Tupare Garden Market

New Plymouth organised a garden market set up at Tupare Garden. For those that don't know the place, there's this reasonably large old house set on this manicured hillside. Once a large residence, this park now makes a pretty good location for country market stalls, food and music. From my perch under a tree, I could sketch people from above while listening to the different musicians. There was one who was singing current popular music in a slow and jazzy style. A mellow lounge singer version of Daft Punk's Get Lucky still pops into my head from time to time.

Power Pole

When I was younger, I thought that in the future... there wouldn't be any telephone/power poles. All wires would be below ground. It's like that in some cities and newer subdivisions but I don't think they will disappear in my lifetime. A good part of the world is pretty wired up and by this I mean lots of slapdash looking jobs. Way too many wires on some. No design. Unplanned. Just keep adding more and more weird crap to them.

This pole that I drew is near where I live. A big cement-y pole with some wood beams cross-strapped here and there. This one also has some heavy-duty lines on the top that go in all directions before being herded down a tube that runs the length of it. It's not going to win any engineering awards. I also like how the streetlight is just bolted to the side of an old piece of wood that is bolted to the centre. 

The newest addition to the Pole of Shame is the bottom bit. Nationwide, New Zealand is currently being hooked up to fibre-optic broadband internet. That bottom pod thing is what that is. With that of course comes another hefty cable. You can follow that one down, and then up, and then to the right. The funny thing is that even though everyone is around digging holes and laying underground cables everywhere, our pole gets one of these babies. Well, you wouldn't want to ruin the current aesthetic that we already have going on here.

Nasty cabling isn't unique to this country. I know some countries load up their points with even way more wires. However, I think that each place does it their own way and that you can tell what part of the world you're in just by the style of crappy wiring that is around you.

Old and New

An old grave behind the cathedral with a new headstone.  The top of this one has the same sculptural 'cloth over an urn' that was on the stone from a sketch in August. The other one didn't seem that new so maybe this style is one of those 'timeless classics' that families keep choosing throughout the years. 

(This is also a similar view to a sketch from a couple years ago. A hot day and drawing in the shade under a tree. The tree on the right here is the same tree on the left in the red sketch.)

August

'Red' sketch from 2012

2014 Te Kupenga Stone Sculpture Symposium

Almost two weeks ago, we were down at the water's edge to draw the 2014 Te Kupenga Stone Sculpture Symposium. This basically is stone carvers from around the world getting together in one public place here in New Plymouth to make a bunch of work in front of an audience. I drew Nigel Scalon working away on his first cuts. I saw him again yesterday working like crazy to finish up. He had one day left before all work was stopped, tools removed and the public is allowed to freely walk around to see (and touch) the different pieces. After another week, there is an art auction at the site.

This event happens every two years. Last year, I ended up colouring my sketch and the two blue ones are from even a little bit earlier when we went to go draw at their club working site. (Click the pics to enlarge.)