Life drawing on the other side of the world

Found a class to attend in NZ within 5 days of arriving and it certainly helped in making me feel more grounded. Here's a drawing of a contemplative pose to which I later added some collage-y bits.

Capturing home in New Zealand

So this month I've gone and relocated to Auckland, and I've been trying to make myself feel at home. This has partly involved getting a new pet. But I've also spent time admiring and pondering the traditional kiwi home. Here's a not very well photographed example:

White, wooden, single storey (aka a bungalow!), with decorative trellis-y bits (I'm yet to learn what these are actually called..), a corrugated roof, and the all important deck. (They also seem to be single glazed, although mentioning this makes me feel like a right diva, so ignore that..).

They've got a certain charm that I tried to capture in a couple of drawings (from a stealth position in my car), but I'm not quite there yet. 

I think it might be something to do with the amount of lines.. But I'll persevere into November and see if I can find my feet a bit more, both visually and physically..

Tiles

I've spent some quality time drawing some lovely Lisbon tile patterns, inspired by recent trips and this excellent collection. Here is one of many little sketches, of which there will be many more. I feel a project coming on...

Dino party times

This is absolutely, totally, factually what a dinosaur party would look like..

Work on show

My Leeds-scape (below) has been selected as one of 18 in the latest installment of the 'Imaginary Museum' series - Monuments and Landmarks.  This is on show at the University of Leeds School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies until the end of the month. Go along to pick you favourite postcards from the collection and start your own 'imaginary museum'..

Bridges

So a friend asked me to come up with a logo for his freelance consultancy work in the heritage / library / archiving world, incorporating the bridges that span the Tyne in Newcastle. Little did I know there were 5 bridges, but indeed there are! And so... I came up with the idea to arrange said bridges in a stacked formation, as if on a bookcase, drawing on relevant connotations around cataloguing, organisation and structure. Here's a neat and not so neat version, plus one with some colour and texture for added aesthetic appeal.

 

Abacaxi

Became a bit obsessed with this word during my (ongoing) attempt to learn Portuguese. And now I keep spotting them all over. So I had to join the club and draw one - in continuous line and digital collage - conveniently completed in time for a special person's birthday. Happy pineapple.