Occasionally Auckland Sketchbook escapes the city to somewhere interesting — and close. This time the sketchbook got a workout in The Bay of Islands . Only 3.5 hours by car and a world away from work. The sketch above was made in down-town Paihia, it doesn't look it, but it is literally behind the main street. The view is the back of an old homestead called Williams House . I was attracted by the orchard of very old fig trees on the left that had me imagining eating juicy ripe figs. Sadly they weren't in season but it must be a fun place at harvest time. Right over the other side of the bay you will find his falling down old house on Matauwhi Bay. For a while there the water had a turquoise glow until the sun went into hiding. This is Pompallier House and Clendon Cottage in Russell sketched with my back to the sea. I may have used a little too much artistic licence in moving them close enough together to fit on my page so don't look too closely. Anyway, I have sketched Po...
I've been working just over the road from the Sky City Convention Centre since before the project started a year or so ago. In that time the noise levels in the office have gone through the roof! Thousands of trucks have traveled past our windows, at first trucking out the 180,000 cubic metres of demolished buildings, soil and clay. Now the trucks are bringing in the pre-cast concrete slabs and clean fill. There are four cranes now working flat-out, and constantly beeping, with another horn blasting at random intervals throughout the day. With the NZ Tourism building next to us set to be demolished I think it's time to find a quieter place to work!
I chose a quiet Sunday morning to try to sketch the great hole in the ground from a closer view point. I didn't last long — even though I was standing outside the gates on Nelson Street and with absolutely no construction work happening. I'd just got the basics of this sketch down when this very efficient security guard appeared from nowhere and moved me on. I managed to sketch him on the spot and colour him later from memory.
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