Richmond Cottage

Views of Richmond Cottage.

Richmond Cottage

I found this interesting back door to the cottage, had a thought it might be the door to the wine cellar. So while waiting for it to open, might as well sketch it, sad to say the door never opened.

Richmond Cottage, Puke Ariki.

Richmond Cottage

Built in 1853-54 for Christopher and Emily (nee Atkinson) Richmond, the cottage originally overlooked the foreshore near the present Richmond Estate apartments. In 1960 the cottage was dismantled stone by stone and moved to its present site. In 1963 it was re-opened by Howard Parris Richmond, who was born in the cottage in 1878. The garden is a recreation of a typical colonial environment separated by the picket fence from the native bush backdrop. Story boards in the building tell the story of the Atkinson and Richmond families and their contribution to Taranaki and New Zealand history.

I was quite taken with the shingle roofing tiles on this historic cottage. Every single one was different. I decided not to attempt the whole cottage, but to focus on the roof.

Here is my sketch:

Richmond Cottage

Built in 1853 by a well known known New Plymouth family, this house was perched on the edge of the sea.  Later it was relocated, stone by stone to its present location incongruously tucked in against the Puke Ariki Museum.  A private and pleasant garden sits behind it from where I sketched.

Fitzroy shopping area

We had limited sketching options.I managed to find a shop which was closed and sat in the doorway, the other advantage was no cars could park in front of me.I haven't sketched with just a pencil for a long time, so it was almost something new.

Fitzroy Shops

This week the sketching was in the Fitzroy area of New Plymouth. I have to admit that I don't go here very often and when I do it's to go to the beach, which is really great. Although the beach is nice, I always felt that Fitzroy might not always be everyone's destination. It doesn't seem like a place that people go to but a place that people move through. On one of the last Christmas shopping weekends... at lunch time... and near an intersection, I watched time-poor and desperate drivers become careless and precarious. Are these Christmas shoppers or is it always like this?

Darnell Street, Fitzroy, New Plymouth.

Today we sketched in Fitzroy. While the others sketched the main street, I went looking for a house to sketch. There are a lot of quaint old houses around the area.

I chose this one because it is being repainted. I was amused by the choice of colour. The walls are pretty typical of a lot of houses in New Plymouth, but the orange/salmon pink of the roof and under the eaves I found bemusing.

While I was sitting accross the road sketching, an elderly gentleman was painting his shed. Not once did he notice that I was there.

Here is my sketch:

Fitzroy

A location we haven't sketched at.  No wonder as there are no landmark scenes, so the challenge was capturing the ordinary, something some of our members do well.
Lucky Takeaways, Fizroy Dairy and the TAB.  The guy with the maroon station wagon we decided was an avid betting man, he went into the TAB several times, drove around the block, but was kind enough to park his car for long enough for us to sketch it, unlike the other two.

New Brougham St Space

Sunny day, The Mondegreens playing, kids drawing in chalk, a pleasant offical celebration of the new area.

The DJ following on: