May 11, 2016May 31, 2016 by Leonie Andrews

Try again

It’s often a struggle to get the drawing you see out of your head and onto the page. Several weeks ago I had one of those days. We drove out to the country looking for a sketching spot and found a promising site down by the river.

As I looked up from the river bank I could see one of my favourite local shearing sheds higher up the hill. This is built in corrugated iron which has developed a lovely patina over the years. Behind it was a hill and the whole scene was enclosed below that skyline.

Shearing shed, watercolour

I did make some quick pencil sketches before I started, but even so I struggled to get the proportions of the shed to the skyline accurately represented. I had taken along my watercolours to use for the first time in ages. I tried, but I had forgotten ‘in my hands’ how to use the paint. So I was unhappy with my result.

Then I had another thought, to work back over one of my original thumbnails with the pencils I also took along. There was no pressure to get it ‘right’ I allowed myself to play with non-realistic colour and the drawing flowed!

Colour pencil over the top of one of my original sketches

May 11, 2016May 11, 2016 by Leonie Andrews

Cafe Wednesday – same same, but …

Same name but different location. Our local cafe has contracts for coffee shops at the university. Today, as we were in the area, we decided to try one of these venues.

It was a completely different atmosphere and demographic from our nearby place, which is a ‘hole in the wall’ with a few outdoor tables. This other version was crammed full of students, with obligatory laptops, in the still under construction, College of Business and Economics. It is a lively scene that I plan to go back to again.

Biginelli’s @ the College of Business and Economics, the Australian National University, 11 My 2016, Koh-i-Noor magic pencil white chalk and gel pen

May 9, 2016May 9, 2016 by Leonie Andrews

Penciled in

Some recent sketches using coloured pencil and my new toned tan Strathmore sketchbook.

In the coffee shop Saturday morning, coloured pencil on toned tan paper

Today’s effort from the window of the National Gallery of Australia’ cafe window. This section of the garden has recently been cleaned out and re-planted with grass trees.

Garden at the National Gallery of Australia, coloured pencil on toned tan paper, 9 May 2016

I’m trying not to resort to ‘colouring in’, hence the vigorous strokes, which I’m enjoying making.

One more from the archive, a sketch in my toned-grey book, a spool of twine at a building site.

A spool of builders twine, coloured pencil on toned grey paper, 11 April 2016.

May 2, 2016May 2, 2016 by Leonie Andrews

Sketching in Civic

On Sunday our local Urban Sketcher’s chapter met for our May get together. It was great to welcome two new participants and catch up with some others who I haven’t seen in a while. We met in the centre of the city which is referred to as Civic. We were in part of the system of pedestrian plazas and near the Canberra Centre Mall.

While the weather didn’t deliver the hail that was forecast, the wind was quite blustery. Some brave souls sketched outside, but others took advantage of a seating area that overlooked the City Walk. I stayed outside as I had become fascinated with one of the more recent sculptures that have been added to the pedestrian areas. Anne Ross‘ work The Other Side of Midnight, 2012, is in three parts the centrepiece of which is a running girl flanked by two running hounds.

The Other side of Midnight, central figure, coloured pencil on cold pressed paper

I had some more time before meeting up with the others so I pulled out my new Strathmore sketchbook which is the toned tan. It will be interesting to compare the sketches I’m making in this book compared to those in the grey-toned book I’ve just completed. This second sketch was a more traditional view of the plane trees that are planted in City Walk.

Plane trees, City Walk, coloured pencil on Strathmore toned-tan paper, 1 May 2016

In my haste to capture the scene I botched the perspective and scale up – something I didn’t realise until I looked at the sketch after I got home. Oh well, there’s a lesson there! After having the obligatory group shot we went down to the food court for lunch and a catch-up.

If you are in the neighbourhood and would like to join us our next Urban Sketchers Canberra outing will be to the National Portrait Gallery, on Sunday 5 June at 10.15 am.

April 30, 2016 by Leonie Andrews

Smoke

Autumn in the national capital brings with it the odour of burning eucalypt leaves. The smell has complex connotations of summer and bushfires, but now it is the smell of low-intensity burn-offs, designed to reduce the level of flammable plant material. The local hills have been systematically burned over the past few weeks.

smoke

I took the opportunity to try and capture some of the ‘atmosphere’ of the burn-off. Sitting on the other side of the road I worked on those strange colour changes that occur within the smoke, white, cream, dirty red.

Burning off on Mt Taylor, ACT, 26 April 2016, colour pencil on gray-toned paper

I also had a go at sketching the moment the first flames were lit. 26Apr2016b

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Tag / location sketch