Montecasino SketchCrawl

These sketches are from last week's World Wide SketchCrawl day. I got home after it to find our computer had been attacked by a virus that removed everything off my desktop, plus access to all programs, and so the delay - though I'm also buzzing around trying to keep up with 101 projects which I'll blog about sooner or later. When is life going to calm down?!

We met at the big entertainment complex, Montecasino, which is styled along the lines of various Italian cities, I believe (thanks to Robyn for that info!), sketchbuddy John and I tackled this outside facade last thing on the wet, dismal day, and I added watercolour at home as the cold was getting to our bones.

This was my first stop - the six of us split up as we had been warned that the management wasn't too sketcher-friendly, quite excited to be intrepid guerilla sketchers, but as it turned out no one took the least bit of notice of us. I leant on the wall surrounding the flashing lights and bells of the casino, fascinated at the single-mindedness of the gamblers as they fixated on the machines in front of them - almost bit off more than I could chew and came away from there after a couple of hours with a throbbing headache!

After lunch and a look at everyone's drawings, John and I went over to the movie theatres to gather some more people practice - and an indulgent ice cream sundae as we had to sit at the ice cream parlour to get the best view, yes definitely the best view from there!

I'd had my eye on this balloon man all day, but he'd been a moving target selling his wares from one end of the centre to the other. At last I found him in a spot where he had run out of steam and stood still for a good long spell, letting his customers come to him, as this small girl happily did just when I was ready to add something to the drawing. The mom wasn't actually her mom, but she'll do for this purpose. The Carioca children's felt pens I used behaved completely differently on moleskine paper, not blending at all with water - in the first casino sketch they were completely soluble!

Quiet Monday morning

A quick sketch I did yesterday after shopping for spring bulbs... one good thing about winter being on its way, is that spring and all its joys will follow. After a week of busyness at home I went looking for more people to sketch, but they were hard to find on a Monday morning. Even Zoo Lake, which is usually buzzing with activity, was slow and sleepy, as demonstrated by the guy on the bench there (I know that physiology is weird, but thats how he looked from where I was sitting!). A young family wandered past and a couple of others, but by then I had already filled in the background, so for now, thats it!

People who sketch People

After creatures at the zoo, I've been back looking at and sketching people, wherever I've been, sometimes making the effort going out specially to find some  - brush people, pen people, pen and wash people, water-soluble people.

I often seriously doubt my ability to render them while I'm at it, but usually at some stage after the sketch is done, I'll recognise something of what I was trying to capture, and forgive myself my shortcomings.

I often wonder while I'm sketching, if I am in fact enjoying myself - that only seems to happen after the session is over and I look at the sketches, and think... that was fun... wasn't it? It can be a bit of a panic, thinking its just not happening at all. And then it has, I (sometimes) realise later.

But not always, then I fiddle and faddle and add more colour or thicker lines until its thoroughly overworked and I'm fed up with it like this one...


Occasionally I'll see someone who really appeals to me, because of their clothes, or posture or attitude and rush down a few mad strokes and something good just happens - that woman in the red dress and white hat (top right) for instance - and I think finally I'm getting somewhere, that's how I want to sketch.

Then the next time I try, and am disappointed again but leave it just as it is and much later perhaps, oh well, maybe not as bad as I thought...

...it's a roller-coaster isn't it?!