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...
Urban Sketchers Auckland invaded Franklin Farms sunflower farm on a hot sunny January Sunday.
What an ourstanding sketch destination! Not only for the thousands of giant bright yellow flowers in bloom, but for some nice old farm machinery to draw. I tried to capture both...
I had a crack at the old Ford truck and really enjoyed capturing it's rustic red paint before starting another sketch of the restored Massey Harris 'Pony' tractor while a steady stream of children – both young ones and much, much older ones climbed on board to have their photo taken. It seems people of all ages get a kick out of sitting on this shiny red beast! I made a rushed start but ran out of time and finished it at home.
I even wore a farmers hat to get in the mood...
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