I’m in Perth at the moment having a little break – a real vacation – and catching up with my great sketching buddy Lynne Chapman. She is in Western Australia for a few months as artist in resident for UWA. Read more about that here.

I have never been to WA before, so it was lovely to explore downtown Perth yesterday.

After a wander through the centre of the city and the new Elizabeth Quay area we decided it was time for a sketch.

Ah! nice to be sitting on the pavement with a sketching friend. Here we are sketching the Perth Town Hall.

Here is my sketch… after a 5 hour flight I was feeling a little stiff, which resulted in a loose sketch.

After lunch we wandered up to Government House and managed to get into the gardens just before the gates closed.

But we were asked to leave so our only option was to sketch the front of the building from the pavement. Here is the result – mine on the left, Lynne’s on the right.

And here is the full spread in my sketchbook which includes a little ink drawing of the Supreme Court which I did during lunch.

While Lynne was finishing her sketch, I sat down in a nearby bus shelter and ended up sketching St George’s Cathedral using my water-soluble pencil. (So far in this sketchbook I had done every sketch in a different way). The map on the side is still incomplete.

The next thing I did was chill for a bit in Stirling Park. This was my view – yes! I was on my back!

Next we came back to the Supreme Court and I did a second version. Didn’t achieve what I was wanting, but it was just so good to be out sketching again!

How is this for a crazy tree?

I finished my sketching for the day with this monotone sketch of my view of Stirling Gardens.

Here is Lynne packing up at the end of the day. What a great start to my break.