Here are some more tiny and fast drawings from my rearview mirror series. (These are drawings made from images in the various mirrors of my car, often drawn on the back of parking vouchers).
Woden, ACT, behind the post office, ballpoint pen
More recently.
Multi-storey carpark, Canberra, 5 December 2015, ballpoint pen
Latest.
Scary self-portrait, ballpoint pen, 9 December 2014
Back in the land of Oz and we had barely been home for two days before we had to hop on a plane again to celebrate a family wedding interstate. I was still in a drawing frame of mind and what caught my eye over those few days were dogs.
In the airport lounge in Canberra two plastic ‘Puppy’ dogs (designed by Eero Arnio for Magis Me Too), were placed looking out onto the tarmac, waiting for some children to play with them.
Green plastic ‘Puppy’, Canberra Airport 14 November 2014, ballpoint pen
Two days later we were in the Art Gallery of South Australia and found a Haniwa dog. These terracotta sculptures were made in Japan in the Kofun period (3rd to 6th century AD) and were used as tomb markers. They are fairly abstract shapes and this one looks quite chunky. The face looks rather like that of a pig to me, but I think this is a result of the coil technique used to build the clay figures making more of a snout than a tapered dogs nose. What you can’t see from this sketch is the curled tail that of a Japanese akita dog.
Haniwa dog, circa 6th C AD, from the collection of Andrew and Hiroko Gwinnett, on display at the Art Gallery of South Australia, 16 November 2014, Copic multiliner
Finally I couldn’t leave out Sam, the Old English Sheepdog, who’s house we were staying at.
Sam the Old English Sheepdog, asleep under the table, 17 November 2014, Copic multiliner
It is said that small things amuse small minds, but I’d like to change the saying to ‘small things engage inquiring minds’. I hope my latest drawing ‘tic’ falls into this latter category. Sitting, waiting in the car is something that most of us experience quite often, so I decided I should take advantage of this situation to indulge in a little drawing. I do want to emphasise that I only draw while the car is parked. I realised that there was often too much happening in all directions to quickly decide what to draw. So I decided I would draw what appeared in my car’s rear vision or wing mirror, or the mirrors themselves.
Rearview mirror and parking meters, ball point pen, 9 September 2014
The more time I have, the more elaborate the drawings can get.
Wing mirror with open garage door, pen and ink and acrylic marker, 16 September 2014
Of course I don’t always have my sketchbook to hand so when needs must, I grab one of the many car park tickets that seem to live in our car. This 5.5 x 8.5 cm (roughly 2 x3 “) format focuses the mind wonderfully!
‘No parking’ rear view mirror, ballpoint pen on car park ticket, 12 October 2014
One thing I noticed when I did this drawing was that if I use blind drawing technique to reproduce the writing I don’t make mistakes when I draw the reversed letters. Quite interesting.
As I’ve been trying out my new sketchbook over the past few weeks, I’d forgotten I also had several cafe drawings in the book I always carry in my bag. Here they are.
A bulldog waiting for its owner, ballpoint pen, 23 August 2014
The construction site opposite the cafe offered an unusual subject by way of a cement mixer.
Cement mixer, pen, ink and acrylic paint marker, 30 August 2014
The Loading Dock Cafe, is exactly that, a cafe in the rear lane of West Row, in the centre of Canberra. Thankfully some very solid concrete bollards separate the cafe-goers from reversing vehicles.
View onto the lane from the Loading Dock Cafe, pen, ink and watercolour, 10 September 2013
Three cafes in three days, a bit more than my usual quota of coffee for the week. I started off with drawing a grandmother and granddaughter, having a break together. The girl developed a somewhat ‘cubist’ head as she kept moving quite quickly. A few of my strokes ended up in unintended places (well that’s my excuse).
Grandmother and granddaughter at the coffee shop, 3 June 2014.
The next day found us having lunch at the National Museum of Australia, after having seen the Old Masters: Australia’s Great Bark Artists (more of that in a future post).
Umbrella and a view back towards the city from the National Museum of Australia, 4 June 2014.
Lastly back to our regular place for a coffee today. The sun encouraged us to go for a walk before more clouds blew in. I particularly liked the way the fluting on the glass reminded me of colonnades and arches.
A glass architecture, pen and ink, 5 June 2014.
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