Cruden Farm (second visit)

A timely visit to Cruden Farm after watching Episode 1 of the documentary The Murdoch Empire. This is the main house at Cruden Farm in Langwarrin, east of Melbourne. It was the childhood weekend home of media mogul Rupert Murdoch. His mother Dame Elizabeth Murdoch spent her long life (she lived till 103) redesigning and maintaining the lovely garden. It is considered one of the most significant gardens in Australia as the initial design was done in 1930 by the renowned woman landscape designer of the day Edna Walling and the estate still maintains many interesting features from that time. The giant tree in front of the house is a magnificent hybrid oak, a cross between a Pin Oak and a Macedon Oak. It is known by the Cruden Farm gardeners as the Laughing Oak as it sheds its leaves at a different time from other oaks.

To read a post on my first visit to Cruden Farm click here: 

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

Pioneers Park

After the coldest start to April in umpteen years, I wasn't expecting to feel hot sketching in Pioneers Park, Berwick. I don't know what trees these are but they are pruned hard each year and look cute as they start to sprout.

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

Garden Moves

It’s been 5 months since I added anything to my Garden Sketch Journal! I think our potted plants need to be featured so here’s two sketches which also takes me to the end of this sketchbook dedicated to my garden which I started in October 2021!

Our ferns and Elephants Ears are doing so well after we moved them to the shady side of the deck last winter. 

Moving the potted Mona Lavender and the Curry Leaf Tree to where we can see them from indoors has given me much pleasure. The Blood Leaf plant (given to me by my friend Carmen) is now three plants!

#Sailorfude pen, watercolour,#Stillman&Birn Beta Sketchbook, 5.5”x 8.5”.

One Price Store

I was trying out a few new techniques here – painting in the shadow areas first instead of the usual method of doing them last, using more water in a wash at the bottom to give some variation in paint thickness and leaving some of the sketch unpainted. The shadow areas needed to be much darker than I had anticipated so they required a couple of layers of paint. The thin wash areas at the bottom ended up somewhat insipid and timid but I liked the unpainted right side of the sketch. So all in all, mixed success. 

This is One Price Store, Emerald Hill, one of my favourite places in Singapore. I have sketched this building on-location twice before but this is a virtual sketch from Google Maps.

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

Loveridge Walk

This is Loveridge Walk, Berwick from the south end. That's a big clump of bamboo on the right. The lane is named after the Loveridge family who opened a hardware store in adjoining Peel Street in 1888. The store moved to nearby High St, Wilson St and then Kangan Drive before like many other independent stores, the Loveridges decided to close its doors. Their garden supply section continued for some time after making them an institution in the area for 120 years. That big W in the background of my sketch is the Woolworths supermarket. 

 

This was a problematic sketch – sitting on an uncomfortable sloping street bench required a delicate balancing act of board, sketchbook and paints on my knee. I got yellow paint on my fingers which transferred to the page and then it started to rain! 

The afternoon was saved by a sketcher friend who walked by and stopped for a nice chat.

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

Cruden Farm

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

The Berwick Inn

The Berwick Inn (in the outer Melbourne suburb of Berwick) dates back to 1857. I don’t know when these trees were planted but Casey Council is planning to remove them. Apparently they are diseased...? That big TAB sign post should never have been allowed and now there's talk of replacing it with a neon version! All this despite public protests.

I did most of the sketch on Thursday but went back the next day to add some finishing touches. This is always risky as I then tend to overwork the sketch which I did.  Being out sketching did give me the opportunity to "calm my soul" while I waited for news of my spouse who was in hospital for a procedure. Glad to say he came through it successfully and was home the next day. 

I will sketch the older section of the Berwick Inn next time.

#Sailorfude pen, watercolour, #Stillman&Birn Beta Sketchbook, 7.5”x 7.5”.  #UrbanSketchers #BerwickInn