Last two days in Melbourne....

… I did a lot of sketching! Here are most of my sketches as I posted on Instagram.

Monday: Solo and Social (and a big cafe-crawl)

I started the day needing some timeout sketching solo. It had been very social out and about – whether I was with fellow sketchers, chatting with the friends I was staying with, helping baby-sit 5 gorgeous kids, doing demos for 3 little girls or church services on Sunday…it was non stop! So this morning I sat opposite FSS (Flinder St Station) and just let my lines and brush strokes do what they wanted to do (BTW the colour rendering in this photo isn’t quite right so stay tuned for the final scanned image).

I then had a little tearoom visit. Hopetoun Tearoom is HUGELY popular with long long queues for most of the day. When I turned up I was the only one in the line and only had a few minutes to wait. They have an impressive range of cakes, but of course I only wanted one thing. This is all I did before starting to enjoy my scones while still warm.

This is the spread at the end – the lovely waiter gave me a free macaroon!!! How sweet!

Then I met up with Angela and Kaz (Paul and Evelyn arrived later) and we had lunch at the great cafe Manchester Press (have sketched there on a previous visit!).

After lunch Paul and I wanted to sketch the laneways so this involved finding a free table at a cafe and buying more drinks. (BTW this is now three cafes in a row for me!)

My two sketches looking down Centre Place laneway and then looking up at the iconic light fittings and the upstairs that you rarely see from just walking through.

We were headed to Federation Square next but just at the end of Degraves St we stopped because of this view of FSS.

Yes, that meant yet ANOTHER cafe visit – this time it was Little Cupcakes. We had to make a purchase to use the tables!

Here is the full gang for the day…and yes I have a new jacket. It was freezing in Melbourne some days and most mornings and thanks to local sketching Yahui’s recommendation, Chris and I had headed off to UniQlo at the end of last week to find an ultra light down jacket.

We ended the day with a quick sunset view of FSS (my third FSS sketch in one day!) with the city behind from FedSqaure. I will scan my sketches later, but in the meantime this is what looking over Paul’s shoulder is like – always inspirational.

Tuesday: Final Day (mainly solo and sketching a lot!)

Surprise surprise – I started the day with a cafe visit. I remember having a GREAT oolong tea at Cumulus during my work visits to Melbourne a few years ago (ie. architect work visits). They no longer have it on the menu – but a latte, bowl of rice pudding and EGT was all good!

Next to fill in 30 minutes I did a loose version of the Melbourne GPO building. I will be sharing more about this sketch later.

I met up with Paul very briefly before he headed back to Singapore – we meet outside the GPO and as always started sketching while waiting.

A quick lunch, and even quicker final sketch and art chat with Paul before he headed off to the airport. I did a time lapse of his sketch here. Make sure you follow him on IG! He will be missed by sketchers in Melbourne and Sydney! It has been lots of fun for all of us splashing paint together over the last few weeks.

I had another 3 hours before I had to leave and this is what I did….

Super quick sketch of “jeff’s shed” – there are many new crazy buildings in Melbourne of which I sketched none. But this is one, The Melbourne Exhibition Centre by DCM from the 90s was new on my first trip to Melbourne as an adult…and therefore had some special significance for me to sketch.