Sketching with the Brisbane Urban Sketchers 23rd December in Queen Street Mall

The City is all decked out for Christmas, and the theme this year is The Nutcracker.  We took advantage of the wonderful larger than life ornament sculptures

Brisbane Urban Sketchers

Tuesday Sketchout, with the Brisbane Urban Sketchers at the Brisbane Botanic Gardens

Bunya Pine

Araucaria bidwillii, the bunya pine, is a large evergreen coniferous tree in the plant family Araucariaceae. It is found naturally in south-east Queensland Australia

Boab Tree

Adansonia gregorii, commonly known as the boab, is a tree in the family Malvaceae. As with other baobabs, it is easily recognised by the swollen base of its trunk, which gives the tree a bottle-like appearance.

Strangler Fig

Strangler fig, also called strangler, many species of tropical figs (genus Ficus) named for their pattern of growth upon host trees, which often results in the host’s death. Strangler figs and other strangler species are common in tropical forests throughout the world.

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Sketching with the Brisbane Urban Sketchers at the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens

The Gardens include Brisbane's most mature gardens, with many rare and unusual botanic species. In particular the Gardens feature a special collection of cycads, palms, figs and bamboo. The Queensland Heritage Register describes the Gardens as "the most significant, non-Aboriginal cultural landscape in Queensland, having a continuous horticultural history since 1828, without any significant loss of land area or change in use over that time. It remains the premier public park and recreational facility for the capital of Queensland, which role it has performed since the early 1840s.

Fiscus

Waterfall

Tree Fern

Naval Offices on Edward Street

The 1901 former Naval Offices, Brisbane, is important surviving evidence of the existence of the Queensland Marine Defence Force (QMDF, established 1885) and the later policy of basing Australian naval vessels in Queensland. Although the QMDF ceased to exist soon after the building was finished, it was used by the Australian Commonwealth Navy (ACN) and then the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) until the 1970s. The architectural style of the building is mainly Baroque, with an ornate entrance pediment which incorporates the Naval Defence Coat of Arms. This is a largely intact example of a Federation period building. The original wrought iron entry gates still hang in the arched entrance way. The building is predominantly constructed from red brick which is essentially plain on the lower level and stuccoed on the upper level."

Sketching at Parliament House

Sketching with the Brisbane Urban Sketchers in Cathedral Square - Anne Street

It was 32 degrees Celsius in the city today, but the Brisbane Urban Sketchers braved the heat and went sketching.  Seven of us descended on St John's Cathedral and Cathedral Square.

First sketch was of a. Sculpture El Emigrante by World Lebanese Cultural Union (2010)

The inscription reads..... "Le Imigrante - a statue, erected in memory of the Lebanese settlers, who 140 years ago established a presence in Australia."

I was sketching this amazing tree, from Cathedral Square, when around 500 people people descended on the park, milling around and standing between me and the tree. It turned out there was a fire drill and that was their meeting point. So I gave up.

Sketching St Martin War Memorial Hospital - Anne Street - Brisbane

My warm up from the Adore Cafe whilst waiting for the group to arrive.

Sketching New Farm Park with the Brisbane Urban Sketchers Tuesday 4th 2014

 

New Farm Park..

The land that the park now stands on was originally a farm, built to supply food for the recently founded convict settlement on the Brisbane River. A racecourse was built on the site in 1846, which operated until 1913, when the land for the park was acquired by the Brisbane City Council. Area 15 hectares (37 acres)

The area was dotted by lagoons and waterholes which the Aboriginals named Binkin-ba, meaning "place of the land tortoise"

Because of World War I the official opening of the park, which was conducted by Hamilton Goold-Adams, was delayed until July 1919 - The rotunda was built in 1915. It was part of the formal park. Work began by the Brisbane City Council in 1914. Other facilities included a croquet lawn, picnic areas, cricket wickets, tennis courts and football grounds.

The park is now a beautiful area, with jacaranda trees, Poinciana Trees, Cassia Trees. Magnificent rose gardens too.