City Botanic Gardens

I joined the Brisbane City Sketchers in the gardens this morning, for a sketchout and Christmas lunch.  We were few, but had an amazing time.  It was a lot of fun..

The Gardens Club is the former Curators Cottage at the Botanic Gardens Brisbane.
In 1855 Walter Hill was appointed as curator of the Botanic Reserve, a position he held until 1881. He began an active planting and experimental program. Some of the older trees planted in the Gardens were the first of their species to be planted in Australia, due to Hill's experiments to acclimatise plants.
By 1866 Hill had succeeded in having the extent of the Botanic Gardens enlarged to approximately 27 acres

 While waiting for the group to arrive, I had a delicious coffee, and sketched some foliage in my Post card pad.

Christmas Tree

Sitting in King George Square this morning, with my travel sketchbook, drawing this years Christmas Tree..

Melbourne Street Brisbane

I sketched with the Brisbane City Sketchers in Melbourne Street this morning.  Melbourne Street is an older street in South Brisbane, and does still have some of the original buildings in it.  

I found a good seat outside Jo-Jo's restaurant.  Jo-Jo's is owned by Stefan Ackerie, one of Queenslands Billionaires, in fact he was one of the first.

My first sketch was looking up Melbourne Street towards the city, in my handmade sketchbook with pen and watercolour.

This is The Bach Living, a homewares store attached to Jo-Jo's it is now owned by the store.

Sketching on the Brisbane River

It was a wonderful morning, seven of us came out urban sketching, coffee and show and tell was fun!
I was sitting in the GOMA Bistro Cafe looking across river..

Sketched in my watercolour postcard pad, 4" 6" pen and watercolour 

Queensland Museum

The Queensland Museum was founded by the Queensland Philosophical Society on 20 January 1862, and has occupied many buildings over the years.. the present building since 1986.

I sat on the Museum Green in the sun to draw this. :-)
Handmade Sketchbook 8" x 7" pen and watercolour.

 

 

 

The FOX Hotel

A very fun morning with the Brisbane City Sketchers in South Brisbane.  The Fox Hotel is a gem!

The four storied Fox Hotel was originally constructed in the late 1800s. It started life as The Terminus, because it marked the end of the Tram route.. The Fox has had 6 name changes in its lifetime!  The inside has  a lot of the original features, including a Grand Staircase! I love going there, specially for dinner.

The Fox Hotel
Sketched in my 8"x7" handmade sketchbook. Pen and watercolour

Sketching on the River

It was beautiful this morning on the river, Southside.  We are having a heart-wave, but I swear it was 5 deg cooler on the river than at my home!

I took my postcard book with me today, and my handmade sketchbook.

This drawing was done in my handmade sketchbook.  I was drawn to the scene by the smoke stack and the pelican sunning himself getting dry.  It is incredibly hot for our wildlife too!

post card Sketch of eat Street, North Shore

Hamilton is an Elite area, lots of houses all vying for position on Hamilton Hill.  I would hate the crowding up there myself.

BAFS Dispensary

It was a super fun morning with the Brisbane City Sketchers, sunshine and great company today!  

I chose to sketch the BAFS Building,  a heritage-listed former pharmacy at 331 & 333 George Street. It was designed by Lange Leopold Powell and built from 1915 to 1916 by B Cunningham.  I love this building, 

I would like to go back and draw it again. Maybe bigger paper.

Drawn in my handmade sketchbook 8"×6" pen and watercolour

Jacaranda time - Exam time in Brisbanetown

What a wonderful morning, sketching at the University of Queensland.  

In 1927, the land on which the St Lucia campus is built was resumed by the Brisbane City Council using money donated by James O'Neil Mayne and his sister Mary Emelia Mayne to replace the less spacious city campus. The city campus is now home to the Gardens Point campus of the Queensland University of Technology. Construction of the new university at St Lucia began in 1937, and at its centre is the heritage-listed Great Court – a 2.5 hectares (6.2 acres) open area surrounded by Helidon sandstone buildings with grotesques of great academics and historic scenes, floral and faunal motifs and crests of universities and colleges from around the world.

The University of Queensland is proud of their of their fauna.  They have over 6000 trees on campus, and early this month hundreds of volunteers turned out to turn sod, planting more than 5000 trees on the banks of the Brisbane River, with plans top plant another 5000 in coming months.

 

The jacarandas are all out in full bloom.  We chose one of the smaller lakes to sit and sketch by, and I chose jacaranda lane.

Dockside Kangaroo Point Brisbane

What a delightful morning I had.  A friend and I met at the Medley Cafe to sketch.  I love this area, so much to draw, so little time..  I was quite prolific today, having finished four small drawings.

Let me tell you a little history of this area, it is one of the oldest suburbs in Brisbane, and was occupied by the Turrbal people first.  In  1844, the first house in the Kangaroo Point was built by Surveyor James Warner.  The Church of England opened the first school in Kangaroo Point in 1861.   In 1901, the main storage facility of Queensland Navy was located in the Kangaroo Point.  In 1903, the building of the first ship-based radio transmission in Australia happened.  

The Story Bridge is a Cantilever bridge built in 1940. It was commissioned to help workers during the depression. It is the longest cantilever bridge in Australia.

Jacaranda in the grounds of Yungaba House
Yungaba House started out as an immigration house in 1887 It was subsequently used as a temporary refuge for destitute soldiers, an accommodation centre for workers on the Story Bridge and later as a hospital in WWII. It is on the Heritage register, and the interior has been converted into apartments.

Looking across river from the Medley cafe is one of my favourite buildings.
This building was a boat club in the 1930's/40s During the war years, the Americans used to hide their submarines under the water here. There was a slipway, and they were close to the Dry Dock where the subs went for maintenance.

This is a beautiful walk from the Medley Cafe to the Dockside Ferry Wharf, when the jacarandas are in full bloom. This is a delightful path with naval sculptures to remind us of this areas former life.

BRISBANE CITY SKETCHERS

Botanic Garden Sketching

Such a lovely Tuesday morning with the Brisbane City Sketchers.  I really love this bunch of people, they are good hearted people and so much fun.

The  Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mt Coot-tha is a huge rambling place, loads of water features, and wildlife.  It is 56-hectare, subtropical  gardens featuring native & exotic plants.
The gardens, which were originally called the Mount Coot-tha Botanic Gardens and  were established by the Brisbane City Council in 1970, and officially opened in 1976

The gardens feature more than 200,000 plants representing approximately 5000 species from around the world. Plants are displayed in subtly changing thematic and geographic communities.
In 1985, work commenced on the 27 hectare Australian Plant Communities collection. This area, starting with the magnificent Bunya Forest, offers visitors a wonderful opportunity to view Australian native plants.
The newest edition to the Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mt Coot-tha opened in May 2015. Delivered as part of the Legacy Way tunnel project, this four hectare area includes a conservation walk, kitchen garden, new lagoon and children's playground.

 This Tropical Display Dome is a large lattice structure (geodesic) displaying plants from the tropics.

The dome provides a climate close to the natural growing conditions for  range of shrubs, climbers, epiphytes and small trees that wouldn't normally grow in Brisbane.

  

There  are several lagoons in the gardens, teeming with wildlife and water birds.  This one had a class of school children and their teacher doing nature lessons.  It was delightful to sit there drawing and listening to the lesson.

Life is a Beach!!

I had an amazing morning with the Brisbane City Sketchers at a hidden beach.  Colmslie Beach Reserve is a beautiful little spot that is tucked away.  I love going there to sketch and paint, it is peaceful, and so much to see, from an artists point of view.

 

Looking at the Gateway Bridge and the Former Co-operative Sugar Mill, on the left, which commenced operation in Commenced in 1872 Wilmar Gavilon converted the former mills to a Bulk Storage Wharf. I am pretty sure it is now a River Gravel Depot. The Royal Queensland Golf Club is across the river.

State Law Building

I had a lovely morning with the Brisbane City Sketchers, sketching in King George Square.  I chose the Law building this morning, because I really loved the shapes between the Town Hall and the Law Building.

Roma Street Parklands

What a wonderful morning, sketching at the Roma Street Parklands with the Brisbane City Sketchers..

In 1825 the Roma Street Parkland area was part of the original Brisbane settlement. In 1875 a terminal station in Roma Street was constructed as part of the main western railway to Brisbane linking Ipswich and Toowoomba.  Local Indigenous people used the area for thousands of years conducting meetings and ceremonies. Construction began of the current Parkland in 2000 and the parkland opened to the public in 2001.

I sat in Fern Gully to sketch this mother duck and her seven babies.  I did the same last year too, this is her favourite place to rear them.