Category Archives: Fitzroy gardens

Sketching in Fitzroy Gardens

Today I sketched with a friend and her 12 year old grand daughter in Fitzroy Gardens. We are three people who love to draw. Not everyone is as fortunate as me to have the time and opportunity to draw. So it is always special to spend time with other people who do. We each had different styles and approaches. I feel that it is so important to encourage young people and anyone to draw, especially if they show an interest. 

Colours

Grass Green

Chrome Oxide Green

Earth Green

Hookers Green (it is too bright. I am going back to Derwent Mineral Green)

I love a combination of a sketch on location and then finer details of smaller objects. This works for travel sketching, as I will have a ticket, or souvenir (or leaf) that I can sketch at home. Trying to capture the autumnal colours that are coming through after our late summer. A sunny 26 degrees today. Perfect for outdoor sketching.

I also used a lot of Light Chrome Yellow, Light Yellow Ochre and Bistre ( a new colour in my pencils, replacing Raw Umber, which had too much yellow in it).

A combination of old and new, looking through trees to a modern building in Clarendon Street.

A family picnic across the park. I am not sure if I am finished yet. Maybe some more colour and detail. Alternatively I may move onto my next project……

All in watercolour pencil and also Lamy Safari Joy ink pen in Moleskine Watercolour sketchbook.

MRBW Day 3

 

Melbourne Rare Book Week hosted six events today. Some were at the same times, so I had to make a choice about which ones to attend and sketch at. The decision was made easily, as one, A Walk on the Mean Streets, was going to have more sketching potential than the others.

The day began at the Rare Book Discovery Day at Melbourne Museum. It was an opportunity for people to bring along their books, maps and prints to this Antiques Roadshow-style event for discussion and informal appraisals from a panel of leading antiquarian booksellers. I arrived when they opened the doors and sat behind the appraisers.

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I immediately realised that my ink pen was empty so I sketched in watercolour pencil. Instead of a quick sketch I stayed there for about an hour, drawing the appraisers first and then adding some people who had bought books along. I was pleased when a family arrived with a stack of books . I had a wonderful time watching, listening to the interesting conversations and sketching.

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After rushing home to refill my ink pen I went back into the city for A Walk on the Mean Streets. I knew in advance that the two presenters were dressing in period costume, which is why I wanted to attend this event. We had a perfect winters day – clear blue sky and sunshine.

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This walk was hosted by Dr. Lucy Sussex, an expert on Australian detective fiction, accompanied by Professor Chris Browne. We walked for two hours, stopping at some of the sites of Melbourne featured in the books of Fergus Hume, the author of The Mystery of a Hansom Cab.

 

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The walk finished at East Melbourne Library biscuits and coffee and with an interview with the ghost of Fergus Hume. We also viewed some early editions of the Mystery of Hansom cab and related titles and learned more about the publishing history.

 

Pacific Black Duck – Australia


Fitzroy Gardens , Melbourne

I am fortunate that the first part of my walk to work in Melbourne city is through the beautiful Fitzroy Gardens, with its traditional English plantings and ponds. I have discovered here are a few families of birds that live there : two Australian wood duck families, one with ducklings that are just past their fluffy stage,  peewees (mudlark), a kookaburra and magpies, crows and my favourite duck…


the Pacific Black Duck.
 
I liked the descriptions online that call it a sociable and a dabbling duck.  
 
The Pacific Black Duck is found in all but the most arid regions of Australia. Outside Australia, its range extends throughout the Pacific region. The Pacific Black Duck is one of the most versatile of the Australian ducks. It frequents all types of water, from isolated forest pools to tidal mudflats. The Pacific Black Duck is closely related to the Mallard (Source  http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Anas-superciliosa)


 

 

 

I know where to find them by the pond and how close I can get to them on land before they dive into the water. The more I draw them the more familiar I become with the shape of their body and head – the curves and subtleties that give them their form and character.

 
I also know immediately which colour of watercolour pencils (Walnut Brown. Burnt Umber and Ivory mixed with a little Yellow) to use to draw them. I can pick the colours out of my pencil wrap and start straight away !
 
 
 
It has a dark body, and a paler head with a dark crown and facial stripes. There is an iridescent green patch on the wing. This is when the Derwent Inktense Teal Green comes out of the box !