Cardinia Creek Sketchmeet

24C degrees and sunny made it a nice afternoon for sketching along the creek at the Cardinia Street Nature Reserve with a few U3A sketchers. 

The Cardinia Creek runs from the Cardinia Reservoir into Western Port Bay (quite some distance away). In early settler days the creek was a water source for both travellers and animals as they headed into the goldfields and agricultural areas of Gippsland east of Melbourne city. The creek forms the boundary between the City of Casey and the Shire of Cardinia and is home to much native flora and fauna. 

This stretch of water where we sketched is supposed to be home to platypus but from the number of dogs which came to swim there I'd be surprised if any platypus have stayed.

A sketcher brought her new 10 week old Whippet pup called Stella so I added her to the sketch.

#Sailorfude pen, watercolour, #Stillman&Birn Zeta Sketchbook, 7.5”x 7.5”

Backyards and Over the Fence

 I went to water a neighbour’s tomatoes for him and ended up going back to sketch the scene over his fence. 

Yes that fence was blue! 

I went back yet again and sketched over his fence.  This time looking in another direction. 

There’s short pieces of wood sticking up next to each post. They hold fishing line stretching along the length of the top of the fence. That’s to keep possums from walking along it!

Perhaps this will be the start of a  Backyard and Over the Fence series.

#Sailorfude pen, watercolour, #Fabriano hot press watercolour paper 5.5" x 30".

A Covid Sketch Journal

I kept a sketch journal from March 2002 near the beginning of the Covid pandemic and conveniently finished the 80 pages in late October when Melbourne came out of it's Stage 4 lockdown. 

The journal came to the attention of the State Library of Victoria and I was pleasantly surprised to receive an invitation to donate the journal to the institution. It will become part of the Collective Isolation Project within the Victoria Collection (administered by the State Library of Victoria).

Here are a few of my favourite pages:

To read about my project and see more of my favourite pages, click on the link: https://www.klhnewman.com/covid-journal/

Pen and ink, various markers, watercolour, #MoleskineSketchbook 9x14cm.

Pioneers Park

It was great to be able to sketch away from home again when Covid restrictions were eased. Pioneers Park was well used for exercise and socialising during the Covid pandemic and the locals have continued to enjoy gatherings there even though restrictions on visitors to the home have now been eased. 

Here's a little group enjoying the shade. Those people got up and repositioned themselves 3 times making it difficult to capture them! 

Outdoor dining has been added to cafes and restaurants to increase seating capacity and comply with Covid social distancing requirements. You can see the marquees outside the Primary@Pioneer Cafe in the background of this sketch. 

Here's a panoramic view of Pioneers Park. I still didn’t capture the size of that tree! The large shady area is popular with larger groups of people, usually with table and chairs!

This was sketched with my Casey U3A "Keeping a Sketchbook" class on a lovely warm day. We were all masked and social distanced of course and with just 7 of us it didn't break the 10 person Covid restriction rule.

#Sailorfude pen, watercolour, #MoleskineWatercolourAlbum, 5x8”

#Sailorfude pen, watercolour, #Stillman&Birn Zeta Sketchbook, 7.5”x7.5” 

Out of Lockdown!

 When lockdown eased it was good to be able to visit our son and his family again. We had a satay BBQ to celebrate the visit. Their garden had certainly grown over the 6 months we hadn't been able to visit and we got to meet their new (reluctant) cat Pepper and their 3 new chickens! 

#Sailorfude pen, watercolour, #MoleskineWatercolourAlbum, 5x8”

Hens and Eggs

Our neighbour had a few hens, one of which escaped 3 times! She was a one eyed Polish Hen called Goldie and she had a personality! On each of the 3 occasions she came into our yard and was happily wandering around when we cornered her (with some difficulty) and kept her safe until her owners could pick her up at the end of the day. 

Last August, I just had to sketch the thank you gifts from them – a huge bunch of home grown herbs, an assortment of beautifully coloured eggs from their hens...and of course Goldie. 

PS: Sadly Goldie was killed last week together with a couple of the other hens. The general consensus is that a fox had got into the chicken pen when the gate was accidentally left open. Foxes apparently do live in our outer suburb of the city!

#Sailorfude pen, watercolour, #MoleskineWatercolourAlbum, 5x8”