Tag / Mt Taylor

by Leonie Andrews

Walks, Cafes etc

We have been doing a lot of walking since the pandemic started, originally prompted by restricted exercise periods for months at a time. Now walking is a regular activity and each week we try and do a slightly longer walk. We often break this up with a coffee, in our Thermos, or at one of the pop-up coffee carts that seem to be proliferating along popular walking tracks around the city.

Covered with a nice paperbag from a local bookshop

I hate carrying too much on these walks so I now carry this home made 10×14 cm sketchbook made of paper offcuts. Here are some of my recent sketches.

The sketches are adding up!
Late afternoon around Lake Tuggeranong
Coffee at the pop-up coffee cart Mt Taylor. In reality the Golden Retreiver wasn’t quite that long in the body!😄
A Thermos of coffee when we walked around the base of Mt Taylor
Patrons at the local coffee shop, a stop on our walk around Lake Tuggeranong
Bonus Black Swans with an almost fully grown cygnet.
by Leonie Andrews

Sketching Catch-up Mt Taylor

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

by Leonie Andrews

Mt Taylor

For the first time since April 2012 I’ve climbed Mt Taylor. This is a major achievement for me post knee replacement. I knew I would have some places to stop and rest along the track so I took my small sketchbook to make some drawings on the way.

Lake Tuggeranong from the middle slopes of Mt Taylor, trees in the foreground, 6 December 2013.

Lake Tuggeranong from the middle slopes of Mt Taylor, trees in the foreground, 6 December 2013.

To my surprise and delight I made it up to the top of the mountain. There are wonderful views over most of Canberra from this spot.

Woden town centre foreground with Black Mountain and the Black Mountain tower in the distance, 6 December 2013.

Woden town centre foreground with Black Mountain and the Black Mountain tower in the distance, 6 December 2013.

What I was most interested in was the change of perspective from this height. Looking across to major landmarks with a very different horizon line from that at the bottom of the mountain.

The horizon line skimming Black Mountain, distant hills more prominent from this position, 6 December 2013.

The horizon line skimming Black Mountain, distant hills more prominent from this position, 6 December 2013.

It was a great walk. I found going back down was far harder on my knees than climbing up, but I was happy that I had made the effort.

by Leonie Andrews

Landscape

The weather today was sunny and warm, 15 degrees C, for winter that is. On our bike ride around Lake Tuggeranong we stopped and enjoyed the view back towards Mt Taylor.

Mt Taylor from Lake Tuggeranong, 12 July 2013

Mt Taylor from Lake Tuggeranong, 12 July 2013

I used my tablet for the drawing and found the finer ‘pen’ settings to be quite effective.