Gelato anyone?

 Visiting the bustling Victoria Market in Melbourne - Sam the gelato guy was going like the clappers in the hot sun - nary a break.

Port Taranaki

 Logging trucks arriving every five minutes - cranes galore at the Port.

National Corvette Convention

 About 100 Corvettes turned up at sunny East End, New Plymouth - much admiration at the gleaming chrome.  This 1958 Stingray was the oldest there.

New Plymouth Gypsy Fair

 A beautiful hot summers day and I chose to draw Peter the Tinker at the New Plymouth Gypsy Fair.  He wanted his 'best side'.   Tinkling were many teapot and flattened spoon wind chimes selling for $150.  Then Geoff approached me, no not a tailor but a Blacksmith who wanted to be drawn.

Swiss French singer Dominique (Blatti) contacted me as I had sketched her band 12 years ago - she still had the tattered copy on her wall and now wanted a sketch of her new band, La Mer.  Thy were beautifully playing (in French) on the Gables lawn in New Plymouth last week, which enabled me to capture them.   

 

South Island Road Trip

 

Weta Workshops Visit

Weta Workshops

Weta Workshops

Lining up at the ferry

Wet on top of the Aretere

Omaka Aviation Heritage Museum - new WWII display

Thomas Hanmer, surveyor, didn't even reach Hanmer Springs and ended up in Australia.

Liardet Street Projects

The foodcarts in the Liardet Street Projects are humming.  A marvelous place to sketch, especially when Ricardo of Chiwi Catering kindly shouted us two rounds of delicious Chilean wedges.   

A couple of days later I had a call from a Taranaki Foodie writer - Ricardo had sent her a copy of the sketch.  She wanted the original, as it turns out she is the red-head in the sketch!

Vintage Car Rally - Taranaki

 Vintage Car rally in Leperton and Inglewood.

Proud owner standing next to his 1928 Studebaker President.  He'd got married in it years ago.

Below owner Neville had just warranted his 1928 Rolls Royce Phantom the week before after years of beautiful restoration.  

As part of its pedigree, a prior owner Grandma Brown came 5th in the 1957 10,000 km Ampol Trial around Australia. 

The car competed three years running.

In the 1958 Ampol Trial, it experienced a rare mechanical failure - a piston burned out. The beautiful old engine ran very roughly on only five cylinders, and Granny's son didn’t like the vibrations running through the whole car. So, stopping in a small village in South Australia, he dropped the sump and removed the offending piston and connecting rod. Knowing the engine would then be seriously out of balance and would probably shake itself to pieces, he cut a piece from a farmer’s discarded ploughshare and taking a good look at the crankshaft, welded the piece onto the shaft to act as a balance weight. He then replaced the sump and pressed the starter. The old Rolls was back to its smooth self again - down on power but no vibrations!

I had a fraction of a second's fame on Seven Sharp just after the rally - me sketching, and a picture of my best side (my back).

Lockdown Necessity

 

Classic Motorcycle Show

 The New Plymouth Classic Motorcycle Show was packed, even though it was being held over two days.  This 1960 BSA 600cc jumped out at me - wanting to be sketched.  

Speedway Midgets

 A well attended proud display remembering Taranaki Speedway midgets.  Apparently pre 70's it was the place to go along with the movies

South Island Grand Tour - Part 2

 

Flight home - me drawing me drawing

C1 Cafe - Christchurch

Vinbrux Bakery & Kaffeehaus - Oamaru

Timaru Art

Albatross spotting - Otago Penninsula

Nugget Point Lighthouse - The Catlins

Sealions Cannibal Bay - The Catlins

The Whistling Frog (and it does) - The Catlins

St Mary's Waikawa - The Catlins

Waipapa Point Lighthouse

Cosy Nook - Great Southern Ocean

South Island Grand Tour - Part 1

 South Island Grand 2

Fairlie good pies

Omarama Clay Cliffs

Bendigo mining town remnants

Emma busking - Cromwell historic precinct

Mitre Peak

Arrowtown

Mrs Woolly's General Store Glenorchy

Lady Bowen - Milford Sound

Patea Explorer - Doubtful Sound

Inside of camper

Orepuki Beach Cafe

Fitzroy Motor Camp

 Summer camp - gorgeous weather with the world's second bluest sky

Wedding preparation at the Fitzroy Motor Camp - bridal doll just fixed to the grill

Naked Ladies

 Renate Verbrugge's Mothers and Daughters andesite sculptures look out over the Tasman Sea from the New Plymouth foreshore.  Each is a slightly different colour.

I guess it was a rather cheap life drawing class.

St Andrews

 

Sitting in the shade of a petrol station, using a fat 0.5 fineliner, I dashed off the fiddly bits by the roof and spire.  Sometimes the police spy from the base of the palm trees to spot drivers on their cell phones at the stop lights, and radio ahead to cops waiting further on.  I've sketched them doing this. An effective method that brings in many punters.