There's a weird mixed-use building that has a radio station on the top and a Senior Citizens Association on the bottom. It's architecturally weird. It sort of has a barn shape but it's not symmetrical. The bottom front wall is covered in ceramic tiles like it's a bathroom or a space shuttle. And the colour scheme is so bad that there's no way I couldn't colour it. It was sketched in April, and uploaded now.  Just after I finished the watercolour I noticed that they repainted the building. It's even a bit uglier NOW. Perfect for sketching!

Just a watercolour sketch of a cool old building by the tracks in the town of Stratford, New Zealand.

We had a group sketch at the Colliers Building on the weekend. I sat on the same bench several years ago.
​Activity time: Spot 8 differences!

This is another set of sketches that I put aside from the Taranaki Top Shop Awards. (These are regional retail shop awards.) I hammered these out on the awards night and then put them away. I tried to be a bit stealthy as it was. I didn't think that I could pull out a set of watercolours... but I knew that this needed to be in colour. So, NOW, here it is. I also pulled out my mini-book for a second sketch of the band and dancing that happened after the award were presented.

This was drawn, on location, a couple of months ago when the leaves were starting to fall off the trees. Lately, I've been dusting off some old sketches that I've been putting aside. Ones that I thought would look good in colour but didn't have the time on the day I was there. I have a few backed up here, freshly coloured, just waiting for the scanner.

We went back to the artisans at the Rangimarie Maori Arts & Crafts Centre. We've been there before and they are a very welcoming bunch. Several artists were working on their projects. Scott and I decided to sit in the middle and get the full wide-view.

There's an old-timey building on Brougham Street in New Plymouth that stands out because it is painted bright red with gold highlights. I was trying to find that perfect angle that sketchers look for. I found it in the alley, looking out into the sunny street.

So I'm still using this red pen. The ink is supposed to be waterproof but I haven't tried it yet. I did this drawing on the weekend and yesterday tried going overtop with a red watercolour paint. The ink seems to have stayed where I put it so I might keep using this from time to time.

Urban Sketchers from around New Zealand travelled to Whanganui to sketch over a weekend. These are a bunch of sketches and a video from my experience.