Fenton St Arts Collective

The Fenton St Arts Collective in Stratford is well worth a look. Gallery, Espresso Bar and Distillery (Gin)  Jo and Stuart have a special spot in this vintage building.  Jo is very accomplished at figure and portraiture.

Otago Chambers

Where's the Otago Chambers? 800 kilometres away in Taranaki, of course!

Broadway Fastfood

This is a sketch of the signage for a takeaway restaurant in Stratford. My favourite part is the hand-painted signage since we're seeing that kind of stuff less all the time. Most businesses these days have computer printed signs and the hand-painted sign is a bit of a lost art. My second favourite part is the claim of the "Great Tasting Healthier Takeaway". That seems a pretty gutsy, yet hard to prove, boast. Finally, the fact that this place is "Fully Licensed". So basically if you're there to pick up some fish & chips, you can probably get a gin & tonic.

Spitfire

I was at the Stratford Aero Club's Open Day in central Taranaki on the weekend. Just after we got there, a Spitfire arrived from just off the horizon. The pilot did some close fly-bys and tilted the wings for the cameras. I've heard fighter planes before and this one didn't have a usual deep rumble that a grunty aircraft engine would make. It sounded like there was still a lot of power there but not as loud as I expected. I've read about the Spitfires and they were quite renowned for their performance in the skies. It seemed very classy (and stealthy?) to be 'that kind of fighter plane' and yet have this nice purring engine. These are great planes!

After it landed, and parked on the airfield I started to sketch. I overheard someone say to another enthusiast that this particular Spitfire was a seven-eighth size replica with a V8 engine. 

Oh. 

I just kept drawing...

Stratford Aerodrome Open Day.

Today was Worldwide Sketchcrawl Day. Brian had the great idea of going down to the Stratford Aerodrome which was having an open day. There was plenty to see, and too much to sketch!
The open day went most of the day, so we were a bit staggered in getting there, (hence no group photos), but I'm sure we all enjoyed the challenge of sketching aircraft. There were plenty of big planes and a good display of model aircraft as well. I sketched one of each.

Here is my first sketch of a real plane:

Sonerai SS.
Pencil and watercolour.

And my second sketch of a model aircraft:

Stinson Reliant.
Pencil and colour pencil.

Stratford Aerodrome Open Day.

Here are some photos:

 Model aircraft:

 Mount Taranaki and the Spitfire arriving:

Aerobatic demonstration:

Stratford Air Show

39th Worldwide Sketchcrawl Day - Pioneer Village

On a showery cold day we headed down to the Taranaki Pioneer Village near Stratford. I stuck to sketching indoors.

Here is the old Pembroke School Room:

I went back to pen drawing with this one.

After lunch I went up to the Mangatoki Church.

In 1904 the need for a local church resulted in a Union Church being built to serve local Methodists, Anglicans and Presbyterians. Mr Blackhall of Eltham submitted the successful tender for the church. The final church service was held at Mangatoki on 14.2.1988. The church was then moved to the Taranaki Pioneer Village in two sections on 29.3.1988 and 30.3.1988.
The Mangtoki Women's Institute continue to care for the church and the gardens.

This is the beautiful old wooden pulpit:

 

This one I did in pencil and my new watercolours.

Glockenspiel Stratford on the 23rd Feb.

Two weekends ago I went to Stratford. supposedly with the rest of the sketchers, but I was the only one that showed up. It was a pleasant afternoon. There was a very good watercolour exhibition on at the Percy Thomson Gallery and I took the opportunity to try the Glockenspiel.

Stratford's revered  glockenspiel stands proud in the main street, Broadway, and is unique to New Zealand.

Shakespeare’s most famous star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, emerge for the balcony scene, reaffirming their vows of love, four times a day,

The life-size figures were created by Tawhiti Museum curator, Nigel Ogle.

The glockenspiel performs for approximately 5 minutes, after the hour chimes at 10am, 1pm, 3pm and 7pm.

A glockenspiel resembles a xylophone, but with metal rather than wooden keys.