BUGS! Our backyard heroes.

Today we attempted to sketch a new sculpture on the foreshore walkway, but there was a bitter wind which was very unseasonable for January. We gave up and went elsewhere. I went to Puke Ariki where there is currently an exhibition called:

"BUGS! Our backyard heroes."

This exhibition includes a massive collection of bugs which has been donated to Puke Ariki. Some pretty, some not so pretty but very interesting to look at. It also has a few live specimens as well, including American Cockroaches. I didn't sketch them as they made me feel ill!

I chose to sketch a couple of the pretty ones. I decided to use pencil and watercolour pencil.

Here they are:

Morpho rhetener. From South America. This one is male and kept changing colour depending which angle you looked at it from.

Ornithoptera urvillianus. From Papua New Guinea. This one is female.

Here's a few more photos, there's lots more to see. I may well go back again.

St Andrew's Church. Exhibition of sketches.

This week it is the Taranaki Garden Festival. It runs from the 31st October to the 8th November. During the festival we have a series of sketches on display at St Andrew's Church. We went and sketched at the church about five different times, and tried to capture many different aspects of it inside and out.

There is also a display there by the orchid Society. So last Saturday we went and sketched among the orchids and our sketches.

Here is my sketch:

And some photos:

Alan, Andrea, Trevor, Liz and Maurice's sketches.

Scott, Julie and Maurice's sketches.

Scott

Jackie

Trevor

Brian, Patricia and Maurice's sketches.

Brian

Angela

Andrea's sketch.

Liz's sketch.

St Andrews Church - wonderfully distorted in the reflection on the New Plymouth District Council building across the road.  This sketch along with others from the Taranaki Sketchers will be on display at the Church during the  PowerCo Taranaki Garden Spectacular fringe festival , 30  October  to 8 November.     MLB

February Exhibition: Come and Sketch with Us!

As part of our exhibition we thought it might be fun for you to join us and sketch with us! This is not a workshop, but just for fun. We are happy to give you tips along the way such as they are!

Public sketching days:

 

8th and 22nd February 1.30pm -3.00pm

• Come meet us at the Real TART Gallery and sketch with us for an afternoon.
• Meet us there at 1.30pm and we will either sketch at the gallery or in the surrounding area depending on the weather.
• Bring your sketch gear with you. This can be as simple or as complicated as you wish, e.g. biro and sketchbook, pencil, watercolour kit, pen, aquarelles etc. So long as it is easy to carry, (some sketchers bring a fold-up chair).
• Dress for the weather, e.g sunhat with a good brim, warm jacket, umbrella? (Yes we've done it)!

Real TART will be advertising these soon. Hopefully we'll see you then,
Jackie.

Here's one of my paintings in the exhibition. We'd love you to go and have have a look at the rest!

February Exhibition Opening Night.

This evening we had the opening night of our first exhibition. What a turn out! The place was so packed you could hardly move. Everything was looking fantastic, and everyone enjoyed looking at the exhibition. Three of us even sold a painting!

I don't have photos of everyone yet, but here's what I have so far:

 Eileen

 Jackie

 Maurice

 Trevor

 Norah

 Michelle

 Mary

 Brian

Jan

This was at the start. The crowd just got bigger, and bigger and bigger!

Taranaki Daily News - Arts and Entertainment page.

This in today's paper!

Come to our Exhibition in February.

Some of our group are exhibiting our work at the Real TART Upstairs Gallery in New Plymouth.

Here is our flyer:

Join us for our opening night, or just come in and have a look!

Shadowing Venus

Shadowing Venus: Pacific Adventures of Joseph Banks.
Main Exhibition Gallery, PukeAriki.
7 July - 11 November 2012.

Sketched 3 November 2012

Shadowing Venus: Pacific Adventures of Joseph Banks.

Today we went and had a look at this exhibition at Puke Ariki.
Aboard the Endeavor with Captain James Cook were Joseph Banks, scientist Daniel Solander and artist Sydney Parkinson.
The exhbition includes 46 framed prints from the Florilegium, plus four actual specimens of pressed flowers and leaves collected by Joseph Banks and fellow botanists on the HMS Endeavor in the late 1700's.

Banks' Florilegium Volume: XXII
Plate No: 452
Current Binolmial: Fushia excorticata
Banks/Solander: Agapanthus calcyfloris
Common Name: Native Fuschia
Maori Name: Kotukutuku/Konini

Here is my Sketch: