October 22, 2014October 22, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Shanghai and Suzhou

We’ve moved just up the road from Shanghai to the ‘small’ city of Suzhou (1 million people). Before we left I found a spot on the corner near our hotel at the intersection of Yan’an and Ruijin roads, where the Yan’an elevated roadway passes overhead.

Behind me was a small park, which are surprisingly quite common in the city. A cluster of large cycads caught my attention. I added the watercolour later.

We only have one day in Suzhou. A boat trip on the Grand Canal was followed by a visit to the Master of Nets garden, which was overrun by horticultural students, drawing plans of the gardens and making sktches of the pavilions. I felt like shaking some of them because rather than draw from what was in front of their eyes they were taking a photo then drawing from that!
Anyway here are some extremely quick sketches which I did from the boat.

Last stop of the day for most of the group was the Humble Administrator’s Garden, perhaps the most famous in China. However I arranged with our guide to go instead to the Suzhou Museum, designed by I M Pei, whose family comes from this city. But that story will have to wait for another wifi connection.

October 20, 2014October 20, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

In Shanghai

Yes I am in Shanghai on the first leg of a month long visit to China. I first visited this city 30 years ago and not surprisingly things have changed. The city skyline is unrecognizable, so many high rise buildings and motorways and even a Maglev train to the airport that travels at 431 km per hour, what an experience!

This is the view from our room. I don’t have a scanner so the photos are a bit dodgy!
This is part of a wall in the 500 year old Yu Gardens.

There may not be many posts as the wifi isn’t all that cooperative. We will see.

October 16, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

A little bit of Nookie

Earlier this week, at the Nookie Expresso Bar in the Canberra City centre I had one of the best coffees I’ve had in recent times and also found some fun drawing opportunities.

Firstly this ‘retro’ vibe flouro dinosaur planter.

You know how I like dinosaurs, flouro planter at Nookie, pen and ink, watercolour, 13 October 2014

Next up was an arrangement of water glasses and caraffes, against the pole supporting the roof awning. I used both my waterproof Copic liner and non-waterproof Lamy Safari pento make this drawing.

water glasses and caraffes, at Nookie, pen and ink and wash, 13 october 2014

A day later and another cafe (our regular in Mawson) I drew this stack of chairs, pulled up out of the pouring rain.

Stacks of chairs, pen and ink, 14 October 2014

October 12, 2014October 12, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Rear View

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.

October 8, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Cafe Wednesday 8 October

Two drawings today. The first is my favourite cafe subject, a furled umbrella, drawn using my new Copic 0.5 marker. This has waterproof pigment ink and I have a refill for it which I hope will last the length of my holiday (or perhaps I should just go and buy a second refill).

I love following the folds of a furled umbrella! Copic marker, 8 October 2014

The second is my glass of water and it’s reflections where I used both my Copic marker and my Lamy Safari, whose ink is not waterproof. I wanted to try the combination and I’m pleased with the way I could use the ink to blend and bleed for the darker areas.

Water glass and reflections, Copic marker and pen and ink, 8 October 2014

Here’s a bonus drawing, from coffee with friends last Sunday.

Having coffee, pen and ink, 5 October 2014

leonieandrews

Tag / pen and ink