Two weeks ago I headed north to Port Macquarie for a little break. I had intended it to be a celebratory rest after finishing my online course – Watercolour On Location – but I extended the course by a few weeks, and had a week of work to do once I returned home. So it wasn’t quite the ‘unplug’ that I had planned, but it still was a wonderful break. I spent a lot of time catching up with friends and family, walking on the beach, hanging out in cafes, and only really used my phone for google maps and checking star rating for eating establishments.

I didn’t have an agenda for my sketching. The goal was simply to do whatever I felt like. Sketching the beaches of Port Macquarie with their dramatic volcanic rocks has been a very special experience for me in other the years, so I knew that I wanted to do some beach sketching. But I wasn’t going to put any pressure on myself. In the end I used up half of an A4 Moleskine watercolour sketchbook, so that was a nice result from a very relaxed week.

I had a wonderful time and it was a real mental break and my first true holiday (vacation) in four years – since Norfolk Island. I had a lot of fun brushing up on my ocean and rock sketching skills… and was just getting into the groove when it was time to come home. Hopefully I’ll get back there again before too long.

One unpleasant aspect to my week was the nearby bushfires which started during the week. Apart from a few very smoky days I was not affected by them, but things have gotten a lot worse in the area, and generally in the state, since then. So I hope everyone is safe and want to acknowledge the incredible work of the Firies. What an amazing heroic job they are doing!

Note. Can you tell which days were smoky by my muted or pinkish grey skies?

All my sketches from the week are included below. I have generally included the full spread and then if appropriate, a cropped version of an individual sketch. Double page spreads in an A4 landscape sketchbook look great in real life, but don’t translate very well to a blog, so click on images to view them a little larger.

If you want to see a quick flip through click here to view on Instagram.