Cycling Mangere Bridge

Mangere mountain viewed from under Mangere bridge on the Onehunga side

Our Saturday morning mission with thanks to Antoine's excellent article on the Cycling in Auckland site, Great Rides: Mangere Bridge to Ambury Park.

We parked under the Mangere bridge on the Onehunga side, rode over the old bridge past the fishermen, around the Mangere foreshore. The pathway here is part of the Te Araroa cycleway, with a paved path off the road, this is great when cycling with 4 kids, we could keep an eye on each of them without worrying about cars too much. The pathway takes you into Ambury Park, where we stopped off to watch some sheep being shorn, something our townie kids have never seen. Then back on the bikes heading south again along the Watercare Coastal Walkway until heavy rain arrives and we head to Mangere Bridge to refuel the kids with some hot food so they make it back over the new bridge via the suspended cycle lane.

The Art of Urban Sketching: New international editions available!

The Art of Urban Sketching: New international editions available:
Now available in French, German, Korean and Chinese...

Auckland Sketchbook is 3!

Quechua ladies and their babies

It's hard to believe but this month marks the third anniversary of Auckland Sketchbook!

Yep, 3 years and 182 posts, covering everything from the Santa Parade, netball on the North Shore, the destruction of heritage buildings, the opening of the Wynyard Quarter, roadworks in Newton, classic cars in Te Atatu, Taro at the Otara Market, the 2011 Rugby World Cup and a sleepover at the Orakei Marae.

I'd like to celebrate with these sketches from a trip to South America in 1999. They aren't relevant in any way to this post whatsoever, but today it's bucketing down in Auckland, so why not think of somewhere more exotic eh? This trip got me sketching again after a long break though, so maybe it is?

The Rio Urubamba viewed from Machu Picchu, Huayna Picchu on the left

Aguas Caliente, the town below Machu Picchu.

Images of Architecture

Wright's Building, Fort Street

Britomart Station, Queen Street

This week is the Mairangi Art Centres annual Images of Architecture exhibition. This year the theme is Downtown, Britomart and the Wynyard Quarter. Here are my works entered in the show, I got into some of the older buildings that give Britomart it's character.

25-27 High Street

Ferry to Waiheke, again.

Support Your Homies

I was asked a good question about how I drew the skater - in one go or from a photograph? My answer; definitely drawn on site and the skateboarder is actually an amalgamation of 2 or 3 skaters.
I knew I wouldn't be able to capture the stunt in one go, so I looked for a repetitive action that I could sketch from over a number of passes. These guys were practising the same stunt (grinding?) on that edge again and again, and I thought the backdrop of the Sky Tower and motorway viaduct behind would make an interesting composition. Each time one of them went past I focussed on just one element of their form or posture, it took quite a few goes over about 10 minutes lightly in pencil first, then inked over once I was reasonably happy.

The clothes are a mix and match too, one guy had the orange hat, another the green cargo shorts, and another the 'support your homies' t-shirt, which was actually on his front, for some reason it appealed so I put it on the t-shirt back so it could be included in the sketch (I have no idea why we need to support our homies, but you can buy one from SOUF Skateboards here) 

Otara Market visit

Fresh Okra means I'm making Gumbo this week!