I had a really big day today – heading out just after 8.30am and returning back to my appartment after 9pm!

I had an urge to revisit Port Arthur but was wondering how wise it would be, since it is 1.5 hours drive from Hobart and I am supposed to be relaxing!

However, I am very glad that I made the decision to go, not just for the visit to Port Arthur (which was great) but because of how good it felt to see some of Tasmania’s wonderful scenery, especially some dramatic coastline.

Seeing and sketching the waves crash against rocks always does me good. My first stop was the tessellated platform, where I used a vanishing point for a beach scene!

I had a great time at Port Arthur – I think it was 1997 when I was there before. I remembered some areas distinctly and others I had no relocation of, or have been significantly changed.

So there was lots of exciting new bits for me to explore and record.

There is so much to draw there! I did a LOT of sketching in the 4.5 hours that I was there – I just counted 9 sketches!

I am challenging myself to do quick rough sketches at the moment, so they are less polished than my normal travel sketches. For my entire time at Port Arthur, I was able to sketch uninterrupted and only had a few passing comments of ‘that’s great’.

Oh, I also got a unique comment from a staff member who saw me sitting outside a cottage: “For vagrancy and squatting, you are sentenced to 7 years and 100 lashes!” I asked if I could keep my paints for the 7 years!?!

On my way out I had another “are you Liz Steel?” moment.

This time from a Sydneysider, visiting Tasmania, who had done my SketchingNow Foundations online course!

Oh! what a small world! It was so lovely to see her sketchbook (a “tears in the eyes” moment) and we had a quick silly photo with a convict!

It was then time to do a few more coastal sketches. It was a beautiful afternoon, and the view from the Remarkable Cave lookout towards Cape Raoul was stunning.

Then a walk down to the cave – which is truly remarkable – and time for a quick watercolour pencil sketch.

Next, I headed back and visited the Tasman Arch. Both of these coastal features are very hard to photograph (either because of exposure or just fitting it all in!), so it was very satisfying to sketch them.

I wanted to make sure that I got back to Hobart before dark, but I decided to have a quick dinner at the Doo-lich-us Food Cart in DooTown.

Quick? No way!

For starters, I decided to sketch the food cart while waiting for my fish and chips. Of course, this attracted the staff’s attention.

But also with the other people in the area.

So anyway, to cut a long story short, I meet Nick from France and his travelling squirrel plus his two other French mates, and then three girls that work at Port Arthur. Of course I wanted to sketch Squiry and there was an idea to shoot some video of me doing it.

However, in true Liz-style, I had finished the sketch before the tripod was found so I did a second sketch (I think this was Squirrel’s better side anyway). A very silly evening making new friends which happens often when I am out with my sketchbook!

UPDATE

To complete this article, I will add all the sketches I did on this epic day.