Pukekura Railway

The New Plymouth Society of Model & Experimental Engineers offered rides on miniature coal-powered steam engines for a dollar. 'Pukekura Railway' (as it is named) is a small double loop track in central New Plymouth. From a distance, these tiny trains seem like toys but they are actually pretty cool (and reasonably powerful) little engines.

Devon Street - October 2012

Just an older building on the main shopping street here in New Plymouth. I have a feeling that I may end up colouring this one since I took my time on this one and that the building in the centre is a bright red colour.

New Zealand Villas

New Zealand has quite a few wooden houses that are nearly 100 years old. The 'villa', as they are called, is a single-floor bungalow, made of local timber, and have dashes of ornamental details. The house that I live in is about 90 years old and has decorative plaster ceilings (another common villa characteristic) in nearly every room. Every now and then one of them disappears and is replaced by the new and modern.

24-hour Booksale

The annual 24-hour charity booksale. Everyone here is browsing though a stadium full of donated books. This is a sketch of the final hour where either the procrastinators or the penny-pinchers are here to get a deal. In the final minutes, the speaker kept announcing better and better deals as I was drawing in an attempt to move the large hoard of books.

(I've always been curious to know what type of person comes out at, say, 3.00am to look at books, but I'll never know - I'm not that type of person.)

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.