Christmas Lunch and Sketchout

The Gardens Club is the former Curators Cottage at the Botanic Gardens Brisbane.
In 1855 Walter Hill was appointed as curator of the Botanic Reserve, a position he held until 1881. He began an active planting and experimental program. Some of the older trees planted in the Gardens were the first of their species to be planted in Australia, due to Hill's experiments to acclimatise plants.   The first cultivated macadamia tree is still living there as is the first cultivated Bunya Nut Pine.
By 1866 Hill had succeeded in having the extent of the Botanic Gardens enlarged to approximately 27 acres.  

I did this sketch in my handmade 8" x 7" sketchbook Lamy pen and watercolour..

The following sketches, I did in my Post card pad, while waiting for the ladies to arrive.

Christmas tree in King George Square

I was early for my "Greet" this morning, so I sat at my favourite cfe on the Square and had a go sketching the Christmas Tree.  This tree has different light patterns and is very beautiful at night.  It is totally run by Solar power..

My travel kit

Historic Melbourne Street, South Brisbane.

I sketched with the Brisbane City Sketchers in Melbourne Street this morning.  Melbourne Street is an older street in South Brisbane, and does still have some of the original buildings in it.  

I found a good seat outside Jo-Jo's restaurant.  Jo-Jo's is owned by Stefan Ackerie, one of Queenslands Billionaires, in fact he was one of the first.

My first sketch was looking up Melbourne Street towards the city, in my handmade sketchbook with pen and watercolour.

This is The Bach Living, a homewares store attached to Jo-Jo's it is now owned by the store.

Brisbane City Sketchers at GOMA

It was a wonderful morning, seven of us came out urban sketching, coffee and show and tell was fun!
I was sitting in the GOMA Bistro Cafe looking across river..

Sketched in my watercolour postcard pad, 4" 6" pen and watercolour 

Brisbane City Sketchers at the Queensland Museum

The Queensland Museum was founded by the Queensland Philosophical Society on 20 January 1862, and has occupied many buildings over the years.. the present building since 1986.  The museum is also a world-class research facility in the fields of biodiversity, geoscience and cultural history.

I sat on the Museum Green in the sun to draw this. :-)
Handmade Sketchbook 8" x 7" pen and watercolour.

 

 

 

A very fun morning with the Brisbane City Sketchers in South Brisbane.  The Fox Hotel is a gem!

The four storied Fox Hotel was originally constructed in the late 1800s. It started life as The Terminus, because it marked the end of the Tram

A very fun morning with the Brisbane City Sketchers in South Brisbane.  The Fox Hotel is a gem!

The four storied Fox Hotel was originally constructed in the late 1800s. It started life as The Terminus, because it marked the end of the Tram route.. The Fox has had 6 name changes in its lifetime!  The inside has  a lot of the original features, including a Grand Staircase! I love going there, specially for dinner.

The Fox Hotel
Sketched in my 8"x7" handmade sketchbook. Pen and watercolour

route.. The Fox has had 6 name changes in its lifetime!  The inside has  a lot of the original features, including a Grand Staircase! I love going there, specially for dinner.

The Fox Hotel
Sketched in my 8"x7" handmade sketchbook. Pen and watercolour

It was beautiful this morning on the river, Southside.  We are having a heart-wave, but I swear it was 5 deg cooler on the river than at my home!

I took my postcard book with me today, and my handmade sketchbook.

It is Melbourne Cup day, the famous horse race, so I suspect the majority of our BCSketchers were at Cup Day parties.  John H and I were the only two who ventured out.  I had a really good morning, doing what I love.

This drawing was done in my handmade sketchbook.  I was drawn to the scene by the smoke stack and the pelican sunning himself getting dry.  It is incredibly hot for our wildlife too!

Postcard Sketch of Eat Street, North Shore

Hamilton is an Elite area, lots of houses all vying for position on Hamilton Hill.  I would hate the crowding up there myself.

Sketching a heritage listed building in the City.

It was a super fun morning with the Brisbane City Sketchers, sunshine and great company today!  

I chose to sketch the BAFS Building,  a heritage-listed former pharmacy at 331 & 333 George Street. It was designed by Lange Leopold Powell and built from 1915 to 1916 by B Cunningham.  I love this building, 

I would like to go back and draw it again. Maybe bigger paper.

Drawn in my handmade sketchbook 8"×6" pen and watercolour

There are some pretty awesome artists in this group!

What a wonderful morning, sketching at the University of Queensland.  

In 1927, the land on which the St Lucia campus is built was resumed by the Brisbane City Council using money donated by James O'Neil Mayne and his sister Mary Emelia Mayne to replace the less spacious city campus. The city campus is now home to the Gardens Point campus of the Queensland University of Technology. Construction of the new university at St Lucia began in 1937, and at its centre is the heritage-listed Great Court – a 2.5 hectares (6.2 acres) open area surrounded by Helidon sandstone buildings with grotesques of great academics and historic scenes, floral and faunal motifs and crests of universities and colleges from around the world.

The University of Queensland is proud of their of their fauna.  They have over 6000 trees on campus, and early this month hundreds of volunteers turned out to turn sod, planting more than 5000 trees on the banks of the Brisbane River, with plans top plant another 5000 in coming months.

 

The jacarandas are all out in full bloom.  We chose one of the smaller lakes to sit and sketch by, and I chose jacaranda lane.

Dockside Kangaroo Point

What a delightful morning I had.  A friend and I met at the Medley Cafe to sketch.  I love this area, so much to draw, so little time..  I was quite prolific today, having finished four small drawings.

Let me tell you a little history of this area, it is one of the oldest suburbs in Brisbane, and was occupied by the Turrbal people first.  In  1844, the first house in the Kangaroo Point was built by Surveyor James Warner.  The Church of England opened the first school in Kangaroo Point in 1861.   In 1901, the main storage facility of Queensland Navy was located in the Kangaroo Point.  In 1903, the building of the first ship-based radio transmission in Australia happened.  

The Story Bridge is a Cantilever bridge built in 1940. It was commissioned to help workers during the depression. It is the longest cantilever bridge in Australia.

Jacaranda in the grounds of Yungaba House
Yungaba House started out as an immigration house in 1887 It was subsequently used as a temporary refuge for destitute soldiers, an accommodation centre for workers on the Story Bridge and later as a hospital in WWII. It is on the Heritage register, and the interior has been converted into apartments.

Looking across river from the Medley cafe is one of my favourite buildings.
This building was a boat club in the 1930's/40s During the war years, the Americans used to hide their submarines under the water here. There was a slipway, and they were close to the Dry Dock where the subs went for maintenance.

This is a beautiful walk from the Medley Cafe to the Dockside Ferry Wharf, when the jacarandas are in full bloom. This is a delightful path with naval sculptures to remind us of this areas former life.

BRISBANE CITY SKETCHERS