Morley and St Aubyn Streets

This is a pretty cool older building on the corner of Morley and St Aubyn Streets is now home to a florist. I liked the surplus of signs in the one area (including four 'Stop's).

At the Govett-Brewster

Whenever I sketch inside the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, my drawings look a bit strange. Images of a surreal dream. Looking over a half-wall to a lower floor was a rotating mobile sculpture made of steel, lit brightly from one side and casting a shadow on a grey wall. In front of that was a video projected onto a hanging panel. I could imagine that if I didn't describe the scene a bit more you would be wondering what you are looking at.

The next two were from a different show at the same gallery, about one year earlier. One was an overhead view of some visitors watching a group of musicians interpret the different pieces. The other is another strange drawing of the result.

Peggy Gordons

This weekend, with the Taranaki Sketchers, the location was Peggy Gordon's Irish Pub. This isn't the first time sketching here. I've been here before. Strangely enough, I've never drawn the outside of the place.

Washers

I was sitting on the steps of St Andrew's Church in New Plymouth on the corner of Courtenay and Liardet Streets. I was watching the receding busy one-way traffic, the fire fighters in the hall across the street and paying attention to the details of the traffic lights as I sketched. The 'squeegee bandits' were out on the corner as well. These are a group of young people who are making a bit of cash by washing windows at red lights. There is a bit of controversy about this right now. It's in the newspaper occasionally and they may or may not be allowed to continue due to complaints. From what I was observing, they are generally polite with everyone and have no problem if you don't want a wash. Ironically, the only public menace on that corner was the van of teenagers driving around the block over and over again, yelling at them to 'get a life'.

The Arizona

The Arizona. A local greasy food seller open Wednesdays to Saturdays. Hours vary but are from 3pm to 4-5am. This implies that it is catering to a certain demographic of people that like to come into town in the evenings. The sign says, "... since 1965" so there certainly has been a market for this kind of place for some time now.

Alleyways

I like alleys (that aren't too scary). They make an urban environment more pedestrian and the finding of a secret shortcut satisfies the explorer in me.

Rainy Inside Days

There is this Phoenix Palm tree in front of my house. I have this love/hate thing for it. I love it that it seems tropical (since I'm from Canada originally) but I've had to go to the doctor's two times so far because of it. This type of tree has really sharp spikes that become infected easily and can easily go through leather gloves.

TATATM

TATATM - Taranaki Aviation Transport And Technology Museum
A pretty cool, yet underfunded, museum on the edge of New Plymouth, New Zealand. If you like old things, this has a surprisingly large amount of stuff to browse though. The items are sorted into different zones and all the museum volunteers there are likely experts in at least one area. Lots of things to draw - I did a couple:

A Harvard (T-6 Texan) - I think it crashed locally and they are restoring it. The propellor might look a bit small in this drawing since they don't have a right sized one. (It's also wood! An actual one would be made of metal.) Still, I think it looks better than a display with NO propellor. The rest of it seems in pretty good condition.

This is a general view of a part of the 'Communications' section. Again, so much to see and draw. This is quite a good place if you're into ancient or retro. I suspect that a large percentage of the items on display are restored to a functional state by the volunteers too.

Old and New Buildings

I don't really have any type of story to go along with these ones - Just a digitally coloured version of an old sketch. I liked the mix of different ages of buildings.

Tikorangi roadsigns

At one of those small junction towns -  a school, church and maybe a handful of houses.
(Digitally coloured version done at home the next day - Original sketch below.)

Tale of Two Cities

I wasn't planning on posting these two sketches. They are a bit rushed and not really my best. After finishing my second one, I noticed that they say something about city shopping areas.

They are both drawn while looking out the window of coffee shops. The top one is done downtown on the main shopping street and the second one, below, is done in a coffee shop that is in a large-format retail park. Without really getting in to it, I just have to say that I really prefer the main street shopping to the way that commercial areas are trending to be.

Irish Pub

My local sketching group had chosen an older and central part of the city as this week's drawing location. (For those that don't know, we pick a place, meet, split up, draw, arrange to meet again for a drink and to look at each other's sketchbooks.) It was a cold and damp weekend. I think everyone else was drawing outside! I was pretty sure that I didn't want to do this as well. I could just as happily sit down and have a coffee somewhere and draw at the same time. I've done some of my better drawings in cafes.
Stumbling around looking for a spot to draw, I felt compelled to enter an Irish-style pub. An 'Irish' pub can appear anywhere at anytime if someone thinks that the business will work. All you need is to sell some Kilkenny and Guiness and you're away. But I've been in this pub before and it seems more authentic than some. By authentic, I mean that by walking into this place you get the impression that this could really be a piece of Ireland transported here. I don't know how old this establishment is but it's not new, which I think helps the illusion. It's not shabby, but it looks used, like this is a place where people meet. There are also odd bits of collected curios resting on ledges that surround appropriately framed pictures - the type that would take some time to collect.
As I sat there, I noticed how the different international beers (that are on tap) have their own shaped dispensing spouts. I have to admit that I ordered a beer from the tap that I thought looked the best. So there must be something to that. So I sat there - sipping and drawing. Much warmer than the rest of the group, surely!