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”

Which are the Family Heirlooms!?

Recently I started a project to take a sketch journey through our home. I've started to sketch things in my shelves so my children will know the stories behind them. Some items have little significance but others are family heirlooms.

Here's a few:

#Sailorfude pen, watercolour, homemade concertina sketchbook, 7 1/2" x 21".

A Little Indulgence in the Time of Covid Lockdown

 Now during our second Covid lockdown, the Melbourne Urban Sketchers' group has set a fortnightly challenge for it's members. The current challenge is to choose an old sketch and sketch the same scene again (from life) to see what may have changed. 

Here's my second sketch of an old scene. During the first lockdown a little indulgence was allowed. Now during our second (and more severe) lockdown the same can be said!

It just so happened that everything was yellow or orange in colour!

Here's the earlier sketch of the same part of my kitchen done 2 months ago. 

Top sketch: #Sailorfude pen, watercolour, #MoleskineWatercolourAlbum 5x8” 

Bottom sketch: Marker pens, #Moleskinesketchbook 3.5”x5.5”

#USk_ApartYetTogether

Room with a View

In the excitement to understand my new sketchbook last month (a Stillman & Birn Zeta), I completely forgot to post the sketch – a view into our neighbour's backyard on a gloomy winter afternoon. 

I miss our neighbour who passed away last year, he was 96, a WWII veteran. He used to give us lemons from a tree (just behind the fence). Once Sharna climbed the fence and helped herself! We now have a new neighbour, hopefully he will supply us with lemons too. 

In the distance is Wilson Hill one of the locations used in the filming of the 1959 movie “On the Beach” starring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner! Behind that hill is Wilson Botanic Park, a former old quarry. The park is used for fossil studies and was thought to once lie below the ocean. 

I've used an S&B Alpha Sketchbook and a Beta but as to thoughts on the Zeta...I'll reserve judgment until I get a better feel for it. All I can say is that despite being described as being like Hot Press watercolour paper it is not a substitute for Fabriano Hot Press which I just love. 

I do however like that this new sketchbook is my favourite shape – SQUARE!


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

#VirtualSketch

I didn't think I would be interested in participating in the  #VirtualSketch Facebook group activities but I must say I got hooked. It's been an easy way to find something interesting to sketch and more importantly to see how other people tackle the same scenes. 

It's easier to sketch from life than from a Google Maps image. Often I can't position myself where I get a good view. I only participated in a few virtual sketchmeets but being pushed out of my comfort zone each time has been truly stimulating. 

The group's activities ended on 15th July 2020 after the mammoth task of organization by the host Anne Rose Oosterbaan (with help from 65 members) who organized a sketchmeet every day with links to a dozen or so locations in each city. 

Sketchers were invited to sketch from Google Maps using these links (not from photos) and share their work at the end of the approximately 24 hour period (to accommodate the various time zones of participants around the world). 

A total of more than 130 virtual sketchmeets were organized since the Covid Pandemic hit. With 3,400 members it was a herculean task for the organizers. From 16th July the baton has been passed to another Facebook group – #VirtualTravelSketch! I guess I will now be travelling with them!

Here are some of my sketches with some corresponding Google Map images. 

Wat Phra Kaew, Bankok.

Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo.

Witches Market, La Paz, Bolivia.

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen.

Piazza Dell Anfiteatro, Lucca, Italy.

Ubud, Indonesia.

Unexpectedly, these sketches ended up less sketch-like than the usual quick sketches I do in sketchbooks. Maybe it was a psychological thing ie. thinking I had to be more careful as these were done on good watercolour paper (A4). More importantly I had a lot of time in which to do them. I worked slowly on these, correcting and attempting to work through problems.

These exercises gave me the opportunity to compare a couple of watercolour papers. The last (Ubud) sketch was done on Bockingford Cold Press (textured) and the rest on Fabriano Hot Press (smooth). It's hard to describe in words but both take paint rather differently. Both handle wet on wet well. The Fabriano Hot Press takes longer to dry if you wish to layer. For pen and wash I would probably go for the Hot Press because the pen just glides over this smooth paper. 

One important thing I learnt from doing these is that when art work is done on sheets of paper (as opposed to using a sketchbook) it's the cropping that makes all the difference. When using a sketchbook the whole page (usually) forms the artwork and it's the page layout that is important.

Different pens were used for the above sketches –  Sailor Fude, Lamy and Faber Castell Pitt marker pens. 

Jiak Chuan Road, Singapore

In this time of pandemic, Virtual Sketchmeets (using Google Maps) has become popular for Urban Sketchers who can't organize their usual group sketchmeets. I have decided to use this practice to revisit and do a virtual sketch of places of significance in my life. My sketches will be accompanied by a personal photo (or two) taken at the site!

As he was never mentioned when I was growing up, I assumed that my great grandfather Tan Jiak Chuan (my father's ancestor) was a non entity compared to his cousin Tan Jiak Kim and their grandfather Tan Kim Seng who both made the history books as entrepreneurs and philanthropists. 

It was therefore quite a surprise when walking in Chinatown, Singapore a few years ago to come across a road named after him – Jiak Chuan Road!  According to Wikipedia, he was responsible for carrying on the work of his grandfather's business Kim Seng and Company which dealt with planting and mining. (I'm relieved to learn from a book on Tan Kim Seng that he did not make his fortune in the opium trade!).

The houses on Jiak Chuan Road are not particularly interesting, housing a budget hotel and shophouses. (I'm told that there is now a Spanish restaurant along there). It had an infamous past when it was part of a red light district in the area. 

I've chosen to sketch a temple on Teck Lim Road seen from the end of Jiak Chuan Road where my photo was taken in 2016. 

Here's a link to a newspaper article on his fascinating funeral. He died in 1909 aged 52 from Hyperpyrexia (overheating of the body) after visiting some hot springs! How unlucky!

https://tombs.bukitbrown.org/2020/05/tan-jiak-chuan.html

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

#virtualsketch #virtualsketching #JiakChuanRoad

97 Heeren Street

In this time of pandemic, Virtual Sketchmeets (using Google Maps) has become popular for Urban Sketchers who can't organize their usual group sketchmeets. I have decided to use this practice to revisit and do a virtual sketch of places of significance in my life. My sketches will be accompanied by a personal photo (or two) taken at the site!

In 2007 I visited for the first time the Tan Kim Seng "rumah abu" (Malay for house of ash) in Melaka, Malaysia. As a descendant of Tan Kim Seng it was an emotional experience. He was my great great great grandfather on my paternal grandmother's line.

Tan Kim Seng was a prominent Peranakan Chinese merchant and philanthropist born in 1806. This house at 97 Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock (formerly known as Heeren St) is a long narrow terrace house with a spacious inner courtyard. These houses were built narrow in those days as houses were taxed based on their width!

Number 97 housed large portraits of various members of the Tan clan and several altars for prayers. At the time the house was maintained by a trust (I presume it still is). A caretaker lived on the premises and attended to the required prayers on the anniversaries of the deaths of the various Tan clan members (according to Buddhist rites).

The house was furnished with old style Chinese blackwood furniture. Sadly some members of the management trust looking after the house were Christians who took offence to the carvings on some of the furniture. Feeling that these carvings depicted pagan objects they sawed off the legs of some of the furniture!

I was excited to find the house again on Google Maps. It's the one with a decorative strip below the upstairs windows.

At the time of my visit in 2007 it was pretty run-down but from the present image on Google Maps I see the house has been renovated. The Chinese characters on the windows I'm told are poetic couplets about not forgetting where you come from.

Here's the present Google Map image of the house.

Here's a photo taken during my 2007 visit.

Here's one of the interior in 2007. Like all the houses in the area, it had an inner courtyard open to the sky with the prototypical well. 

Unfortunately I don't know anything about the history of Number 97. Tan Kim Seng himself once lived in a (apparently grand) house at Number 118 Heeren St which is now the renovated Hotel Puri.

Here's a few fascinating links:
Photobook about Heeren Street

Restoration Project at Number 8 Heeren St

Tan Kim Seng

The Peranakan Chinese

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

Porta de Santiago

In this time of pandemic, Virtual Sketchmeets (using Google Maps) has become popular for Urban Sketchers who can't organize their usual group sketchmeets. I have decided to use this practice to revisit and do a virtual sketch of places of significance in my life. My sketches will be accompanied by a personal photo (or two) taken at the site!

This sketch is of the Porta de Santiago in Melaka, Malaysia. It is a small gate house which is the only remaining part of a former fortress called A Formosa. It is one of the oldest surviving remnants of European architecture in SE Asia.

The fortress was built in the 1500s after Alfonso de Alburquerque arrived with his fleet from Portugal. It became part of a string of Portuguese outposts used for trade between Portugal and China. The fortress changed hands in 1641 when the Dutch drove the Portuguese out of Melaka and again in the late 18th century when the Dutch handed it over to the British (apparently to prevent it from falling into the hands of the French!). The fortress was saved from demolition by Stamford Raffles (founder of Singapore) and William Farquhar (ancestor of Justin Trudeau). The latter had been sent to see to the destruction of the fortress but he decided to save two of the gateways one of which is the Porta de Santiago.

On the right of the sketch is St. Paul's Hill with the ruins of St. Paul's Church showing. With it's very old graveyard on the hill, the area had a reputation for being haunted.

I spent the first few years of my life in Melaka when my Singaporean father went to work there. This photo is of me, my brother and our mother on the cannon in front of the gatehouse...a long time ago! 

This next photo is of my father at the site with our trusty green Morris Cowley car. This looks a more recent photo than the one above. 

If collective memory is correct we lived in a row of terrace houses next to the fortress (no signs of this anymore). It seems no one in the family ever saw a ghost.

I see there is now a museum next door to the fortress (left of sketch). I last visited this site while on a family holiday in 2007.

#Sailorfude pen, watercolour, #Stillman&Birn Zeta Sketchbook, 7.5”x 7.5”
#virtualsketch #virtualsketching #Porta de Santiago

52 Brisbane Street

This is the second building in my Hoddle Grid (Berwick) Project – documenting buildings about to be demolished in my neighbourhood. See my January 2020 post for a description of the project. 

This is 52 Brisbane St. For the last 3 years or so it has had a really unkept garden (even when still occupied), all signs of impending demolition. I sketched it a couple of months ago when it was obviously no longer occupied. What interested me most about this property was the expanse of unmowed lawn (covered with a sea of yellow dandelions), so atypical of the neighbourhood...and the view of the hill beyond.

#Sailorfude pen, watercolour, homemade concertina sketchbook, 7 1/2" x 21".
#berwickhoddlegrid #52BrisbaneSt