California

Itching to sketch, but not on the first plane. See my pens and sketch pad for the view in the ATR 72 with silver fern decor.

Now onto the trans Pacific flight

Squirrel eating peanuts on Lee's balcony

Jet Pack crew taking turns 

A kiwi manning the tender boat.

Certainly was fun

Caltech turtle pond

Caltech capitals, see the aviators, guys with microscopes and telescopes.

LA Airport Cantina figures

Kings Building

Often the views from high places in a city, can show untidy rooftops, and ours was no exception.  But here an there were handsome pocket cameos.  When Brian and I peered over the rooftop barrier at our main street, Devon St, we were presented with a wonderfully colourful left and right view up and down the street.

We stood there, clutching our sketchbooks firmly on the edge and enjoyed drawing in the warm spring day.

49th Worldwide Sketchcrawl Day

Check out our On Location page to see us in action on Sketchcrawl Day.

Here are Trevor's sketches:

King's building.

View from the King's Building.

King's Building from Devon Street East.

Here is my other sketch now completed:

49th Worldwide Sketchcrawl - King's Building.

The King's Building took two years to construct and was opened in November 1927. It was built for Newton King Limited, an important local businessman and benefactor. A building permit was issued on the 24th of March 1926 for the King's Building, Jones and Sandford were the builders at an estimated cost of £53,000. The architect firm involved was Gummer and Ford. They are described in the NPDC Heritage Study report as the pre-eminent architectural practice in New Zealand during the inter-war years.

In 1986 Westwell Properties Ltd bought the building for $1,200,000 and the building was upgraded.

In 1994 a penthouse apartment was added to the roof of the building and the whole building was renovated, modified and upgraded to give quality retail, office and residential use.

In 2010 the whole building was repainted in sympathetic colours which highlighted the decorated panels and friezes.

We had the opportunity today to sketch in the penthouse apartment as it is currently empty. This gave us different views of the central business district and the foreshore. We sketched both inside and out, and were able to come and go as we pleased.

I managed 1 1/2 sketches on the day. Here is my second sketch:

King's building view of the New Plymouth foreshore walkway and Puke Ariki landing. Pen and colour pencil.

And some photos:

Kings Building, New Plymouth NZ

The Kings Building is a landmark in the New Plymouth CBD. It houses  retail shops, upstairs commercial offices and a Penthouse which has a wonderful view of the New Plymouth waterfront. An interesting feature is that it is built over a stream . The downstairs premises were subject to occasional flooding before a flood protection scheme was constructed .  The eastern end of  the Kings Building includes the Espresso Cafe which now looks over the  Huatoki Plaza and uncovered part of the  Huatoki stream.  MLB  .

49th Worldwide Sketchcrawl.

Sketchcrawl this Saturday:

Kings Building inside and out.

See you there!
Jackie.

Hockey Practice

Here's a quick sketch of inline hockey practice. The local team is called the the Ravens. There aren't any actual ravens in New Zealand, but there can't be many native Penguins in Pittsburgh either. Pretty normal types of drills - passing, skating and taking shots. This scene could be anywhere in the Northern Hemisphere but then they spoil the illusion by opening the large side door and you can see the sea. You can also look across the rink at the row of flags. India, Australia, Taiwan, South Africa and New Zealand - all the hockey 3rd rate hockey nations are represented. But this is how they roll down under and the kids seem to be having fun.

The Mayfair.

I was invited to sketch at The Mayfair this week. It is the old Mayfair cinema that is now a restaurant and bar. It had it's first screening on 15th December 1916 and the last in September/October 1993. It originally cost £5283 to build and it still has some of it's old Art Deco features today. I decided to try the staircase which was not an easy task!

Here is my sketch:

And here are a few photos of some of the features. I think we will be back as we haven't really even scratched the surface of everything there is to draw there.

Here is a link to Puke Ariki if you want a little bit about it's history:

Puke Ariki - The Mayfair.

Mayfair Bar and Cafe , New Plymouth

The 'Mayfair' was originally a movie theatre built in the art-deco  style . In its time it was a pretty up-market kind of place  with an upstairs seating area and ground floor stalls . Mum made us  dress up in our best to go out to the movies and paid more to sit upstairs!  , People stood for the playing of  "God Save the Queen" before the program of  news films , many from overseas which is how we kept up to date  ,  Tom and Jerry cartoons , NZ short film productions of Fiordland or  the Bay of Islands  or the opening of Parliament .... and at half time a boy with a tray of pre-prepared ice creams would circulate . Dad would buy us one . What a treat !  . Then the main feature .. starring  Rock Hudson or John Mills or  whoever and more lately in colour ! .  Now its a friendly bar after the new owners completed the earthquake strengthening - as mentioned in last weeks sketches of St Mary's church.  MLB