Huatoki Plaza

Huatoki Plaza was a retail building that was removed to expose the covered stream beneath it. New Plymouth made a reasonably boring urban space for people to ignore. One day, an artist put up a paste-up image of a face to try to make it better. It probably did because these days, the Plaza has several artists' work on various buildings that face it. I've sketched one of the buildings a few times and currently has artwork by Phil 'Suspect' Jones and his studio is actually in the Plaza and his murals are all around town.

Retro Robots: IQ9

This one was a doodle of a robot from a cartoon* that I watched as a kid. I haven't seen it in some time so it's how I remembered him looking. I added some watercolours to finish it off. Someone pointed out to me once that if a movie had robot in it, I probably liked it. While not 100%, this is more true than I realised. I guess I am fascinated by robots; Maybe I should draw more!

*Starblazers/Space Battleship Yamato

Rainy Villa

On a covered deck in the rain I got a cold that lasted a week. Now, the sun's back and so am I.

Salmon Building

I only see this place in winter even though it's painted a bright salmon orange. The plants and moss growing on the side of it camouflage it into the fresh spring leaves. I did this one in September and the building's already starting to disappear among the trees.

Waitara Whitebait

Whitebait fishing means lots of big nets and tiny fish. It sounds like cheating if you say it that way.

Good & Bad Parking

Even though these racks are for bicycles, the scooter beside the upright rack shows an example of good parking. The bent over one adjacent to the parallel car park area shows a past-tense example of bad parking.

Ava the greyhound

At the 'We Love Dogs Expo' I was drawing the dogs that I loved the most - the greyhounds.

Rover 3500

I was talking to the owner of this car as I drew this. He said that he bought the Rover 3.5 brand-new in 1972. He's also had several cars since then, but always kept this one. I really liked it too.

Hong Kong Fast Food

A couple of sketches ago I posted the Broadway Fast Food in Stratford. Today, I'm bringing you the Hong Kong Fast Food from New Plymouth. I don't know why it's called that really. They specialise in meat and potato roast dinners. (Just like the ones you can get in Hong Kong?)

New Plymouth Coastal Walkway

"...and at the first sign of sun, the urban sketcher leaves his studio of hibernation to once again draw and paint the world." (It seems bit early for weather this nice, but I'll take it.)

Broadway Fastfood

This is a sketch of the signage for a takeaway restaurant in Stratford. My favourite part is the hand-painted signage since we're seeing that kind of stuff less all the time. Most businesses these days have computer printed signs and the hand-painted sign is a bit of a lost art. My second favourite part is the claim of the "Great Tasting Healthier Takeaway". That seems a pretty gutsy, yet hard to prove, boast. Finally, the fact that this place is "Fully Licensed". So basically if you're there to pick up some fish & chips, you can probably get a gin & tonic.

Moturoa BP

Five years ago, I did this sketch of a weird BP service station in Moturoa. Since it was kind of a house with fuel pumps in front of it, I wondered how long it would last in today's safety regulated world. It turns out, about 2 years. The new modern replacement looks like any other in the world and has a bit less charm. It does have a small cafe inside the kiosk though, in case you want to sit around and watch people pump gas*. 

(*like me)