I went to Melbourne to visit my four sketchbooks I had entered in the Sketchbook Project. Read all about it here. They were on tour in Australia from 1- 9 November. I visited with friends on the final day in the final hours. They had to kick us out. http://www.alissaduke.com/p/sketchbook-project.html
But my Melbourne adventure started from the moment I left work on Friday, and arrived at the airport to find my plane delayed an hour. Sketching time !!!
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| baggage on the tarmac |
and then on the plane
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| passengers on the plane |
On arrival in Melbourne there was time for iconic sights as well as the iconic Melbourne weather (four seasons in one day !) Sydney does not have trams, so I was determined to draw one while I was here. I looked for the classic yellow and green trams, only to discover that they did not go down the street I was on – just very old grey trams and ones with flashy advertising
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| Skybus from the airport and a Melbourne tram |
How could I not sketch the Flinders Street Station ?- a stunningly beautiful building
The rain has an interesting effect on watercolour paper and watercolour pencils.
I spent a very long time on the pencil set up. We each considered whether to add colour tour pages. I sort off wish I had not. It would have been difficult in warm, dry weather on a dry day as I could but find the right combination of colour. But added challenge of damp changed the way colours and lines reacted. In the end it actually stopped me from being fussy about the result, as it was so uncontrollable.
Were those Melbourne sketchers testing me with the weather elements or was I testing them??? Either way, we all passed!
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| Sketching in the rain just sketching in the rain, a Glorious feeling I’m happy again. Kym & Evelyn
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Then the rain got heavier, we decided we were cold and went to find lunch !
and then to The Sketchbook Project exhibition at the Victorian College of Arts.
Fabulous concept, amazing books ,wonderful atmosphere and the creative juices are flowing !!! We shared the books we borrowed and got to see a lot of books made by other Australian Sketchbook Project entrants of all ages.
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| with Evelyn & Kym |
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| Halina, Louise & I browsing through my Paris travelogue sketchbook. The sketchbook is based on the holiday I took with them in 2007, so we were reliving our holiday |
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| sketching the Sketchbook Project |
the next day it was cold , but not raining! the famous coffee shops of Melbourne laneways beckoned. I was talking to much to draw more than my coffee, and even then it was cold.
Sounds like it was a wonderful weekend! We sure did put on our best wintry weather for you on Saturday – sorry about that! But you got a lot of sketching done and I admire your tenacity, sketching in the rain. (I think I’m too soft for that!). I really love your City Baths pages and the way you have partially applied colour. Wonderful! And how great was the Sketchbook Project experience?! Great Melbourne sketchbook pages! Hope to catch up with you next time. x
Thanks Jodi. I was in Melbourne for less than 48 hours and managed to fit in so much art and culture. It was great to meet with other sketchers and have “waiting time” and free time to draw your lovely city. I hope to sketch with you next time
Hi Alissa, great post, I love your sketch of the plane at the airport. Wish I could have made it down to see all the sketchbooks it would have been easy to get lost in there for hours.
Hi Shantele. I have been fortunate enough to catch lots of local flights over the past few years and so have been practicing drawing planes a lot.
We could have stayed all day at the Sketchbook project browsing though all those wonderful and creative books.
Great sketches Alissa! Sounds like you had an enjoyable creative weekend, despite the rain!