Buildings for 20 Sketches 20 Days

I can almost hear you thinking “what is 20 Sketches 20 Days“? It’s a challenge that I set up to achieve 20 sketches in 20 days each month, and I have invited others to join me so we can have a bit of fun urging each other on. There are a bunch of us who are quite dedicated and we strive to get that star that I give out when we reach 20 (Find us on Facebook if you are curious).

Anyway, my post is not about the challenge but the focus I set for myself this month. At the start of June, I decided that I will try to sketch at least 20 buildings or scenes that include buildings. I felt that it was (and still is) an area I wanted to improve on. I met that target – gave myself a star 😊 – and after 25 sketches i am feeling a lot more confident.

Hope you enjoy this:

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Kanazawa, Japan

A couple of sketches done in Kanazawa in Japan when I was travelling recently.

Downtown Kanazawa seen from a cafe when I was having my morning coffee fix. Kanazawa is a lovely town. I was there for only a few days and to be honest, I didn’t manage to see much.

I walked past Ishiura Shrine and there was music and stalls set up. I never found out why but I found a seat and sketched over a cup of hot tea – bliss!

Must see places in Melbourne

Here are my sketches of some of the iconic places in Melbourne.

Most visitors will head to the Visitors Centre first, which is located at Federation Square (above) at the corner of Swanston and Flinders Street. Federation Square is hard to miss – it’s modern and unique, and occupies a big space at this busy intersection.

When in Federation Square do check out ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image) and the Ian Potter Centre (NGV Australia), art gallery for Australian art. NGV international (international art) is another building located on St Kilda Road.

There is a lot to see around here. Across the road from Federation Square is the beautiful St Paul’s Cathedral (above), an Anglican cathedral.

… and then there is Flinders Street Railway Station (yellow building above), which is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. It is a much photographed building. In the sketch above, you can also see Princes Bridge, which crosses over the Yarra River.

Here is another view of the Princes Bridge over Yarra River (above).

Not far away, across the river is a vibrant area known as Southbank. Take a walk; Southbank stretches along the bank of the river lined with restaurants and bar, and continues west towards Crown Casino (becomes Crown Promenade, above) and onwards. 

The Shrine of Remembrance (above) is a memorial for Australians who served in war. It is situated on St Kilda Road not far from the Melbourne CBD, and is easy to get to by tram. 

The Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne is one of my personal favourite – there are 50,000 plants over 38 hectares. Lovely place to visit, to walk and to have a picnic. 

I love going to the laneways – they are usually busy with locals as well as visitors. The above is Centre Place, one of Melbourne’s laneways with retail shops and eateries.

The Royal Exhibition Building is grand : it is listed on the World Heritage List. It is really really beautiful. It is located in the Carlton Gardens.

If you love boats, head to South Wharf for Polly Woodside (above). It was built in 1885 in Belfast and is now a permanent feature in this area. South Wharf offers bars, eateries and shopping.

Melbourne has a few theatres, and I love Princess Theatre‘s facade. It dates back to 1886. 

Hope you enjoyed this post.

Uno Port and Teshima Islands

I stayed in Uno Port in Japan for a couple of days – it was near to Naoshima and Teshima Islands where I wanted to visit.

It was easy to access the islands by boats from Uno Ports. The above is a sketch of the pier. Boat rides were pleasant and quick (about 30 minutes).

Here is another view of the pier (above), sketched when I was waiting for a ferry one day. That’s a police boat on the left.

Uno Port has a nice onsen, Japanese Hot Bath which I patronised the first day I arrived. It was relaxing to soak in hot water  after a long day walking about. 

This is a view from Teshima Museum (above). I rented an electric bicycle to ride around the island – my first time on such a vehicle and it was rather enjoyable.

Naoshima

Since the day someone showed me a book on Naoshima I had wanted to go there. And I did get there recently.

It was Golden Week (accumulation of 4 national holidays in one week), a busy time and I could not get into the first gallery and was told to take a number for later. I took a number, then went to another museum with the intention of going back to the first one later, but I ran out of energy. There was a lot to see on the island.

Here is an iconic sculpture on the island. There was a long queue of about 60 people to photograph with Yayoi Kusama’s “Pumpkin” at Benesse Art Site in Naoshima.

This is the view across from the cafe at Benesse Art Gallery. It was a lovely island and I wish I had more time.

Till next post, take care.

Japanese food

I love Japanese food and eating the local cuisine was one of the highlights of my recent trip to Japan.

Here are a couple of spreads from my sketchbook. It was fun capturing the dishes too.

Till next post, take care!

KL to Osaka

I went to Japan recently. Going away is always exciting from an art angle – there will be new unfamiliar scenes to capture; food to experience and to sketch and art materials to buy!

The first entry into my travel journal is of Kuala Lumpur airport (above), after check in. My flight was past midnight – which was no fun – and sketching was one way to kill some time.

I don’t sleep well on planes so taking a night flight was a bad idea. I spent some time sketching people and still had time to spare. The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Osaka was 6 hours.

Sketches from Japan in the next post!