A Street Library

 Inspired by Urban Sketchers Nishant Jain (Vancouver) and Leonie Andrews (Canberra), I went back to finish this sketch of a street library in an outer suburb of Melbourne, Australia. It's housed in an old bar fridge with a plastic box on top. I spoke to the owner who told me his street library got featured in an article in the local gazette! He's an artist and the picture on the front of the fridge part is a print of one of his paintings. From the turnover of books it apparently is popular with the neighbourhood.

I had started this sketch a week ago, standing up with my sketchbook on the footpath but due to lack of time and cold I didn't finish it until yesterday afternoon when it was unusually warm and sunny (it has been a very cold winter). This time I took my stool to sit on and finished the sketch in comfort, adding colour from my tiny Art Toolkit palette. Mine is an empty palette filled with my own choice of colours.   

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

A Zygocactus Story

 When we lived in Canada, we enjoyed a display from our Zygocactus plant every December and we knew it there as a Christmas Cactus. Here in the southern hemisphere it blooms in June/July and ours has done well this year. Unfortunately I didn't think of sketching it till this week when the blooms were nearly gone. 

This plant was from an elderly lady who lived a kilometre from us. She gave it to us as a gift for returning her husband's wallet which we had found on our street. (I remember the uncomfortable feeling we had looking through the personal items in the wallet trying to locate an address for the owner). The wife said the wallet must have dropped out from the basket of his motorized scooter as he had dementia and was in the habit of whizzing along too fast down the wrong streets.  

Our Zygocactus has pinky flowers and it's been difficult to match this pink with my current palette of watercolours. Our neighbour has half a dozen different varieties of Zygocactus with blooms ranging from white to pink to mauve. He's going to give me some cuttings!

#Sailorfude pen, watercolour, #Stillman&Birn Beta Sketchbook, 5.5”x8.5”.

Over The Fence

 I've been home much more than usual recovering from my first cataract surgery and waiting for my second. My vision at the moment is far from normal due to having now one new long distance eye and one very shortsighted old eye. Thankfully I can still sketch! 

My new drawings are less precise (sometimes disturbingly so) but perhaps they have more vitality and that's a quality I've long been aiming for!

Add to all this one rather wet cold winter. Born in the tropics, I'm one who hates the cold and trapped indoors what better inspiration than views out the window. 

On a cold dismal afternoon.

I'll add these sketches to my "Backyards and Over the Fence" series.  

This one on a sunny afternoon showing part of our neighbour's house.  Oops! the date should read 02/07/22.

As my field of vision is currently small these sketches are each only approximately 4"x3". 

I don't really worry about what my sketches look like as long as I'm able to still enjoy this pastime which has dominated my life since 2012. 

You can read about my previous "Backyards and Over the Fence" sketches here. 

#Sailorfude pen, watercolour, #Moleskine Sketchbook, 3.5" x 5.5” 

A Magnolia Tree

This is the view of my neighbour’s magnolia tree which is in bud. It's nothing to talk about in winter but every spring it puts on quite a show of large pink flowers! 

I have since learnt that this tree belongs to an ancient group of plants and evolved before bees did. Apparently Magnolia flowers get pollinated by beetles attracted by the fruity fragrance of their large flowers! I’ll certainly be checking this tree out when it’s in bloom!

Marker pens, #Moleskine Sketchbook, 3.5" x 5.5” 

Waiting Room Stories

It’s Covid vaccination booster day at our local GP clinic so it was rather busy. This is our 4th shot, the first two were AstraZeneca and the second two Pfizer. The lady with the handbag between her feet kept moving her hands!

I seem to run into the same people in the ophthalmologist's clinic at each of my check-ups after my recent cataract surgery. 

I had barely a moment to do a very quick sketch of this elderly lady before she was called but I also sketched her 3 weeks ago when I had a bit more time. 

She always wears a very big coat. I don't think it's the same person who comes with her but I'm glad she always has a companion. 

A bit dismal that so many of my sketches at the moment are at medical establishments. Looking forward to better times ahead.

#FaberCastellPittPen, water-soluble pencil, waterbrush, #Moleskine Sketchbook, 3.5" x 5.5”. 

Autumn Garden

 Here's a sketch of our autumn garden.

I usually work in small sketchbooks but with my lopsided vision due to recent cataract surgery I can only draw much larger than usual. I now have one new long distance eye and one old very shortsighted eye and crayons and a Pentel Brush Pen are my current tools of choice. 

The vision impairment I'm experiencing has resulted in more looseness in the drawing than I can usually achieve! Hopefully I can maintain this after I get my other eye corrected in a month's time!

Crayon and Pentel Brush Pen.

A Room with a View

Here's a view from the home of some very old friends. The Dandenong Ranges can be seen in the distance. They are unhappy about an old aged home being built just left of the house shown below.

I'm happy to be able to sketch again after my first cataract surgery 3 weeks ago, albeit with limited and very lopsided vision (one new long distance lens eye and one old very short sighted eye). I like the wonkiness and looseness in this sketch done standing up and holding my A6 sketchbook close up to my face.

The details and darks were added at home from a photo reference.

Brown and black marker pens, #Moleskine Sketchbook, 3.5" x 5.5”.