August 21, 2015 by Leonie Andrews

Cafe Wednesday combo

Post overseas travel and we are finally getting back to our routines. This week we have made it back to our regular Wednesday cafe. To hang onto that holiday magic just a bit longer I decided to use the Derwent Panoramic book which I won in the final raffle at the Urban Sketchers International Symposium in Singapore. The paper format is 420x 180 mms and weighs in at 165 GSM. This paper is designed for pencil and light watercolour wash.

I wanted to use the extended panorama format to bring a more interesting compositional approach to this very familiar subject. I had in mind the workshop I did on Day 1 with Inma Serrano and Miguel Herranz where we were working on capturing a complex scenes in a series of images on the one page.

At Biginelli’s along with the dinosaur, watercolour and watersoluble graphite, 19 August 2015

I knew I was pushing the paper’s limits with the amount of water I added to the paper, but it seems to have held up quite well to the watercolour, although there was buckling. The elastic strap on the book has helped tame the ‘buckle’ factor. I also intend using this book for pen and ink and brush pen sketches and plan to take it along to some of the other events we attend such as Drawn In and Dr Sketchy where I feel the large format will enable me to make a montage of images. We will see.

PS I’m not sure what the current availability of this book is. I have seen it on offer at various websites, but I couldn’t find it on Derwent’s home page product list. If you want to try this format you might need to get one sooner rather than later.

August 17, 2015 by Leonie Andrews

The bigger pictures

Some of the sketches I did on holidays proved to be too big for my scanner, so its taken some time, not to mention a bit of fiddling in photoshop to get them to a state where I can post them.

Here are three drawn in Thailand in date order.

The Reclining Budhha, Ayutthaya, Thailand, watercolour, 30 July 2015

Remains of the Palace Ayutthaya, watercolour and graphite, 30 July 2015

Inside the Grand Palace Bangkok, pen and ink 2 August 2015

August 13, 2015 by Leonie Andrews

… meanwhile back at the ranch

So here we are back home after our fantastic holiday and the question is how to keep up the drawing momentum and not forget the lessons we learned at the Urban Sketchers symposium. OK we all know the answer, just keep drawing!

Last Sunday we took off down to the edge of Lake Burley-Griffin to draw in the warm winter sunshine. I selected the High Court, with the flags of the world in front and just a bit of the fairly-recently opened NGA Contemporary gallery.

NGA Contemporary and the High Court, watercolour and brush pen, 9 August 2015

Drawing landscapes is what I like doing, drawing people is my weak spot. Now it’s back to the cafes with a purpose. I aim to make at least one and preferably several sketches, each time I’m having my coffee. I’ve also realised that our pub trivia venue is a good place to capture faces and figures as people tend to sit still, or at least still-er while the quiz is underway. There’s only one ‘ax-murderer’ in this lot – I must be learning something!

Some faces at last week’s pub quiz, pen and ink and brush pen, 11 August 2015

We also came back from Singapore groaning under the weight of new art supplies. Not only were the symposium sponsors extremely generous (thanks to Moleskine, Leuchtturm, Creatacolor, Caran D’Ache, Pen Up, Shop Oryx, ShinHanart, Super5, Stillman & Birn, Art Friend, Worther, Arters, Straits Arts, Bynd Artisan and Laloran); we bought lots of supplies at Art Friend and the small but beautifully formed Straits Arts (so much cheaper than in Australia); and we also scored some great prizes in the mega raffle. To add to the haul I also received a very delayed parcel of art supplies from a local supplier in my mail when I got home!

One of our purchases in Singapore was lots of empty half-pans (only to find another 50 in my parcel on my return!). My partner has also been on the lookout for some small metal tins, to make some very compact watercolour sets, (Altoids not being commonly around in Australia). Anyway, we found these tins in Bangkok and they are just right for 9 half pans. At 5 cms x 7.5 cms they are very compact. Given that one of the prizes my partner scored was a set of 32 tubes of watercolour paint we have almost endless colour options to choose from.

Home made compact watercolour set

August 12, 2015 by Leonie Andrews

On the street in Chinatown

We loved the quirkiness of our new hotel, not to mention the free wifi. But what turned out to be one of its greatest assets was the bar area at the front of the hotel which was open to the street. We could sit here and sketch in comfort with a cup of coffee or a glass of something stronger by our side. It was also a great place to meet people, including the three other sketchers who had been in Singapore at the Symposium, and were staying at the hotel as well.

The phone box outside our hotel, 29 July, watercolour, pen and ink

In the lanes around the hotel were many vendors selling just about everything from coffins to fresh fruit.

Apple stalls in Thanon Mangkon, Chainatown, Bangkok, 29 July 2015, watercolour, brush pen and ink

I’m not sure of how the street stall system works in Bangkok, but people clearly had their ‘regular’ position. This was the vendor selling roast chestnuts out the front of the hotel.

The roast chestnut stall, Chinatown, Yaowarat St, Bangkok, 30 July 2015

I really loved being able to just sit and enjoy watching the people passing on the street and on Friday night the joint was really jumping. It was also raining heavily so while the kitchen was under cover,

Kitchen under the umbrellas, Chinatown Bangkok

the wait staff just had to improvise!

Quick and easy rain hats, Chinatown style! Bangkok

August 10, 2015 by Leonie Andrews

Arriving in Bangkok

After a fantastic time in Singapore we flew the short distance to Bangkok, for our first stay in Thailand. First stop was the luxurious Metropolitan Hotel, where we had our special treat of a package that included dinner at David Thompson’s Nahm restaurant. We also enjoyed the large pool from where I sketched the view looking towards the restaurant and the lush gardens bordering the property. We even saw a squirrel running along the powerline as we lay back on the pool deck.

Looking towards Nahm restaurant from the pool deck, Metropolitan Hotel Bangkok

We also enjoyed breakfast which I had to sketch quickly before devouring. The colour came later on.

Breakfast at Glow, Waffles with mango and passionfruit curd

And I had to do it all again the next morning!

Breakfast at Glow, Pumpkin and buckwheat pancakes with papaya nectar and orange and cashew nut paste

But all this luxe living had to come to an end. We moved to a smaller boutique hotel in Chinatown, appropriately named Shanghai Mansion. The hotel evokes 1930’s in Shanghai and was wonderfully atmospheric and a great location to enjoy the other aspect of Bangkok that we had come to explore, which was it’s street food and street life.

leonieandrews

Tag / watercolour