What’s the best thing to do on a day off?? Call a friend and arrange a sketch out!
I have long admired this entire row of old high-set Queenslander homes located along Vulture Street in South Brisbane. I drive past them a fair bit, but never have the opportunity to stop and gawk. Parking in that suburb is terrible, and I’d have to pay for parking at Southbank so I simply can’t be bothered.
It’s a bit cooler today so I decided to catch up with my friend, JJ, and do a bit of exploring!
The first sketch is of this lovely old maroon building. JJ and I had parked our butts in this little patch of green just opposite these homes and set up our camp stools ready for a morning of sketching. We were fortunate in that it wasn’t particularly hot today, and we had several beautiful old trees shading us. My pen is a bit rusty, so I am very happy that this turned out quite well. While we were sketching, this man came up to have a word with us, and it turns out he has been hired to re-roof the house. He has been doing a little scouting of the premises and is trying to work out where to park his ute, as there is no built in garage for this house. Apparently the house has a large green garden behind. The house itself has lovely carved balustrades and louvred windows. I am dying to see what it looks like inside.
I did this sketch because I was quite amused by the row of SEVEN dustbins lined up in front of its elegant brick fence. This house is right next door to the maroon one above. I suppose once upon a time, this house would have been lived in by one family, but it looks like all these high set homes have now been subdivided into separate rooms for individual rentals. Hence the large number of bins. The arched wall openings are particularly interesting, as I am imagining that the opening to the left would have housed a carriage, but nowadays it would be a car. Why don’t they make arched door ways anymore? Everything looks instantly more interesting and elegant.
As we were sitting under these trees, these clumps of moist matter kept falling on us. It’s not bird poo. What could it be? JJ tells me it is cicada rain, which is like cicada pee. I am trying not to believe it. But I kept my hat on the whole time.
Here’s yours truly with my completed sketch, all watercolored in. Just as we were tidying up, a group of tradies on their lunch break came up for a chat and were suitably impressed by our artistic efforts. So why not rope them in to take some photos??
A wonderful morning. Definitely must do it again.
