Some time ago I found an old wiro notebook in a drawer. A scruffy wiro bound notebook with a photo of 2 men in a kayak with a bear on the front cover. In that notebook I found terrible sketches drawn in pencil made while travelling in 1991. One sketch leapt out at me. It was a rough pencil sketch of Mt Ararat from a backpacking trip to eastern Turkey. The sketch really surprised me – it was a very basic pencil sketch, drawn using a .5mm technical pencil on a cheap notepad. The sketch is just black and white… To my surprise the sounds and smells of the day came flooding back. Meeting some Kurdish goat herders and their flock near the base of Mt Ararat, about 10km from the Iranian border on a bright sunny but cool, alpine day. Along with memories of driving across the mountain steppe in an old Renault 19 and the smells of chai and coffee in a Doğubayazıt pasta solunu. It all came back come flooding back! Why did it evoke such vivid memories? I’m not really sure to be honest. Maybe t...
Sometimes drawing is a great stress relief. I had just come out of a meeting and was feeling the pressure of all the looming deadlines, so decided to get the little sketchbook out instead of heading straight back to the office.
I sketched what must be Auckland's steepest street, Liverpool Street, just off the main Queen Street. I've cycled up and down here on the bike many times over the years and believe me it is very exhilarating! (coming up is not much fun though).
I'd like to try to sketch (and ride) the steepest street in the world sometime, Baldwin Street, Dunedin in the South Island with a gradient of 35%, I suspect the granny gear would be needed, take a look at this...
(image credit: Bjarte Sorensen/Wikipedia)
Comments
Love your Auckland sketches. Im going to New Zealand this april, on a working holiday permit. Hope to portrait New Zealand as well as you do =)
Thanks for share it!