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...
I got in early to beat the crowds at the Auckland Wooden Boat Festival today. There were there so many cool old boats it was hard to choose which one to draw! I eventually decided on the impeccably turned-out Meola, looking very dressed up with all her naval signal flags on display and tied alongside the Wynyard Pavilion in the perfect spot to draw her side on.
An interesting vessel and history too. Originally a Ministry of Works and then Naval tender and towboat.
The owners spotted me at work so I got invited onboard for a coffee and a chat about Meola, boat design and art. A quick tour below deck as well, check out the massive 4 cylinder diesel engine – each cylinder is 3 litres!Later on I squeezed in a sketch of three more interesting vessels; the steam launch Victoria, Charlotte and Rona - Logan built and NZ’s oldest continuously registered vessel - in dire need of restoration.
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