Taranaki Cathedral

This week, I just got out of the summer sun and drew a picture in the shade of some large trees. This is the back of the Taranaki Cathedral Church of St Mary. Although it's over 150 years old, it's only become a cathedral about two years ago. With the old British stone church architecture, it seems to me to be a bit out of place in New Zealand. Still, it was pleasant enough to sit under a tree and draw it as if I was drawing somewhere else.

St Aubyn Chambers building

I wouldn't say that this is an ordinary apartment building since it has this rounded shape (on the corner of St Aubyn Street and Queen Streets, New Plymouth). That being said, there is this plaque on the wall of it stating that it is historic. The inscription also mentions that the bottom floor, where people live now, originally was a service station! (as in a gas/petrol station!) The top floors were as they were but maybe offices or similar and motorists would drive in underneath. Weird!
I've asked some people who have lived their lives here if this is true, and apparently, it is. Taking this into consideration, I'd have to say that these days, it's looking pretty normal - a shadow of it's former self - but I still like it.

Super Bowl Monday

I don't always watch the Super Bowl. Actually almost never. Since I'm living in New Zealand it doesn't really get hyped down here as much as in North America. It's shown on TV and it's possible to watch it live on the right channel but the game is always on a Sunday! New Zealand is already busy doing Monday when it's Sunday in the States so I also am at work when it's on too.
This year, Super Bowl Sunday was on the same Monday down here that just happened to be a New Zealand national holiday called Waitangi Day. For those that don't know it, it's basically the anniversary of a signing of a piece of paper between western colonists and the local indigenous people. Some modern Maoris (the people living in New Zealand first) don't think that they really got a fair deal when they signed it (and are possibly right). As a result, there can be mixed feelings about it but one thing that everyone loves is the day off. I know... I'll watch the Super Bowl!
I decided to bike into town to watch it at a local sports bar that was advertising that they were going to show it. On my way there, I was going to cut through the town square to save time (and pedal-power). I was stopped by a quite large gathering of people in a civic Waitangi Day celebration. I forgot about that. As I got off my bike and waded through the groups on my way to the other side, I noticed my lack of personal culture. On New Zealand's national day, everyone was watching a group from Samoa singing and dancing. And then there's me, (actually a Canadian) going to see an American tradition.
Walking up the street on the other side of the crowd, I could see that most pubs weren't showing the game. I knew that there was one place that advertised that they were putting it on their 'big screen'. Even they also showed golf and cricket on the other TV monitors though. As an infrequent sports fan of all types, I appreciated the high percentage of Americans here available to talk football and point out things that I would have missed. I made most of this sketch early in the game since it ended about 4 hours later. I made another illustration later that is a bit more finished that describes the strange end of the game. You can see it on my other blog.

Red-Hot Drawing - Part 2

So after that "Red Hot Week" of sunny weather (see my previous post), this week has been rain-tastic! As a result, I've been doing a bit of inside-type of artwork. Here is one that is a colourized version of the red street scene from last week.