Mrs Macquarie's Chair

         

Urban sketchers, Sydney, met at Boy Charlton Pool on Saturday for a sketchathon. We had 30 min at each site to sketch.  The work above is of Fort Denison which was a penal and defence site in earlier days.  The governor's wife, Mrs Macquarie  would sit on a chair, carved into the sandstone, and look upon  the harbour including this view.

    

      I sat under a sandstone overhanging rock to sketch this view across a bay towards the governor general's home and the Royal Botannical Gardens.

     

After lunch in the Domain, one last sketch looking towards the Art Gallery of NSW.

It was a beautiful day after many days of rain, greatly enjoyed.

  

Appian Way

                       

The Appian Way, Burwood is a heritage listed street said to be one of the finest streets of federation houses in Australia. 

The developer in the early 20th century had an idea, not of building nice houses and selling them, but of building and then renting them out to wealthy tenants. There are thirty houses of various Federation styles built along an oval shaped street.  In the middle is a green space which originally was a space for tennis, croquet and bowls.  Over years, tennis took over the space and there is a lovely Edwardian Tennis club house there too. The people who own the homes have shares in the tennis club. 

Sydney sketch club had a great afternoon sketching in the Appian Way on the weekend. Above is one of the lovely house and gardens there.

Week Seven at the pub

                              

This is about half the Jazz band, Mortal Blow. They were playing new music this week and there was a bit of discussion and argy bargy going on as they tried to make the sound perfect, everyone interpreting the music their own way. The drummer seemed to be getting into trouble quite a bit.

Two things are constant...The musicians seem to enjoy our sketches and are eager to see what we've done and take photos and...the rain is still coming down.

Cement Works, Glebe

                                  

This busy cement works is in Glebe, very close to the city and on the water across from the fish markets.  Glebe used to have much more industry but now it has been gentrified and is mostly residential.  Cement is in great demand with all the development going on everywhere and this place is humming with activity.

I love to see this type of urban landscape. This was sketched in a rare sunny moment (it seems to have been raining non stop for weeks).

Week five at the pub

   

       

I used a double size (A3) size paper on Monday night to sketch the band. The hotel had removed the billiard table so we could get in closer. Great night!

Week three and four at the pub

                               

Week three at the pub.  Anne started singing this week.

                                   

This is the fourth week at the Lewisham Hotel sketching Mortal Blows Big Band. There are more band members but I couldn't fit them in.  Too much fun!

A couple more FireStations

      

This firestation is in Mascot, a suburb near the airport. The red facade and signage make it a very nice example. 

       

This firestation is in Burwood and is over a hundred years old. It was built in the orchard of

of  the house behind. An addition was built on the front which does cause it to look modern. I like the old fashioned sign on the side.

Beach at Bundeena

         

This is a little beach in the old fishing village of Bundeena.  This charming village is accessed either by driving about half an hour through the national park or by ferry from the mainland at Cronulla.

It was a cooler day on Synday and the water was cool. Great day for a relaxing sketch.

Second night sketching jazz band

                                  

We went back to sketch and enjoy the music of the jazz band, Mortal Blow Big Band at the Lewisham hotel on Monday night. Another great night, music was fantastic.

The piano player bought last week's painting which was lovely.  Below is Riichard who leads the band.

                             

Jazz Band

   

     

A friend and I heard about this jazz band which practices on Monday night at the Lewisham Hotel. On a very, very hot day after work I met Diane to sketch and enjoy the band practice.  The music was fantastic and it was so much fun drawing.  Loved it!

       

       

Chinese New Year

                                      

Urban sketchers met at Chinatown this weekend to sketch the festivities of Chinese New Year, the year of the rooster.

The lanterns overhead were what attracted me to the scene below. While sitting there, the dragon passed by accompanied by drums and the crowds. A great day!

                                       

Independent Theatre, North Sydney

    

This is the Independent Theatre in North Sydney, the oldest Edwardian theatre still in use in Australia.  This building did not always look like this though.  Hard to believe it was originally a tram depot running from 1880 and  closing in 1909.  In 1909 the building received a makeover to make it more appropriate for the building's next use, as the Coliseum Vaudville theatre.  The facade became elaborately detailed and a large iron cupola was installed above, in the Victorian second Empire style. 

In 1914-1918 the building was used as a munition factory but returned to it's cultural use as a theatre again in 1939. It has remained the Independent theatre since then with a private school buying it more recently.

Barangaroo

                                  

A warm morning at Barangaroo today sketching with friends. 

MacDonaldtown railway station

                                 

Sketch club met at Macdonaldtown railway station last weekend.  Macdonaldtown is a charming little suburb between Redfern and Newtown. This station was built in 1892. I am amused by Wikipedia's information saying that in 1986 a local 18 year old boy and his 14 year old brother painted the station pink. They stuck a table, chairs and pot plant (all painted pink) on it  to enhance it' prettiness. The pink seems to be painted over and furniture removed, unfortunately.

Too hot to sketch outside

                                       

Saturday was very hot and humid and a little too warm to go out sketching. First thing in the morning I had taken sheets off the bed and they were in the washing machine when I stopped to admire the light coming through the one partially opened window.  There nothing to be done but sit under the sink in the ensuite to sketch the light.

          

I used the fish eye technique for this fourth living room sketch, this time focusing on the kitchen and dining area.

Nielsen Park

                      

                                         

In the early 20th century  public access to the harbour foreshore was very rare. Things changed when the Vaucluse estate  carved off some of their harbour side property and sold it to the public, thus making Nielsen Park.  There's a lovely Edwardian tearoom and other original buildings dotted through the large property.  There is also what looks like Virgin forest and beautiful views of the harbour. So...it's a wonderful  place and I really enjoyed spending the afternoon there.

                                         

This is the end of the shark netted area. We went for a swim within the shark netted area and it was wonderfully refreshing.

                                          

Sun bathers.

A great time in Nielsen Park and I'm looking forward to another visit. 

More Fire stations

        

The fire station above is in Randwick and all was quiet there today while we sketched.  It was built in 1908 and is in the Arts and Crafts style. It was designed by Goverment architect, Vernon.

          

This fire station in Balmain is fairly early, 1894 and is Victorian. I sketched this on New Year's Eve on quite a hot morning. Love the colour!

            

This interesting fire station is in Glebe.  It was built in 1906 and it, like Randwick, is Arts and Crafts style with the same architect Vernon. I love the walls which splay out.

Interiors

      

                                

During the Christmas break I spent time inside the house particularly in the afternoon on days that were very hot.  The sketch above is looking down the stairs into the dining, living and courtyard.

       

I was playing with perspective with these two sketches, each from opposite sides of the room. The sketch above was done on December 24, some presents ready to open.