli (gel) plate. That saved me from having to paint the mountain.
The CWA building and a corner of the post office on Wallace St Braidwood.
Along the street my eye was caught by an interesting combination of rooflines and light poles.
Steep roofs and tall chimneys. Watercolour and pencil.
I was just getting stuck into my blind contour drawing when I had to go for lunch which we had booked at the Albion Cafe.
Blind contour drawing of the same scene of rooftops and light poles.
I liked this last one best of all. It’s probably a good thing that we had to go to lunch before I ruined it.
I decided to clear out my car sketches a bit more frequently. They are mainly in ballpoint pen, but recently I found a wonderful 9B pencil lurking in the glove box. It’s now my favourite.