Metro Plaza

The Metro Plaza is a pretty cool old-timey building that goes unnoticed. The two trees that I drew in this sketch are actually in front of the words, "Metro" and "Plaza". By moving them out a bit, you can now see the retro features, such as the type and the strange half circle design feature (which I am guessing to be made of steel). Also, it has oddly prominent front double doors that comes out of the upper floor. Stairs comes down on BOTH sides of the awning in case there is tons of people that need to get to safety in extravagance. It seems like a stage set to me where a musical could be performed.
At the bottom is an arcade with shops (not the kind with Pac-Man) that lead to a parking building. I remember that there used to be an American-themed bar in there that was closed once because it was a New Zealand public holiday. Still, other pubs were open and I though it was weird that an American bar wouldn't be open for the Super Bowl, which was the same day. Well, today it isn't there.

Te Henui Cemetery

The old part of the cemetery is far more interesting than the newer sections. The older graves have a sculptural quality to them, each one having their own look. Cemented sections with established trees are placed up and down the hilly bit and not always in rows. The new parts are just straight lines of headstones with wide gaps of grass. I was sitting in a terraced area with angled rows that mimicked the original topography of the hillside. I also noticed that most of these headstone use fancier (sometimes scripty) type than is commonly used on newer headstones.
Last time I was here was two years ago and below is the sketch (and a digitally coloured version) from then. While I was there I noticed a headstone for the Viking Lander out of the corner of my eye. (The 1970's Mars Mission?) Surely, not! At the very least, wasn't it on another planet? (I explain it better on my other blog.)

2011 Sketch

2011 Sketch - coloured

Nissan Micra's Big Day Out

I actually came here to sketch the intersection. There was a street bench with a nice view up the hill that I had scoped out the day before. On the day, a Nissan Micra was parked right in my perfect view. (I guess there was no car parked here the day before.) 

So I thought, if this car was, say, a Maserati I would have no trouble starting my drawing. I thought, even though this car isn't an extreme luxury auto, it could be someone's treasured little car. Maybe it even has name (like Rupert, even)! 

So in the end, I decided to show this little runabout a little love and feature it right in the middle. He's probably really enjoying his day out in downtown New Plymouth.