Sketching Buildings in your local area

With the onset of COVID-19 our lives have mostly changed dramatically. Many of us are working from home where extended periods of isolation have become difficult. We need to look at our lives in a very different way and the negative of the pandemic can result in a positive to our way of living.

I know I have been doing much more cooking than I usually do, but to me this is another creative activity. Cook up special meals that are healthy and nutritious and send photos to friends and family, and encourage them to do the same. This makes it much more interesting and almost a challenge.

We need to have a purpose to what we do and we need to stay healthy.

Menu 1: Chili con Carne with pasta and Greek yoghurt, Spanakopita, Zucchini slice with corn, onions and sun roasted tomatoes,  peas and onions with triple smoke hickory ham.

Menu 2: German Kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes), roasted beetroot, cabbage with onions and carrot, fresh broccoli and grated vegetable bake.

We know how important exercise is, so I began my walking regime with half an hour, exploring the back laneways and streets in my neighbourhood. I love architecture and I love sketching buildings, so what could be better than being a tourist in my own area, soaking up the heritage and the beautiful old terrace houses and cottages? Then, what makes it even better, is that I am combing my morning walk, now an hour, with taking photos of the buildings I want to sketch.

My project, combining walking and sketching, is to fill a new sketchbook with my neighbourhood building sketches.

I really look forward to getting out in the morning and seeing what new buildings and history I can discover through some research. My area has Aboriginal heritage and its name means camp, meeting ground or a sitting down place. The name was officially used by the first speaker of our legislative assembly of New South Wales, Daniel Cooper, when he laid the foundations for his house in this area in 1856.

Above are just a few of the buildings I am going to sketch.  I have tidied up my studio (tidy studio - tidy mind), have laid out my new sketchbook - Stillman & Birn Beta series, because I like the proportions and the very smooth paper will allow me to sketch very fine detail, which I love!

So - happy cooking, happy sketching and enjoy those walks!  Keep safe and healthy.

More arum paintings from Java

I have just completed a painting of three Amorphophallus decus silvae and A. decus-silvae x gigas (hybrid) which are endemic to the primeval forests on West Javas's southern coasts.

Amorphophallus is a large genus of over 200 tropical and subtropical tuberous herbaceous plants from the Arum family.

I was fortunate to see them in the Cairns Botanical Gardens in North Queensland where they are thriving. Botanical artists say that you do not choose the plant, it chooses you.  A voice told me "you have to paint them." I took many photos and six months later I have finished the painting.

Of course it did not take that long to actually complete the painting, but with many other painting commitments, workshops and art tours, it just took a while to begin.  With the onset of COVID-19, my workshops and tours were cancelled, giving me time to work on the painting.

The centre plant in the painting is an Amorphophallus decus silvae, and the plants on either side are a. decus silvae x gigas.

The plant above is the A. decus-silvae.

The final painting is tall and narrow, 75cm x 38cms, which suits the subject perfectly. I worked on each plant separately and ensured the tones hues and proportions were well balanced.

The colours and patterns on these plants were what drew me to them as well as their majestic size of around 3 metres. I love working with the detail and I used a lot of overglazing to get the colours to glow.

 This is the A. decus silvae x gigas.

 This is the final painting with the three plants.

The three very different and unique stems

 The three flowers

Australian Artist magazine article - Borneo rainforest

The latest edition of Australian Artist magazine is now available. It's titled 'How to Sketch in a Rainforest'.

The May edition is part 2 of this adventure where I will tell the story of my rainforest sketching experience and introduce you to some of the amazing creatures found in the Amazon rainforests.

Here are a few images from the article.

My sketching group stayed at Rimba Lodge, right on the Sekonyer River and we visited three orangutan rehabilitation stations: Camp Leakey, Tanjung Harapan and Pondok Tanggi.

This was my initial sketch for the rainforest scene. I added a page to the existing watercolour book which folds down back into the book when closed.

This was the finished pen and wash sketch of the rainforest scene with various creatures in the rainforest.

Watch out for part 2 of the Australian Artist article which is available in May, 2020.

Amorphophallus titanum

My painting of the Amorphophallus titanum (Titan arum) is finished. I painted on Arches 640gsm hot pressed paper and the size is 75cm high x 57 cm wide. It was definitely a labour of love and I enjoyed working with many techniques.

Some of the detail and use of masking fluid for the stem. 

Final painting

More detail on the spadix, achieved with masking fluid.

I will be painting a partner to this flower - same family and slightly different species. It is not often I have the chance to paint 'at my leisure' and have things nicely finished before an exhibition.

Titan arum - new painting

Recently I visited the Cairns Botanical Gardens in northern Queensland. The very hot and humid conditions were ideal for their collections of tropical plants.

I fell in love with the incredible Carrion Lilies with their huge presence, colours and design elements.  They grow to about 3 metres.

Above is the Amorphophallus decus-silvae which is found in Java, Indonesia.

After returning from Cairns I visited the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney and discovered the wonderful Amorphophallus titanum - Titan arum,  which is an herbaceous flowering plant with the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world.

It is commonly known as the Corpse Lily due to its foul smelling inflorescence. The odour resembles rotten flesh which attracts the pollinators Flesh Flies and Carrion Beetles. The Titan arum is endemic to the hot and humid rainforest areas of Indonesia but they can be seen in many botanical gardens worlewide, including Sydney, Australia.

They only bloom every 4-10 years which make them a very special addition to any collection.

Below are the initial washes of my flower, and I am planning to do a second painting of the Amorphallus decus-silvae to compliment the Titan arum.

The spadix has a very 'bubbled' surface, so I applied masking fluid over a very light wash. More washes are to be painted over the masking fluid.

Still lots of detail to complete to finish off this painting - and this is the part I love the most!!!

Broome, Western Australia July 2019

In July 2019 I was in beautiful Broome in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. This is a very interesting coastal town of nearly 19,000 people and is famous for pearling. It is full of vivid colour and natural phenomena, as well as having sunset camel rides and dinosaur tracks in the beach rocks, dating back 130 million years. The sunrises and sunsets are unbelievably spectacular.

I had a group of 12. I only take limited numbers as I demonstrate and tutor constantly, so everyone gets the very most out of the tour and has individual tuition and guidance.

Here are some of my sketches from this trip. 

Broom courthouse on left, where markets are held weekly, and Johnny Chi Lane on right, with people waiting for their bus.

We sketched in the grounds of a pearl shop, where there were many historical artifacts from the pearling days.

And a very special sketch from the Japanese Cemetery, the largest Japanese cemetery in Australia dating back to 1896. Most of the graves are of the Japanese migrants who settled in Broome to prosper from the rich pearling industry. It is a memorial to those who were loved and lost.

The wording on one of the gravestone read:

"We did not see you close your eyes,

we did not hear you sigh.

We only hear that you were gone -

without a last goodbye."

Sketching in Bali & Borneo May 2019

In May, I was privileged to take a small group of 9 to Borneo, where we sketched the amazing orangutans of Central Kalimantan. As travel was along the river waterways, the klotok boats we travelled in did not accommodate any more.

Prior to flying to Borneo, we spent three days in Jimbaran, Bali, and I ran workshops on how to sketch the orangutans. We also ventured further afield for more sketching and a little exploring. It is a beautiful place with lovely people, and I never tire of visiting. Over the years have taken many groups to very special places on the island to sketch, away from the crowds.

Le Mayeur Museum, in Sanur. This is a place I try to visit when I go to Bali. I love the history of the Museum and the wonderful detail in the buildings.

We flew from Denpasar in Bali to Surabaya in Java, transited there and continued on to Central Kalimatan. Our aim was to visit three orangutan rehabilitation centres in the Tanjung Puting National Park. 

During this tour we not only saw and sketched orangutans, but proboscis monkeys, gibbons and the long tailed macaque monkeys, all unique. In the ecolodge we stayed there were a troop of gibbon monkeys living in the trees. I also saw a giant monitor lizard stealthily moving along on the muddy river environment underneath the walkway I was sketching from.

There were various colourful birds (the Bornean Bristlehead, stork-billed kingfisher and garnet pitta), and green water snakes which could be seen along the river.

This is my forest scene, showing the various birds and animals to be found along the river environment.

Mother and child eating bananas at the rehabilitation centre. The babies stay with the mother until they are about seven year old. There is a very special affectionate bond between them.

This was my cabin along side the river and set into the forest. The gibbon monkeys would occasionally jump on the roofs of the cabins during the night.  

With the logging of the forests these endangered species may only be with us for another ten years.

I have an extensive article on this tour which will be published shortly in Australian Artist Magazine, where I describe the sketching tour in more detail, and with more sketches.