Plein Air Sketches

My full plein air kit. Painted in an A4 Moleskine watercolour folio. 2014.

Here is a sketch of my full plein air sketching kit. It was a lot of fun to create all the different materials - metal, plastic, wood, hair etc. To see the full work in progress and read about each item click here. Of course I test out new tools and items change over time, but I do like to have a range of sketching, drawing and painting tools with me.

For more information on materials see this page.

Plein Air Sketches

I love sketching from life - I remember doing it for the first time when I was 11 and have continued where ever possible. Since joining the Urban Sketchers organisation in 2013 I have discovered a world wide family of people who do the same thing. Get out and sketch! Some of my sketches may be used for larger paintings, some are done to explore techniques or test materials, most are just to record a scene or view. Making a sketch is so much more rewarding than taking a photo! I also use sketchbooks for testing paint mixtures, demonstrating techniques in my classes and documenting my paintings.

This sketch was started in 2014 when I spent a weekend with the Singapore Urban sketchers and taught some workshops. It was completed when I returned for the USK Symposium there in July 2015. You can see a little of it in progress in Parka's video here, as well as some of the other sketchers at work :-)

51 Craig Road, Chinatown, Singapore. Watercolour and ink, Moleskine A5 watercolour sketchbook.

Sketching, photo by my friend Vicki. See her amazing work at http://www.vicspics.com.au

Below is a selection of images from some of my sketchbooks. These are all drawn and painted from life, and from 2013 they were mostly done in small (A5) sketchbooks, my favourite being the original paper Moleskine Watercolour Notebook which is landscape format - I stocked up on spare books when they changed the paper.

I also use the Stillman & Birn Alpha pocket sketchbook as it is a good size to have with me for notes and sketches, as well as their slightly larger than 9x6" Alpha sketchbooks which I use in bound and spiral formats for quick sketches, studies and demonstrations. (See my Blog entry on the huge Stillman & Birn range here.)

The Beta square spiral-bound is designed for watercolour too, but the 200gsm paper of the Moleskine was hard to beat for a balance of weight and number of pages in the book. (See my blog post on Moleskine Watercolour Notebooks here.)

If I want a larger size I have used the Moleskine A4 watercolour folio or a Canson all Media spiral book. *Note - sadly the Moleskine paper has changed from 2014 and the new version is not as nice is it was.

I have tested the Handbook watercolour paper, the Strathmore 500 sketchbook paper and will explore the Pentallic aquarelle sketchbook. Winsor & Newton introduced a 300gsm 100% cotton paper range at the end of 2015 that looked promising. These are all workable without being exciting, I think.

In 2016 I started working in the gorgeous crowd funded The Perfect Sketchbook B5, made with Fabriano Artistico watercolour paper in 200gsm. I love them! They are my new favourite :-)

In 2018 I tested the Hahnemühle Watercolour Book, and it opens fully, has a good strong cover and is very nice paper for sketching and watercolour. I think it may be the best commercially available at the moment. It is available in a range of shapes and sizes.

For more detail on sketchbooks, see my blog post here and my website page here.

Like most of my work, many of these sketches have been professionally photographed and the sketches are available as a beautiful quality limited edition Giclée print for less than AU$100. Please contact me if you are interested.

Upcoming workshops and demonstrations are listed on my website in the Workshops and Demos tab.

Plein Air Sketches 2020

I'll update these soon - working on my online courses!

Plein Air Sketches 2019

I'll finish getting these loaded up soon. Working on my Travel Sketching course!

Plein Air Sketches 2018

Plein Air Sketches 2017

2017 was quite a year for travel. If I sketched faster I'd have more to show for it...but I tend to do on-location paintings :-) Pen-work is often a fountain pen and I use De Atramentis Document inks. Otherwise I like to sketch in light pencil or water-soluble pencil first.
Locations include Sydney, Dubai UAE, Bath UK, Cinque Terra Italy, Chicago US, San Francisco, Carmel, Santa Barbara, Tacoma, Portland, Seattle.

Plein Air Sketches 2016

Locations include Wellington New Zealand, Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Leeton, Bath UK, The Lake District, Manchester, Chester, New York and Montreal.

Left hand side - sketching in New York Metropolitan Museum

Plein Air Sketches 2015

Locations include Sydney, Hong Kong, London, York, Singapore, San Francisco, Seattle.

Cockatoo Island sketches 2014 - 2016

Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour has a varied and fascinating, though at many times brutal, history. I go there to sketch the wonderful relics from its many former lives. They are not pretty pictures but are wonderful subjects for watercolour.

Plein Air Sketches and Studies 2014

I sketch regularly with the Sydney Sketch Club and with Urban Sketchers as well as on my own or with small groups of friends and these are some more of the sketches and studies done on location this year. Click on the thumbnails to see the full image and description.
Locations include Sydney, the Blue Mountains and Hong Kong.

Plein air sketches and studies 2013

In 2013 I joined the Urban Sketchers and the Sydney Sketch Club. Both of these groups have had a huge impact as I met a number of other sketches and was challenged to sketch in wonderful new locations. What has been a solo activity for so many years was now a social activity. Sketching on location with like-minded friends became a new joy.
Locations include Sydney, Thredbo area, the Blue Mountains, Budgewoi and the Shoalhaven.

Sketches from 1981 - 2012

These sketches cover a long period of time from the earliest in 1981 up until 2012. They are from many different sketchbooks, some with paper that buckled with watercolour. They also include travel sketches that form part of a visual diary, and are arranged by subject rather than chronology.