St Kilda Town hall on a cloudy day

It’s still warm enough to comfortably draw outdoors. It felt like Autumn today…

I used watercolour pencils and watercolour on this piece.

Abbotsford Convent–sketch

A bike ride to Abbotford Convent was complete with breakfast, then drawing thrown into the mix.

Flowers from the farmers’ market

Coffee sketch

I usually have one a day. But sometimes I have 2.

How many do you do a day?

The Queen Mary 2 in Melbourne

The Queen Mary 2 came for a visit yesterday. This ship can take over 2600 passengers - that is a lot of people!

Sugary sweet

Auckland Sky Tower sketch

A page from my travel journal.

Aeroplane sketch

Kept myself busy when I was at the airport recently.

Yarn bombing in Melbourne

Been to the city lately? Have a look at the trees in Melbourne City Square - I wanted to hug them.

Yarn Bombing in Melbourne's City Square where a number of trees are "wearing" colourful knitted tubes... on display now and it's free. Here's is my impression...

 

More Melbourne buildings

A little bit of St Paul’s Cathedral – I took the easy way out, and only drew a small bit of the building, and this bit that I have chosen is partly blocked by the building in front (see next image)

Flinders Street Station as seen from Southbank. Only the dome is visible above the trees. I could have combine the two drawings… but I didn’t think of that at the time.

Sketching in a cafe

Trying to focus on the big picture of capturing the scene inside my favourite cafe. Upstairs is a wellness centre – offering massage, yoga etc. Downstairs a spacious cafe with high ceiling, views of the street from big windows.

Sketching in Prahran Market

Another fun filled session drawing. We bought clams from the unusual looking vehicle above.

Merry Christmas. Hope you are having a very nice day.

Shoes sketches

A couple of sketches from my journal.

Hope you are having a nice weekend.

Food journaling

A few more pages from my sketchbook. I love drawing food.

Keeping a travel journal

Some people collect souvenirs on their travels. Others take pictures to record their memories. I keep travel journals.

Why keep a travel journal

I enjoy the process to recording my travels, as well as the results.

The process of travel journaling need not take much effort, nor time. Your drawings can be as detailed and  elaborate as you wish, or they can be simple sketches. While travelling, you may not have the time to spare, hence . It should be a pleasurable activity. Draw whatever pleases you and take notes – write your thoughts and observations. Stick items in your sketchbook if you wish.

At the end of your trip, you will have ended up with a record and precious memories of places that you have been, scenes and things that you came across (that you found interesting) and recorded, and notes that you took. It will be a precious souvenir that you will treasure your whole life. I started my first travel journal 13 years ago. To date, I have a reasonable pile, and each and everyone is precious. I enjoy looking through each one now and again, and going down memory lane. Read more…

Wheels–drawings from my journal

Promise that I am not paid for displaying the company name and URL. This vehicle was parked in front of mine. I had 15 minutes to wait, so I sketched in the car.

A wheelie vacuum cleaner.

No wheels here, but there should be.

Diwali Festival

Kym, Lucy, Eveline and I went to the Diwali Festival at Federation Square to draw yesterday. As usual, there were lots of people to draw at Federation Square since it is a popular meeting place.

There were a few people in traditional costumes. The man on  the right was just someone visiting the festival.

I got a henna tattoo.

I am enjoying my temporary tattoo.

Happy Sunday.

Sketches: food and more

I have been away for the long weekend sketching with friends. It’s been a fun and productive weekend. I have not drawn so much in my life, but what a joy to be drawing and splashing paint.

We ate and drank a lot; it was a holiday too.

We went to an interesting cafe which was also a homeware store. There were a lot of nice objects to draw.

We drew other things too (really, we did), and I will upload more drawings in the next posts. Here is one last spread from my DottedSquare.com sketchbook. It is also the last page, so I will need a new book.

Hope you are all having a good week.

 

Update on Deals at DottedSquare.com

DottedSquare.com is offering a 1 for 1 offer on notecards – perfect timing for those Christmas greetings that we need to write. The offer is only for this week.

Outdoor sketching–Queen Victoria market

It was fun drawing at the Queen Victoria market last weekend. I was fascinated with the small goods shops. There were cheeses, cured meat, olive oils and all sorts of goodies. It was crowded and there was not much standing room unfortunately, but I managed one sketch (below).

What do you draw when you are busy?

Here is another page from my sketchbook. I have been doing some small drawings during the week, since I have been busy. I was having coffee, and drew a few jars at the cafe (top). Then, back home, I drew some random items on the table. They were quick drawings and did not take up much time, but still gave me a little bit of practise.

I keep forgetting about connecting to Paint Party Friday, so I thought I’d post early this week.

9 Deals till Christmas at DottedSquare.com

On a totally different subject, if you like quality journals and sketchbooks, or if you are going to be purchasing Christmas gifts, you might be interested to know the following:

DottedSquare.com is offering some very attractive deals from now until Christmas. There will be a different deal every week, so be sure to visit the website every week. The first deal is shown on the left, which is only valid until later this week.

It’s a great time to purchase, and what’s more, shipping is free.