Magical Forests, Landscapes & Margaret Olley
Talk about magical. Down by the creek in Bangalow was so absolutely stunning, with filtered light streaming across the slow moving water. The reflections were so lovely and just what we had hoped for. Challenging but that’s a good thing. The platypus family live just downstream if you know where to look.
Tweed regional Gallery was another place we sketched this week. Firstly a view looking over the rolling valleys and fields to the lavender coloured craggy ranges of the caldera beyond. The highest of all is Mt Warning, which looks like a face in profile, and so much spiritual meaning for the original inhabitants of this country.
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Rock n Roll and Autumn Scenes
Coolongatta where I was with Urban Sketchers today was beautiful. Tiny cool wind but that’s all. Blue skies and the sounds of rock music pumping. People really dress the part and so many gorgeous frocks with billowing petticoats wandering about as if in another era. Plus dozens of immaculate vintage cars lining
the streets.
So much sketching choice. I did manage to compose a composition with what I could see in front of me. Think it works.
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Teacups Flowers and Boats
Boats are a lovely subject for sketchers. Shape, form, spaces and texture.
Urban Sketchers Gold Coast was at Sanctuary Cove. There must be more million dollar vessels here than anywhere one can think of. All white. All super streamlined.
Luckily there was one classic fishing trawler which I didn’t get back to sketch, but those who did were being given freshly caught prawns. Awww.
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Clouds Skies & Sketch Journaling
We were doing clouds and skies. But looking up we couldn’t help but notice - not a cloud in that blue sky to be seen!
Oh well, I may as well reveal the secret of our clouds. We make them up. We design our own clouds. Shocking don’t you think. No not at all. Because we’ve spent a lot of time since childhood looking up at clouds.
That way we can have any kind of cloud we feel like and pop it into the sketch.
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Greens & Pinks, Seeds & Pods, Rockin' the Blues
Rockin the Blues was about music and we Urban Sketchers deciding our subjects at the ‘Blues on Broadbeach’ festival. It was just wonderful to see so many bands and musicians finally able to perform to huge audiences. Such a lovely day and all of us got a huge variety of subjects and styles. What a wonderful way to spend a day.
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Faces, Greenery, Art Deco and Life Sketching
Back to the studio world of painters, oil paint, charcoal, easels and a seated model. And golly she sat for more than 5 mins - 3 hours in fact. Time is not of the essence here and it took me back to my Julian Ashton days. Although I’m now a sketcher I can enjoy equally the pleasure of just being in moment, surrounded by chat about galleries and paint colours. I’ll be doing this again.
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A little Bit of Perspective, Funny People and Green things
Wednesday is Bangalow day. I’m certain that someone up there knows I’m hitting the road and sends down the rain. Just Wednesdays.
Our group had a really good day anyway, as we started at a cafe, sketching a box. Yes a box. Easy! Not really. It’s perspective.
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Tony Hits Front Page
Juliette Sivertsen is one of Tony McNeight’s Auckland sketch students beavering her way through the Intro to Sketching course. She also happens to be a Travel writer with the NZ Herald.
What she did next was amazing.
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Heritage Facades and Fancy Cakes
We’ve enjoyed a wide variety of sketch subjects this week.
In Bangalow we did a warm up looking at an eye level interior down the room at ButcherBaker Cafe. Not easy but everyone managed to see what goes up and what comes down. I do push people out of their comfort zone at times. But wow what results.
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Sketching as the Seasons Change
Another week of great sketching weather down here in the South Pacific or Oceana as it’s also known.
We are back to meeting in person and in groups and it’s so wonderful.
Somehow everyone is really appreciating something we all took for granted prior to this.
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Let Your Colours Bloom
Watercolour is the medium everyone adores.
For us we take a ‘it doesn’t matter what happens’ approach, and slop one colour over another and leaving heaps of white. We want loose and we let the paint do the work. What happens is called ‘Bloom’. The granular effect is magical when one colour goes over another while still damp.
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French Sketch Picnic Workshops
Oh how lucky we were.
Sunday Morning, blue skies, not too hot and just a little breeze.
We set up under my favourite big shade tree and with our students yet not truly sure they could ever learn to sketch - Maurice served coffee and croissants. Ahh. What a wonderful way to start.
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Back to Sketch Classes Rain or Shine
The first Wednesday of our 6 week Travel Sketching Course.
Our students were very happy to be inside this lovely old heritage building with it’s big spacious cafe, and out of the downpours between sunshine!
Some very inspiring sketches were taking place between sips of tea and coffee.
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Watercolour Sketch Tips for a Rainy Day
This is a perfect exercise for a rainy day when you cannot go out sketching. Get your sketch kit out and follow the Watercolour tips to complete a sketch like this.
Give it a try.
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Sketching Never Stops
Suddenly everyone is traveling. It’s like the cork came out of the bottle.
All the state borders are open here in Australia so now folks can be off visiting family and friends they haven’t seen for ages. And they certainly are.
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Sketching Sketching Everywhere
We’ve been everywhere this week here in Austrlaia.
Gold Coast, Surfers Paradise, Tumbulgum, Newrybar, Watson’s Bay, Mosman and Melbourne.
Take a look at the excellent sketches.
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Sketching with Confidence
Confidence is growing and every week we’re pushing out there a little more. As we say to our students everything we do in classes is designed to teach you how to sketch when you’re on your own or traveling. Always to have an idea of where to start your sketch and start colour.
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Sketching For Pleasure
We sketch for the absolute pleasure of it.
It’s meditative, therapeutic, relaxing, and perfection isn’t required.
Purely our own journey of everyday moments we treasure.
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Sketching in the Rain
Here we are at Week 3 in our Watercolour Sketching Courses. All our classes from this week here in NSW Australia, had a load of rain. But did that bother us? Not at all. Here’s our thinking.
If you were in say Paris, and you had just one day to see the Eiffel Tower, and it was raining buckets - you’d still go. You’d get that magic moment regardless!!
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A Garden Sketch
Sometimes I will post something we’ve sketched in one of our classes, which I think may be helpful to other students
Newrybar is a one street historic village near Bangalow and Byron Bay NSW Australia.
The very environmentally tuned ‘Harvest’ has a wonderful series of old buildings with an award winning restaurant, Deli with mouth watering foods, plus of course their popular Sourdough bread baked daily.
There are bee keeping workshops, yoga rooms, herb and vegetable gardens surrounding below.
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