Peggy Gordons

 

If you've ever been to Peggy Gordons and thought that you may have had too many, don't worry. It's the building... NOT YOU! The toilet is in what used to be a vault. That door really IS that heavy. So have another.

Sea Creatures

Our local library has an art competition to collect some art for some printed bookmarks for every year. Usually, it's just for kids but this year they decided to try an adult (tall kid) category. The four themes to choose from were: Whānau (family), Steampunk, Sea Creatures or Play. During the awards it was mentioned that the Steampunk category was quite popular but it just didn't produce any winning entries.

I chose the Sea Creatures theme and mine was selected. Normally I draw from life but for the two snappers I used some photos, and for the octopus I watched a National Geographic YouTube video a number of times as I sketched.

It was great to see the other winners. These kids are way better artists than I was at that age.

Mitsubishi 4x4 van

This awesome van was for sale on the side of the road. I like how it's just a normal small van with a bunch of outdoorsy optional extras. It's over a quarter century old and has over a quarter million kilometres on it. It's also way overpriced, but I'm sure someone will buy it.

Fountain Lake

In Pukekura Park, there is a lake that has a fountain in the middle of it. A button on the edge activates a cycle of alternating water patterns for a couple of minutes. Kids love pushing it to get the fountain started. When I was there, a couple of men in suits were walking around doing work. I could tell because they were pointing at many things. One of them pointed to the button and the other one pressed it. Big smiles all around. Businessmen love the fountain too.

Kings Building

It's finally spring and I'm out in the afternooon sun. A few days later, I see this headline in the local news. It looks like I'm back to indoor sketching.

Food Court Lunch

I had some extra time while shopping so I sketched the mall food court. I noticed three things:
1.  It's amazing how little time people take when eating in a food court. People aren't there to chat; it's all business so that makes for some fast sketching. I definitely feel sketching people in a proper cafe is easier.
2.  About 80% of females partaking in a food court lunch had longer hair tied back in a ponytail.
3.  The fast food franchise kiosks with huge advertising budgets get a return on their investment. There was a constant queue for burgers while some of the other places were super quiet. The Chinese food place had one guy just standing there behind a buffet, with no takers. I kept looking over at him and it never changed. (When this one was done though, I went over to Mr. Lonely and bought a plate of sweet and sour pork.)

Kākāpō

In Puke Ariki museum again; this time drawing a Kākāpō. It's a New Zealand flightless parrot and as of today, there's only 142 left. Click here to find out more or to donate to their recovery!

Taranaki Mountainairs

A couple of weeks ago, we went to see some B-ball action here in Taranaki. It turns out that the local boys didn't have enough left in the tank to finish the season up with a win.

Standard 10 and the Harvard

Some more winter sketching in the Taranaki Aviation Technology & Transport Museum. There's so much stuff in here. Most things are grouped into sections but there's always the odd specimen randomly inserted. A toy-sized 1950's car is snuggled under the wing of a Harvard (T-6 Texan) fighter plane. I drew the plane a few years ago and I think it was damaged on a landing. That's why it lives in here with the cute cars and why its current propeller is too small. (It looks tons better than with no propeller though!)

Govett-Brewster Art Gallery

This was done over multiple lunches at about 15 minutes per day. The first day, there was a car with a roof rack. Being finicky, I didn't want to draw that so left the bottom for tomorrow. The next day, there was van with a roof rack. The third day, 6 out of the 8 vehicles had a roof rack. I was able to wrap up the cars and the people on the fourth day but it seemed like there was a conspiracy.

Ngamotu Engine

It's been a while since I'd been to the Taranaki Aviation Technology and Transport Museum. While I was there, they fired up an engine from a ship used to dredge sand from the seaport. The sign said that it ran at about 100rpm on the ship but when I was there, in the museum, it was much slower than that. (Maybe 10-20%?) At that speed, it was making this sound that was like it was breathing. It was so hypnotic that I ended up sitting down and sketching it.

I made a 60-second video, if you want to hear the breathing sound:

I'm looking for a winter sketching venue so maybe I'll be back periodically.

Downtown New Plymouth

It's starting to feel like the beginning of winter sketching in New Zealand.

Holdens

I was sketching the people checking out some down-under cars that were driven here from all over New Zealand on the weekend.

Two cars down was a blue Holden that had a sign that featured a sketch by Murray Dewhurst.

45 Tonne Crane (for hire!)

At the Taranaki Truck Show: Sitting in the shade drawing a crane, drinking L&P and overhearing the truck drivers talk shop on their day off.

Unloading a ship at Port Taranaki

Tons of identical trucks queue up to unload a fertiliser ship at Port Taranaki

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.

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.

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.

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)