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...
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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