Tasty sketch destination for Auckland sketchers

Urban Sketchers Auckland met at Mercury Plaza recently for the monthly Urban Sketchers meet. Meeting inside a warm food hall was an excellent choice given the storm raging outside.

After nailing some spicy Korean beef I started drawing with my Noodlers fountain pen, but the ink almost immediately ran out — should have checked that first eh! Thankfully Esther lent me her Parka pen and I soon got into the groove of drawing with it. My Noodlers pen is designed to flex and give a wide variation in line width but I didn't want to damage Esthers nice writing pen so I sketched lighter and sketchier than usual.

The ink in the pen was Parker writing ink and it's water soluble, so rather than apply watercolour over the linework as I would normally do, I used a wet water brush to activate the ink and create tone —  unpredictable but a lot of fun.

Auckland Urban Sketchers meets the last Saturday afternoon of every month and you're welcome to join us. Check the Facebook page for the next venue and times.

Fleet Street, Newton, Auckland

A couple of old cottages on the edge of Basque Park. I like the way they cling to the steep little green strip that breaks up Fleet Street.

Seems they may be the last of the old houses in what used to be Auckland's most densely populated suburb. From what I've learned the park was created by demolishing homes with unpaid rates during to Great Depression. The idea was to give some relief to the most overpopulated area of the city which sounds like it was basically a great slum.

In my memory the area has been a bit of an industrial wasteland but in recent years that has turned around as high rise apartments go up and once again it becomes a populated part of inner city.

Welcome to USk Aotearoa!

I'm excited to be able to post on our very own Urban Sketchers New Zealand site! I'm looking forward to seeing New Zealand (and the world) through the eyes of some very talented Kiwis.

For my first post I'm posting this sketch of a very non-descript part of Newton, just out the office door and around the corner. The kind of sketch you do when you've been flat-out at work and need a break - a bit of sketch relief. 

2 Degrees on Upper Queen Street, Newton, Auckland