Rubik's Cube public toilets (!)

One of the recent Urban Sketchers Challenges was 'something indicative/symbolic/iconic of your local area'.  I thought that I'd have a go at sketching our fun and very funky Rubik's Cube public toilets down on the foreshore.  It was early in the morning on my way to work, so not a lot of time to fiddle about and procrastinate...a good thing for me!

Urban Sketchers (or USK) is a not-for-profit grassroots global community of sketchers, dedicated to raising the storytelling and educational value of location drawing, promoting it's practice and connecting people around the world who sketch where they live and travel.

It's also about getting outside, participating in life as it happens and being fully in the moment, as opposed to staying in the studio and painting from a photo.  It's more about the experience and less about the sketch.

URBANSKETCHERS MANIFESTO
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• We draw on location, indoors or out, capturing what we see from direct observation.
• Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live and where we travel.
• Our drawings are a record of time and place.
• We are truthful to the scenes we witness.
• We use any kind of media and cherish our individual styles.
• We support each other and draw together.
• We share our drawings online.
• We show the world, one drawing at a time.

You can see more about USK Australia on the blog -australia.urbansketchers.org
or the facebook page - facebook.com/groups/uskaus/

Brown Journal to the Rescue

This is what happened to my lovingly and patiently repaired little Monte Marte landscape sketchbook on day two.....fail!

..........it's falling apart at the back of the book too.

So I took the one and only sketch out of it, and voila!

Brown book to the rescue.

Painting in the Garden.

I had the whole day to myself today, so I decided to try out one of the new little Mont Marte sketchbooks that a friend and I had thought was a really good buy.  A whole book for less than the cost of one sheet of watercolour paper.  Bargain!  I bought seven.  I couldn't help it...that classy little landscape format was just too irresistible.

I sat down in a lovely shady part of the garden, with my little picnic morning tea. 

Hmmmmm....a whole day....brand new sketchbookbook....bliss.

As soon as I cracked it open, the first signature fell out.  Unbelievable.  So back inside I went and stuck it all back together with masking tape.  Then just for good measure (and to cheer myself up) I reinforced it with a bit of washi. Now I had a funky little landscape sketchbook.

Back to the garden.

The ants have attacked my banana.  

Change location, get another banana.

Ok.  Here we go.  Painting in the garden.  Goody gum drops.  What luxury.  

Sketching is not my fave.  I usually hurry through that bit so that I can get to the watercolour bit.  But the paper didn't take water very well at all.  It was like working on blotting paper.  The faster I worked, the faster the paper sucked.  The more water I slopped around, the more my little book behaved like a buffalo at a keg party.  Not that I've ever been to a keg party.

I gave up about half way through.

Episode two to be advised.