So much is going on at the moment that it’s hard to keep my blog up to date. So finally I have a chance to share some sketches from an exercise outing a few weeks ago.
   

I went to Davidson Park under the Roseville Bridge and spent about 2 hours walking around and looking at trees. It’s a gorgeous place but such a pain to get to if you are coming from the Roseville side of the bridge. Echo Point is much easier for me to visit (and doesn’t have the $8 entry fee that Davidson Park has, being part of a National Park.)

It was lovely to be outside in the winter sun and by water. It appears that this body of water is part of Middle Harbour rather than a river.

These sketches are a combination of quick line work and/or washes on location (during a brief pause in my walk) or sketches done back home.

Although not talking about it much here on the blog I’m continuing with my latest research project – identifying the native plants of Sydney. So this outing was a great chance to look at a variety of trees.

A few quick sketches back home which include some exploratory diagrams of the banksia that was part of a lovely bunch of flowers I got from my parents in mid-July. I suppose this is called ‘nature journaling’ – something I used to do more of years ago!

BTW 1: I’m absolutely loving my new Folio palette by ArtToolkit. It’s working really well for the few super-quick sketches I’m managing at the moment. The pans are big enough to pick up paint (same selection as my normal palette) and I’m surviving with the mixing areas. The only comment I have is that it will take me a while to re-train my muscle memory when it comes to mixing areas. Even though I have a dedicated green spot at the bottom, I seem to mix it on the main area as well. More about my disciplined approach to mixing here.

BTW 2: Aren’t these washes gorgeous? These are the types of happy accidents I love creating in watercolour.

BTW3: I’m doing lots of experiments with my page layouts at the moment – part of my prep for Sketchbook Design which started this week – not too late to join!)

BTW4: Isn’t it funny that I always notice incomplete sentences after I have scanned my pages?