Cruden Farm in Langwarrin, east of Melbourne is no longer a farm as such, just lovely gardens open to the public. It was the private home of the philanthropist Dame Elizabeth Murdoch who in 1928 at aged 19 was given the property by her new husband Keith Murdoch (of the famous newspaper family) as a wedding present. While they were away for a long holiday he engaged builders and Edna Walling, a renowned woman landscape designer of the day to overhaul the place. Elizabeth disliked the ostentatious renovations and spent the rest of her long life (she lived till 103) adapting the property to her liking. She lived there for 80 years (they had a city home as well) and in the early days the farm supplied food for the family. Today it's not ostentatious at all, just absolutely lovely!
This was the March bus trip of Casey U3A's Social Adventures group. As an inveterate sketcher I of course had my sketch tools with me but on this day I was remembering to be restrained. I sketched the group over lunch (a good way to learn the names of everyone) but only allowed myself half an hour of solo sketching. There is no cafe at Cruden Farm so our group had a picnic lunch under one of the many enormous shady trees.
I started a sketch of the famous driveway of 100 lemon scented gums but due to the lack of time had to finish it at home from a reference photo. From the differing ages of the gums along the driveway, new gum trees must have been planted to replace the ones destroyed by a devastating bush fire in 1944. Luckily the house was spared from the fire.
So much to explore, three hours was too short. Here are a few more photos.
The front of the house with an impressive Macedon Oak (a special hybrid of a Pin Oak) which doesn't shed its leaves at the same time as other oaks.
Side of the house.
Stables.
Sketches when done on-location (or at least partially done on-location) assure a freshness and looseness that is hard to achieve when the art is done from a photo at home. The scent from the gums was unexpectedly strong, like citronella! Sketches done on-location also carry with them a memory of a place and time that remain long with the artist after the sketch is done.
It was a good day!
#Sailorfude pen, watercolour, #SeawhiteTravelJournal 5.5" x 5.5".
#CaseyU3A
Cruden Farm: https://www.crudenfarm.com.au/
More on the hybrid Macedon Oak:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JtXn7FGREk&t=668s
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