I’m continuing on with my new approach to sketching with a flat brush, just to change things up a bit.
I also finally found the time to sketch from the upstairs gallery of one of our local shopping malls looking out to the view outside.
Getting set up with obligatory coffee and pistachio biscuit
I didn’t manage to snaffle one of the window tables, but sitting back from the window probably gave me a more expansive view of the structures outside the window.
First strokes, I could have stopped hereFinished sketch including background buildings
That’s all I could fit in before I had to go. Now I want to come back and do more sketching from here.
I’ve mentioned the Zoom get together I have most weeks with art friends. This time I sketched the meeting itself.
I’m testing out some materials I don’t usually work with. I’m using hot press paper – I generally use cold press – and a flat brush, not my regular round brushes.
The Zoom meeting, that’s my partner at the other end of the table. He also works with the same group.
If it’s a less than satisfying result it’s because I’m forgetting that I’m doing this precisely because I need to get some ‘brush miles’ up. Without practice and learning how to use these different techniques, I can’t expect to get consistent results.
At the start of April we caught up with fellow Urban Sketchers from Geelong and the Fleurieu Peninsula, at a roughly halfway between them point, in the rural city of Mt Gambier, South Australia.
Opening night sketching, eating and drinking at one of the local breweries First morning sketch session
There were catching up with friends and making new ones. The sketching was fun because I didn’t sketch much the last time I came here.
Another brewery/cafe in an old woolstoreThe Railway lands was once the station for the city, now gone, instead there is now thriving community parkland with these very symbolic sculpturesThe city is built on limestone formations and there are many sink-hole in the area. This one was famously turned into a park in Victorian times.A tricky angle to capture!The nearby coastline was very dramatic.The Old GaolA controversial new sculpture. A recent court case saw a woman fined for gluing ‘googly’ eyes to it!
Our Sunday ritual of catching up with art friends in the UK and Scotland continues. As we had been out and got back just 10 minutes before our meeting time I decided to simply grab my book and colour pencils and sketch my partner sitting at the other end of the table.
Steve
I really enjoyed the marks I used, but when I sat looking at it the following morning I realised that his head isn’t in proportion with his body. I’m happy with the drawing of both, but they are not quite the right size for each other. Oh well.
My sketches outside Old Parliament House
Earlier that day we’d been out with our local chapter of Urban Sketchers at Old Parliament House. As I have sketched here many times I decided to try and find some different angles to capture.
Sketches up close
Top left is the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, which has been occupying the land across from the front of the Old Parliament since Australia Day 1972. So that means that by the end of this month it will have been there for 54 years.
Bottom left is a view from the building from the Senate Rose gardens. Originally that fence kept the prying eyes of the public out, so the Senators could enjoy some fresh air in privacy.
The right hand page shows the first women to be elected to parliament. Senator (Dame) Dorothy Tangney on the left and (Dame) Enid Lyons, house of Representatives on the right.
These were done with watercolour and in the case of the Tent Embassy, I used pencil.
This is my last sketch of 2025 made on New Year’s eve while going for our ‘long’ walk around a nearby mountain.
I was using my regular tiny book I carry when walking and trying out an exercise from an artist I recently discovered called Orla Stevens *. The idea is to sketch for no more than 10 minutes changing the direction of your marks for each item you draw.
Tree with rocks
Now I know I haven’t nailed this yet, but I was really excited by her very loose approach to sketching. As this is one of our ‘regular’ walks I have drawn from this spot quite a few times already this year.
A broader view from the same location from July 2025, watercolour
I felt quite free to just go for it with this sketch. I certainly plan to do more in the future.
leonieandrews 