Hello,
I hope you are enjoying blue skies and your neighbourhood architecture.
I did another sketch of the same Queenslander in Noosa, Queensland, but this time I stood on the side of the road instead of standing in the middle of the cul-de-sac. Standing and drawing brings an additional level of difficulty to the exercise.
I hope that different perspectives are adding interest to your day.
Cheers, from Patricia (PJ) Hopwood-Wade
There aren’t many Queenslanders left in Noosa, Queensland, so when I spotted this one, I wanted to try to draw it.
Queenslanders can be traced back to the 1850s and were developed as a response to the humid, sub-tropical Queensland climate rather than a singular architectural style. The raised house helped with air circulation, cooling and helped keep the house safe during flooding. Another iconic feature of Queenslander homes, are the wrap around verandas that allow protection from sun and rain, help with air circulation, and provide an opportunity for indoor/outdoor living, not to mention that it looks beautiful. https://www.thespruce.com/what-is-a-queenslander-house-5186385
I hope skies are blue wherever you are.
Cheers, from Patricia Hopwood-Wade
I drew, on-location, a cottage on Park Street, Lindisfarne, a suburb of Hobart on the eastern side of the Derwent River.
Just around the corner from this cottage, is a great view of the Tasman Bridge and kunanyi (Mt Wellington).
The importance of this bridge to Hobartians was accentuated a couple days ago when a truck rolled onto its side on the bridge and blocked traffic from both directions for hours. This one incident brought all of Hobart’s traffic to a stand still. What a mess!
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-17/tasman-bridge-truck-rollover-hobart-traffic/101861572
I hope that you are all travelling well.
Cheers from Patricia (PJ)
A late invite to do some urban sketching this morning, resulted in drawing this grand old house, named QUEENSGRADE.
It was partially drawn and painted on location and finished at home. The gusty winds almost blew me and my stool over!
I hope the weather is more settled where you are.
Take care, from PJ Paintings
My sketch of cottages on Lochner Street, North Hobart, Tasmania.
I situated myself on the other side of the street to draw these.
Hobart is lucky to have so many gorgeous cottages to sketch.
I hope that you have a chance to enjoy quaint houses, picket fences and gardens.
Warmest regards, from Patricia (PJ)
Today, I met up with a couple of friends to do some urban sketching on Napoleon Street, Battery Point, in Tasmania.
Battery Point was originally settled in 1804. In 1811, land grants were given to free settlers and farms were established. By 1814, several farms were located in the area. In 1818, a battery of guns, called the Mulgrave Battery, were placed on the southern side of the point as part of the coastal defences on the deep water port established at Hobart Town. Battery Point derived its name from the installations of guns at this site https://www.ourtasmania.com.au/hobart/battery-pt.html
I get my art prints printed on 310gsm A-2 sized watercolour print-paper. When I trim my prints, I often have offcuts and this pile is getting quite tall. I thought I would see if it could be used for urban sketching. It worked quite well but I will have to adjust my painting technique because it is absorbent and the paper bleeds when you apply extra watery paint, as I discovered when I painted the chimney.
I then felt forced to add blue sky to try to disguise the chimney-bleeding.
The couple hours flew by and it was time to pack up the paints, move the cars from their two-hour parking limit and enjoy a hot cuppa.
The paper has potential, so I will keep experimenting with it.
Wishing everybody a great weekend.
Cheers, from Patricia (PJ)
We’re off to Melbourne.
After arriving on Friday, we wandered around and settled for a bite to eat in one of the laneways in the city. This was our view from our eating spot.
The next day started by a visit to the South Melbourne Market and then exploring St Kilda, including this cool community garden.
The visit to St. Kilda ended with sketching a duplex that caught my eye on Park Street. I love the roofline decorative tiles so many of the older houses have in this area. On Park Street itself, there were quite a few raised garden beds in front of houses.
Sunday morning, we viewed the amazing Picasso exhibition https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/the-picasso-century/
Two of Picasso’s paintings of his first wife, Olga Khokhlova. Despite the Spanish flavour of the 1917 painting, Olga is from Russia, a ballet dancer, with Ukrainian origins. I find it interesting that she is depicted with quite big hands and feet in the first painting. From 1919 to 1929, Olga received over 500 letters from her mother and sister, whom she didn’t see.
These are only a fraction of the paintings on display. After the exhibition, we found a spot to sketch the renowned Flinders Station. I was settling nicely into the zone, then the rain disturbed my happy space.
My weekend in Melbourne finished with the fairy tale magic of Cinderella.
Trust that your week is is travelling along magically.
cheers, Patricia
I felt so inspired and motivated when I left the house but once I arrived at our monthly Hobart urban sketch meet, the inspiration had exited somewhere along the way. I wandered around looking and discounting buildings: too complicated, will take too long, too exposed to the wind, too cold, no where to sit and more excuses were applied to the various sites under consideration.
I finally settled on drawing the entrance of the newly opened hotel on Murray Street, in the city. I drew it standing up with my book awkwardly balancing on my open left hand. The unsteadiness of the book contributed to looseness and wobbliness of the lines. Usually I avoid including cars, but because this one was blocking part of the view of the entrance, I felt compelled to attempt drawing it.
Wishing you an inspiring week.
Cheers, from Patricia (PJ)
There’s a house in Lenah Valley, Tasmania that I am drawn to (and therefore draw) lol. It’s a house that says draw-me, draw-me, so I did, again.
My latest drawing of the house:
I decided that I really wanted the umbrella to stand out this time.
Here’s a drawing of the house I did earlier in the year.
Photo of the house from where it was drawn.
Is there a house or building that says “draw-me” when you see it?
Take care and wishing you happy drawing times.
Cheers, from PJ Paintings
It is winter, so it’s not surprising that the few days I spent in Canberra were wet and wintery. As a consequence, I didn’t do as many sketches as I had hoped.
The highlight of my trip was visiting the National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum of Australia. I attempted to sketch the geometrical sculptures of the museum.
The roofline includes some silver looking tiles with braille. It is a curious sight because nobody is tall enough to be able to read as braille is designed to be read.
My friend and I wondered what was written. We googled it and found quite the story behind these braille tiles!
“Sorry” was written in braille several times as well as “Resurrection city”, a reference to a 1968 civil rights protest in Washington DC. Other messages were: “God knows”, “She’ll be right”, “Mate”, “Who is my neighbour?”, “Time will tell”, “Good as gold” and “Love is blind”.
Howard Raggatt, the architect, said that he chose the politically provocative word, “sorry”, as a personal protest against the Howard government’s unwillingness to apologise to the aboriginal Stolen Generations of Australia.
Not even the museum director knew what the braille characters were. Raggatt nearly got away with it, until an eagle-eyed engineer decoded the writing on the wall just before the building was due to open in March 2001.
The reaction was explosive, he said. “Ballistic is an understatement — they were just beside themselves with anger,” he said. The Howard government was livid and insisted that the braille panels were removed. But he refused, instead offering up a compromise. He suggested installing metal discs across the panels. He got the last laugh though as some of the ‘sorry’ panels survived the purge, and have been there all along, for 20 years. “We censored enough for people to be happy with it,” he said. “I don’t know that anyone checked up on us, and we may not have been as thorough as we should’ve been.”
I sketched the interior of the apartment we stayed at. I drew this standing up and drew it all with an Artline pen, with no initial pencil lines, and then added watercolour paint.
We tried a few of the cafe’s around the apartment. This was the view from one of the cafe’s that I tried to sketch.
I didn’t finish the sketch because it just about did my head in.
We had a short wander through the botanical garden.
Then it was back home to Tasmania.
Cheers, Patricia (PJ)
The Unfurling Artist: journalising creative journeying 