Recent Sketches

By the Harbour

A fortnight ago our sketching group met at the Bach, a favourite watering-hole of New Plymouth folk because it is right by the harbour, with a good view of the sea and the little boats coming and going.

After their excellent morning tea we spread ourselves around the area and did some sketches. Here is a quick one I did of the building which houses the café.

This week we met at another popular cafe, the Tea House by the lake in Pukekura Park. Then, inspite of the cloudy weather, we found places around the park to work. I concentrated on distinguishing different types of trees in a variety of grades of pencils:

I'm not so sure I made a success this time, but at least I have managed to include the shadows rather than the leaves themselves, when drawing ponga trees.

I was sitting outside the cafe looking across the lake to a hillside with a lot of different varieties of trees.

Because the weather has been wintry some of the time, I have been forced to rely on photos for my subjects at other times.

The first is a thatch-roofed cottage in a village we stayed in in rural Hampshire (watercolour only):

Later on our European tour we visited Granada, and in this watercolour  we are looking out two of the decorative windows from the Alhambra Palace towards the Albaycin, the older, originally Muslim part of the city.

In the latest Life and Leisure magazine, which we get as a special deal with our newspaper subscription, is an article on this old chateau in France. This sketch is based on an early 20th century postcard.


















Finally a 150 year old cottage at the Chatham Islands, also featured in the Life and Leisure, this time in pastels.