April 2019: Swashbucklers, Westhaven

I was sad to have missed the Let's Sketch Auckland earlier this April. By all accounts, it was a smashing weekend of sketch crawling and meeting new people. Let's Sketch Auckland ended up in Westhaven Marina at the Swashbucklers Bar and Restaurant on the final day. It's a place with lots of opportunities for drawing, no matter the weather. So lucky for me we got to visit it again for our April session.

I am always late for our drawing sessions. This month was no exception meaning a lost a good hour of drawing to my tardiness. Upon arrival at Swashbucklers, I saw that the small bar was full of people hard at work drawing. It looked like there were only sketchers at the venue!

We had a tremendous turnout with some lovely new faces as well as our loyal regulars. There weren't many seats left so I found one near the bar and after looking up, started drawing what was in front of me. There were no dud-views on that bar. If you like drawing detail, you would love this place. It's crammed full of vintage collections - some nautical, some vintage, with many old car number plates tacked to the ceiling beams overhead.

The light was terrible where I was. That, coupled with my new, poorly focusing eyeglasses meant I couldn't see very well at all. My usual style is tight and I would love to be looser. The conditions meant I wasn't able to see what I was looking at, or the sketching I was making very well at all.

I used the only functioning pen I had with me: the trusty 0.05mm Staedtler Pigment Liner and started drawing in my watercolour sketchbook. Many times over the same line in some cases. Using it like you would a pencil, scratching my drawing out across the surface. I tried not to get all bent out of shape that my drawing was bending out of shape!

There's a point I get to when drawing when I hate what I've done. I begin to think it's a lost cause and I'm never going to pitch up with a finished piece by the end of the session. When I get to that point - and I always get to that point - I remind myself what my work needs is "more". More time, more lines, more detail - to keep going. I say to myself "more on, more on". Sometimes it sounds disparaging if my whispers are overheard by others.

I got to that point with my drawing when I had sketched out all the number plates on the beams, but not any of their details. Now it was the time to get stuck in with the detail and I began to draw the numbers "more on, more on".

By the end of the session, I was able to lay my work down with everyone else and feel like I'd made the most of my truncated time at Swashbucklers.

There was some really terrific work. From the motorway overbridge to the marina itself, not to mention the Swashbucklers bar - everyone made great use of the diverse vistas this part of Auckland has to offer. You can see more photos from the day on the Urban Sketchers Auckland Facebook page.