Suez Street viewpoint, by Elaine (jaguarish)

I've recently become fascinated by the view down the street from my house and actually did a whole bunch of them.

This is a vista looking down the hill, mostly about the giant cloud that was dominating the sky that day.


And some bits, in order of left to right as I look at the house on the opposite corner... I had a half-idea that I could design some motifs, similar to Nordic folk patterns (but didn't quite complete my thoughts on that).

Flowers, Balmoral Cemetery

I know this is probably not what most of you think of as "spring flowers" but I had the chance to stop over in this old cemetery on the weekend, after driving past it several times for the last year or so and wishing I had a chance to take a look. I do love the carvings and statues, although it can be sad to read the inscriptions sometimes.

Landscape: sunset and power pole Elaine Pang

Here is something I did for fun, to test some paper I'd just bought to try (handmade Khadi paper, from India).  One evening I did the colours of the sunset then ran out of time; the next day I came back and used a brush pen and colour pencil to capture the outline of the power pole.

Sunsets around here have been spectacular lately, which is actually worrying because it probably means the sky is getting polluted...

Anything goes, blue jay in diamine blue black document ink

A small doodle on my latest ink sample page... done 'coloring book' style, but as usual I got a bit carried away with details (oops!) The fluffy plumpness of the jay drew me in...

Signs of Manly (Boats), by Elaine (jaguarish)

I decided to focus on small details on this day as I strolled around looking at the area.

Polly Woodside by Elaine (jaguarish)

Polly Woodside is a "tall ship" preserved at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre in Melbourne, Australia, and forming the central feature of the South Wharf precinct.

She is a Belfast-built, three-masted, iron-hulled barque. The ship was originally built in Belfast by William J. Woodside and was launched in 1885.  For more history see: http://www.pwva.org.au/history.php

This is just a continuous line sketch of the upper half of this ship done while waiting to meet someone.

Camping holiday, by Elaine (jaguarish)

In Australia, as in the UK, vacations are called "holidays" -- here is a sketch of a neighbour at the adjacent site on a camping holiday.

Peaceful places, above the action, by Elaine (jaguarish)

I recently sketched from the upper deck of a restaurant in the central pedestrian mall in Brisbane.  I love being up at tree height and watching the activity below.  It was also a good opportunity for another try at sketching this historic cinema, which has been turned into a visitor centre with only the ornate lobby and sign remaining.

and here is what it looked like in real life (I leaned out a bit to take the photo):

Home interior, laundry cascade, by Elaine (jaguarish)

My breakfast view this morning was a messy pile of laundry waiting to be folded, which had been pawed through and left in an unruly cascade.  (I'm a bit proud of myself for not losing the plot when I was going back and forth with all the zig zags of the crochet blanket on the end!)

Home interior, breakfast, by Elaine (jaguarish)

This week in the Urban Sketchers group, the theme is "Typical Day" and I sketched my son at breakfast in his navy puffy jacket, reading "Secret Agent Mummy" and my daughter reading her e-book on an Adobe e-reader.  The chair at the end of the table is "Grandma's chair" with a special back cushion for my mother in law.

I thought this would be an easy sketch but despite intense focus on his book, my son shifted and moved endlessly!

The bottom half of the page is also for "Typical Day" where I sketched a view at lunchtime.

Where I live, more hockey observations, by Elaine (jaguarish)

This Saturday, I was at the hockey fields again, and brought along a different book -- an A5 book of Arches Rough watercolor paper, which I regard as one of the finest papers available.  I'd been discussing techniques with a friend of mine so I thought I'd try her method, which is to lay down a wash of clear water and drop the colour (unmixed) straight on the page and allow it to mix and bloom organically.  I had some trouble getting the right intensity of colour so I ended up layering a bit, but overall it is a pleasing technique and I recommend trying it!

In terms of the actual composition, what I liked about this scene was the dots of colour of the various team uniforms as they ran around the fields, and I didn't have to worry about details as they were all quite far away.  I had a couple of people wander by and inspect my work as I was going along, and that was interesting as well.  I really enjoy talking to people about the pleasure that drawing and painting brings!

Where I live, Saturday morning hockey observations, by Elaine (jaguarish)

I just realised this kind of fits the previous theme of "motion" as well!  Every Saturday morning the park fills up with families and young women who are playing hockey or netball.  These are my scribbly motion captures of my daughter's team warming up and playing.  Interestingly, at the end of the game, this team stands in a circle and does "3 cheers for..." and rattles their hockey sticks together, but I saw other teams do something completely different where they link hands and sidestep in a circle around the goalie (who is lumbered up with gear and thus less mobile) while chanting team cries.

Stained glass, photo references, Elaine

Hey!  I forgot I'd suggested this theme.  Here are some photos from my own camera which you are welcome to work from.

2014-11-12 Clayfield Memorial School of Arts

2014-12-02 Hamilton Library interior detail

2014-12-24 Queen Victoria Building, Sydney

Brisbane Open House - Tattersalls Club

And here is one work I did on a visit to the Leadlight Craftsman:

Fish, by Elaine (jaguarish)

I've been thinking a bit about triangles and fractals because I recently knit a pattern called flying geese which uses triangles as the basic shape, repeated.  So I doodled a fish shape built out of triangles.  It's not very fractal but I'm still thinking about that part... (in fractals, the basic shape gets repeated in increasing size).

Flower doodle, by Elaine

Flowers doodled on a watercolour background treated with salt and alcohol. (from Strathmore's free online workshop #2, 2014):

Favorite animal, "Nekobus" by Elaine (jaguarish)

I have not had many pets in my life (just aquarium fish) but I do like cats.  Unfortunately my husband is allergic so I usually just admire from afar.  In thinking about the theme, though, I remembered that one of my favorite movie characters is the "bus" in the animated movie "Totoro" which is actually a cat with mice on its head for running lights.  (Donna you should love this!)

"Neko" is the Japanese word for cat.  This character is also known as the catbus.  My drawing has come out a bit creepy but he's actually a very charming character.

I looked at a few images to refresh my memory then tried to do this little drawing without reference.  It's in the tiniest sketchbook I've ever owned, smaller than a credit card, which a friend sent me for Xmas.

Favorite tool, Moulinex, by Elaine (jaguarish)

Here is one of my favorite tools in the kitchen.  I originally bought it for making baby food and now use it whenever I need to make mashed potatoes or applesauce.  The puree it makes is guaranteed to be fluffy and free of unwanted solid bits, and best of all, I don't have to peel or trim anything!

Selfie, by Elaine

I really struggle with doing selfies! But sometimes if I use a brush pen it works out, as a way to stop myself from getting bogged down in details.

What I saw, Mitchelton station, by Elaine (jaguarish)

I decided to try capturing quick impressions using my brush pen, of various people coming to and from the train station.  They were all moving very quickly indeed and I had to just glance once then draw from memory.  It was harder to do than I expected, but fun trying to spot my next victim :)

After I got on the train I focussed on just one man sitting opposite me.  Luckily he was engrossed in his tablet and did not notice me at all.

Who we are, knitting a sock, by Elaine

Kind of interesting to draw my knitting.   These two interests of mine don't usually intersect!  I am using a self striping yarn, Paton's Dreamtime.  This is my first sock (not counting some slippers in thick yarn that I made last year).  I am somehow finding this quite a challenge, maybe because I keep losing track of where I am up to in the pattern, so often have to undo 4 or 5 rows when I notice a mistake down the track...

I have named these "Mockingjay socks" because of the colours and because I like the Hunger Games.  If you are curious what the finished item will look like, here is a link to the pattern on Ravelry:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/eyelet--feather-socks
and a link to various projects made with the pattern:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/eyelet--feather-socks/people