Welcome to Auckland’s original ‘Municipal Destructor’. Everyone, like me, know it as Victoria Park Market – a super popular open air market through the 80's to 2000's – a great place to buy your crystals and tie-dies etc! I've always known that it was originally the city rubbish dump – when the city was waaaay smaller). There is more to the story, of course. It was originally created in reaction to a bubonic plague scare in Sydney. For sanitary reasons it was built to burn Auckland’s rubbish and waste while using the heat generated to provide electricity to power the city. Sounds pretty clever eh, and I guess we were plague free. However, we must have been breathing some seriously toxic smoke fumes! That 38 metre tall chimney must have helped a little but don't forget all the horse manure and night carts, they were definitely smellier times. The municipal destructor is now a gentrified place that's home to restaurants and businesses, like the superb Milenta restau...
Sketching with the Esquisse group on Anniversary Day at the Wynyard Quarter. Without a doubt the busiest place around with The Laneway Festival, Seafood Festival, the Anniversary Day Regatta and the International Buskers Festival all on at once. Plenty to draw! I stuck to drawing various vessels which in a way is a bit strange considering people in all their various shapes sizes and outfits were probably the stars of the day.
One of the strangest looking liners I've ever seen, the Celebrity Solstice is also one of the longest liners to visit Auckland this year apparently. It's 314 metres long (Queen Mary 2, also coming this summer, is longer at 345 metres). So long it has to back in.
Do ever feel like getting out and sketching Auckland? Try taking the time to really see what's around you and get it down on paper, all with the moral support of a group. Check out the Esquisse group, meeting once a month, it's a pretty low key but fun way to spend a few hours. Held in a different part of Auckland each time - a good way to get to know your Auckland better.
Happy sketchers...
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