View from Puke Ariki

Here's a view of the city from Puke Ariki (museum) showing the people moving around the hodgepodge architecture of New Plymouth. At the bottom, is the reverse side of part of the Festival of Lights Pop-up that was very popular with tons of people.

Taranaki Aviation Technology and Transport Museum

From the Taranaki Aviation Technology and Transport Museum. The inside of an old Fire Truck and a wall of radios. It was pouring rain for a while and the roof started to leak. I climbed in to the back of the firetruck and sketched the front seats. I also made a wall of radios from some that were actually on shelves.

Peggy Gordons

 

If you've ever been to Peggy Gordons and thought that you may have had too many, don't worry. It's the building... NOT YOU! The toilet is in what used to be a vault. That door really IS that heavy. So have another.

Moturoa

 

Even though I'm sketching at the Moturoa shops, this really is just a sketch of this awesome tree on the top of the hill.

Taranaki Sunflower Meadow

It seems that everyone from Taranaki that is on Instagram was at the Sunflower Meadow in the last few weeks. Since I also had those qualifications, I grabbed my sketchbook and checked it out too. While I was there I hammered out a pen sketch. It seemed like a good idea to colour it on the weekend that the rain flooded Auckland. It actually was pretty cool to see a field of sunflowers (and bees).

New Zealand Holiday Camping

 

Last sketch of 2022.

Taranaki Garden Festival 2022 (2 of 2)

 

Here's the second one that I did on the garden festival weekend but only just decided to watercolour it too. It was a breezy day and I found myself at this picnic area overlooking a stream that was out of the wind. After sketching this one, I noticed that this garden had a place where you could get scones with jam and cream. Will draw for food!

Taranaki Garden Festival 2022 (1 of 2)

I had seen that Theory Food was setting up a pop-up cafe in one of the gardens for the GardenFest. Of course I had to go and try all the cakes. While I was there, I hammered out a sketch too. I just used a pen, on location. Later, after it was sitting in my sketchbook for a while, I decided to give it the watercolour treatment on a rainy weekend.

Whanganui Street Corner

This one was done a couple of months ago on a weekend in Whanganui. I used my fountain pen and I thought the drawing was okay but didn't post it. On a rainy weekend at home, I remembered I had some grey markers. I gave them a try and it seems more finished now.

Fountain Lake

When I drew this lake before, I didn't draw the fountain since I didn't really know how to tackle it. The water jets change as it does its cycle. When it stops, you have to wait for some kid to push the button again. (It goes for about 2 minutes each time.) The mist goes everywhere and it just 'looks like white'. So I sort of just tried to not really draw that area, and hint a little at what was behind the water, as the trees behind it appeared through it.

Oakura Christmas

Another year without a white Christmas. What a bummer... it was horrible!

Jury Garden

This is a sketch from one of the gardens that was in the Garden Festival. It still seems intact after the crowds returned home.

View from my window

 

Here's a view from my window. A little bit of sun made it more appealling to sketch.  I've never drawn this view before since it always just seemed like too much at once. So many leaves! And tree ferns! So overwhelming. Well, I think I managed to find a way to draw it all without drawing EVRY leaf.

Prince's Gate Hotel in Rotorua

Before Lockdown, we stayed at a classy old-timey hotel in Rotorua. It had hotpools, creaky floors, stained glass and many chandeliers. The restaurant also had a painting of Duke, the man that the restaurant was named after. Clearly though, that was a nickname and is real name was George.

Collecting Seaweed at East End

This one was done in July before lockdown. It was just after a big storm and patches of seaweed were washing up on the beaches. Although I've never collected it myself, it's pretty good in a garden. There's a small window from when it shows up to when it washes back into the sea. At times, there were quite a few harvesters on the beach. While stuck at home, I gave this one this one the colour treatment.

Liardet Street

There's a pedestrian bridge that connects to a hill that overlooks the Tasman Sea. Of course I'm drawing in the other direction. I don't know. It just how I do it.

My window view

New drawing of an old subject with a new type of pen.

Triathlon Finish

This one's from March when we were watching the triathlons finish at Ngamotu Beach. You can see here that there was a big screen behind the podium. It had drone footage of the other parts of the course so that we knew when to clap.

ANZAC Day 2021

This year's ANZAC dawn ceremony had a naval crew attend when they were docked in Port Taranaki. Also, shown here are some of the other year's sketches.

Some people have asked me how I can do a sketch like this. Well, here's some protips:

- Get there early and find that sweet spot. Good view for composition and in this case, good lighting - it was pretty dark.

- Start into it right away. You won't have that much time at something like this. Also, you might get cold and that will make it harder to draw. So draw before you get cold.

- Start getting in the stuff that won't move or won't get covered up by people as they arrive.

- Because when people start to arrive, it's all go on the people. (You thought you had no time before!)

- Try to draw all over and roughly get the whole scene in. You can clean up lines, fill in dark areas and colour stuff later. Once your subjects are gone though, that's it!

- Also, don't be afraid to do that stuff. Clean up lines, fill in dark areas and colour stuff later! It's totally allowed since it's your sketchbook. It's always better to draw on location but if you can't stay, or the subject isn't there anymore, there's no reason that you can't improve your drawings if you felt like it and are able to.

Americarna 2021

We were lucky to enjoy Americarna again. Even people that hate cars loved it this year. Sandwiched between lockdowns in Auckland, it fell on a perfect window for even the very uninterested to want to get out and enjoy the events.