Boola Bardip (Perth Museum)

Another visit to Boola Bardip (the aboriginal name for the updated Perth Museum), found a few things to sketch inside…nice to sketch animals that don’t move for a change

Cloudy afternoon at City Beach and Fremantle cranes….

Out and about at Fremantle…old historic cranes next to the maritime museum, and a cloudy afternoon at City Beach…. looks like rain later.

Train Spotting in Perth….

With a bit of spare time this afternoon I decided to go train spotting…..at the W.A. Rail Transport Museum in Bassendean. Here are a couple of engines sketches and some photos inside the carriages ….

Yoga at the Art Gallery of Western Australia and Aggie the robot!

The Urban Sketchers Perth planned meet up at Elizabeth Quay was moved to inside the Art Gallery of Western Australia this morning because it was very wet, windy and cold (Elizabeth Quay is very exposed). One thing we weren’t expecting was to find a contemporary dance company (Co3) performing warm up yoga in the main foyer prior to an actual dance performance. They were of course very fit, supple and graceful, my sketches don’t show how lithe they actually were….I thought sketching them at yoga would be easy because they would move slowly…but no…they moved through all the moves very quickly, flowing from one to another until savasana at the end.

 

 

This little sketch is of Aggie the AGWA robot. It walks around the gallery room and interacts with the human guide as part of a gallery tour aimed mostly at children. A bit under a meter tall it can dance, wave it’s arms and sing/talk to the audience (controlled by one of the staff)

 

A History of the World in 100 Objects – Perth Museum

A visit to Perth Museum while the rain fell with the Perth Sketchers, the museum is closing soon for a 4 year refurbishment, expected to re-open in 2020. Last and only exhibit on at the moment is the “A history of the world in 100 objects” – items lent by the British Museum. The oldest is a hand axe dated at over a million years old created by one of the first humans, found at a site in Tanzania, quite astonishing the age of this rock shaped by human hands. The most recent object is a credit card (expired)! Exquisite statues from around the world.

The above image is a composite from 4 separate pages of sketches.

Perth Fringe Festival – James St Mall

First ever meeting of the Perth Urban Sketchers today…yay…!!!

There were six of us today meeting in the city to sketch, chat and swap tips, lovely to meet like-minded sketchers. We gathered in front of the Perth Museum….there are some benches and shady trees (which was essential as it was rather a warm 35’C day).

The Perth International Arts Festival is in full swing and the Fringe World Festival has lots of tents and acts gathered along the James Street Mall…there is colour just exploding around you! This scene with the shocking pink fence was unmissable….I took about an hour to sketch this…spent the other hour chatting! Everyone enjoyed, we all sketched different things…. it was so wonderful to see what people chose to draw, each in their own style…. we plan to have more “sketch-outs” in the near future.

Link below to group photo….

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153473495981379&set=pcb.930105123726032&type=3&theater

Treasure Ships – Art in the age of spices (Art Gallery of Western Australia)

A fountain pen sketch of a 17th century statue – head of Christ carved from wood in Goa, India. I haven’t quite captured the serenity of the face (particularly the eyes) but I enjoyed the challenge. This is a really interesting exhibition at AGWA of statues, ceramics, textiles, paintings and miscellaneous objects that reflect the mingling of cultures and religions when the nations supplying and controlling the spice trade came into close contact for the first time.

De Atramentis Document ink black in Lamy Safari EF fountain pen, standing holding homemade sketch book.

Fremantle Prison Courtyard

Fremantle Prison courtyard this morning, this is a world heritage listed Australian convict site….a very solid looking and imposing building built by convict labour from 1851 to 1859 using local materials…tons of limestone blocks. It was in continuous use for 130 years until 1991 when replaced a new facility partly as a result of a major riot and fire caused by the unhappy inmates. The sketch is drawn from just inside the main gatehouse with the clock above the gateway which chimes every hour. The weathered limestone wall is a lovely mix of white, yellow ochre, burnt sienna and indigo. The doorway I think leads to offices, the main entrance is to the left.

Jonathon’s excellent painting is also shown in the right hand picture below.

Fremantle Shipwrecks Gallery

 

The outdoor group met at Fremantle’s Shipwreck Galleries this morning (the “outdoors” was too cold, too wet and too windy so we hid inside the warmth of the museum.) Lots of relics from ships wrecked along the West Australian coast, in particular a large section of the Batavia and various Dutch ships. This diving helmet caught my eye… encrusted with sea corals and with patches of verdigris it was interesting to paint, although the low light throughout the museum made it a little more challenging to pick out colours.

I had to stand to paint this one, holding my sketchbook in one hand, palette clipped to the other side leaving the other hand to apply the paint with waterbrushes and a sweatband on my wrist for brush cleaning.

[Pencil, Lamy Safari with DeAtramentis black document ink, watercolours – Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Permanent Rose, Perylene Maroon, Winsor Lemon about 1 hour]

Next I moved  to the upstairs part of the museum, to a section of pottery and everyday objects salvaged – some re-assembled, others only in pieces. This stoneware jug is known as a “bearded man” jug as it has a bearded face carved into the neck of the vessel, apparently it was a German traditional design (Bartmann). A couple of pieces of other stone jars are on either side.