Sketching at the Botanic Gardens

I went to the Wellington Sketchers meetup at Wellington Botanic Gardens. I decided to sketch around the gardens rather than walk down through Thorndon.

There was a brass band concert on at the Soundshell, so I sat and sketched that. Lots of people were having a picnic lunch listening to brass bands from all around the North Island. This isn't normally my thing, but it was a beautiful, sunny day and I rather enjoyed it.

While I was waiting to meet up with my family wandering around the gardens, I saw that they had put a series of art installations around the gardens. This one was where they hung clothes in amongst the trees and flower beds.

A gratuitous photo of the Bay of Islands, North Island, New Zealand (photo by Jonas)

Pen and pencil sketches

I did these in the evenings while my kids had a bath. My husband sorted them out while I sketched the fisherman. He's a keeper, that one.

 

A fisherman. Based on a photo in the book ¨Coast¨.  0.1 Staedler black pen. A5 paper.

 

 Sketch from life: bloke watching tv... Conte Pierre Noire pencil. 10x14ishcm.

A beach in Northland, New Zealand (photo by Jonas)

Envelope Art: Things from my Garden

A few sketches on handmade envelopes to send to penpals overseas.

Front:

Back:

Apples on one of our trees in the backyard.

Front:

 

Back:

Sketch of Founder's Gate in Thorndon

A sketch of Founder's Gate on Tinakori Road in Thorndon, Wellington. This is one of the entrances to the Botanic Gardens. I used to jog past here at lunch when I worked in Thorndon.

Watercolour sketch #3

I did this on Queen Elizabeth Beach on a windy, rainy Waitangi weekend. The wind was drying my watercolours the second they hit the page. It was pretty hard work!

Watercolour sketch #2

Another view from the deck on an overcast day (5x7cm).

A face a week #40

Prismacolor sepia pencil, A5 paper. I'm trying to capture her expression of looking intently at something, or trying to figure something out. I think it is all in the tilt of the head, the compressing of the neck, and the posture. I think when someone is concentrating on something very intently, their eyes might be closed slightly, but their jaw is relaxed and loose (which is shown by it being a fraction forward, and probably a fraction less shaded, depending on which direction the light is coming from). 

A quick miniature sketch of a guy looking out a window to try out my new Conte Pierre Noire and Prismacolor colorless blending pencils.

Mail art: Gossips

I did some mail art sketches about 1950's gossiping women:

The front:

The address goes in the bottom right hand corner.

The back:

The sender's address goes in the bottom right hand corner.