Sketching along the Bass Coast

Here are sketches from a short break along the rugged Bass Coast (in the Gippsland region east of Melbourne city). 

It was Monday, a public holiday for Labour Day. Going by the line of cars returning to the city, we expected things to be quiet along the coast. 

Lunch at the seaside township of  San Remo?  TOO CROWDED! On to the next town of Wonthaggi – EVERYTHING SHUT (it's inland and dull). On to Inverloch (a very popular seaside town on the coast). BUSY but we found a parking spot...and a pie shop.

Here's a typical Gippsland country scene – a view of a barn on farmland. The sun was going down and the vegetation was just silhouettes.  I had a lot of time here. Hatching can be meditative and just about used up my marker pen!

Snakes brought a bit of excitement to my trip. While I was sketching the scenery, swimmers still wrapped in their towels had to make a detour outside the restaurant I was eating at. Here's the sketch done "in the moment". 

A snake catcher came and caught one to cheers from the diners in the restaurant. Next morning I met and sketched the snake catcher who had come back to look for more snakes. They are Copperheads and venomous!

The snake catcher looked like a Crocodile Dundee with his leather hat, thick gloves in a back pocket, special pole contraption with pincers at the end and a long net.

The next few sketchers were done along the rugged Bass Coast from Inverloch heading back to San Remo. 

Looking back towards Inverloch. 

Bright daisy-like flowers growing near the beach.

Sketching from the car. A rock formation called Eagles Nest.

Looking back to Eagles Nest.

Having lunch in the park back in San Remo. This is the bridge that takes you across to the popular Phillip Island. 

These sketches were done in my Moleskine Sketchbook. I'd only ever used dry media for this sketchbook in the past. This time I added watercolour to the first sketch above as an experiment and was surprised that I liked the effect. No buckling and no seeping through to the next page. The colours appear pale though, they seep into the buff coloured paper very quickly so it's not so good for wet-on-wet effects, quite a different feel to my usual Moleskine Watercolour Journal. 

These sketches were all done on location but colour was added some on location, some later.


#FaberCastellPittPen, watercolour, #Moleskine Sketchbook, 3.5" x 5.5” 
#Basscoast #Inverloch