Sketches From a Trip to the Bass Coast (Part 1)

Due to Covid restrictions, other than visiting family, my spouse and I have hardly left our neighbourhood for 2 years! Getting away for a couple of nights recently felt quite strange!

We headed to Cowes on Phillip Island and I got a quick sketch in over a pie at a bakery. We ate at tables outside surrounded by a group of noisy Arabic speaking seniors on a bus trip. Drops of rain sent everyone scattering. 

The Cowes Jetty was built in 1870 and on this day there was a long line of people heading for a vessel moored at the end of the pier. My sketch was cut short by rain but by then it was time anyway to head to our destination of Inverloch. 

The discovery of a new Malaysian-inspired restaurant (Pearl) on a suburban side street in Inverloch was unexpected and it was the first of some culinary highlights. The restaurant had a "creative" menu (like curry puff filling in house made Rendang flavoured vol-a-vent cases) but all our dishes had authentic Malaysian flavours. What a great dinner! 

This couple next to us were eating twice as much as we were and we didn’t even stay to see if they had dessert as well!

All the sketches on this trip were done on-location but colour, text and embellishments were not done till after we got home.

#travelsketchjournal

#BassCoast

#FaberCastellPittPen, watercolour, #MoleskineWatercolourAlbum, 5x8”

Sketches From a Trip to the Bass Coast (Part 2)

At the Screw Creek Estuary, White Mangrove and salt tolerant plants provide cover for fish in this tidal area. The guy with the fishing rod stopped to chat. He hadn't caught anything that day.

My family has got used to me sketching at mealtimes. It's the time when I'm not rushed (except to make sure I get my fair share of the meal). We’d read excellent reviews of Tomos Japanese Inverloch but it had always been closed for lunch on the previous occasions we’d been to Inverloch. This time it was actually open! Wow! Excellent cooking! Only one waitress who took orders, served the food, attended to bills and takeaway orders but she managed brilliantly! 

Who was going to have the last Baby Tiger prawn!?

Sketching my spouse over coffee at Vaughn's Cafe which by mid afternoon was quite deserted. From their clothes, the people behind him looked like they had just come from some cycling event, they ordered very large cold drinks. 

Lots of time to sketch while waiting for our pizza to arrive at The Bayside Lady. I was struck by the party of 12 diners on one long table. No social distancing anymore! This restaurant had a book swap which made an interesting feature on the back wall.

We took a different route home this time – through the tiny township of Loch. There was not as much there as we had been led to believe. A suspension bridge, a few historical buildings and a couple of cafes and cute shops (including a shop selling ethically sourced products from Nepal!). I was taken by the beds of cottage garden flowers along the main road.

All the sketches on this trip were done on-location but colour, text and embellishments were not done till after we got home. I enjoy very much this latter aspect of travel sketching. It gives me an opportunity to look up more information on each place we visited and to re-live the experiences of the day. Perhaps some of my sketches reflect that time and place, something that's not achievable when drawing and painting from photographs.

#travelsketchjournal

#BassCoast

#FaberCastellPittPen, watercolour, #MoleskineWatercolourAlbum, 5x8”