All that’s left of Macdonaldtown

Macdonaldtown is an inner west location, that has ceased to exist as a suburb, the only thing that remains of its name is that of the train station. The train station has an overhead bridge with a bit of graffiti on it. As its not a major stop and somewhat neglected it does have that nice grungy, industrial, swept aside feel to it. Which isn’t great for the locals, but for us sketchers its full of textures and contrasts.

I have been trying to mix up my drawing media, partly to make my head work a little harder – i’ve always been a less is more kind of person, so working with more than two mediums can be confusing if I don’t known what i want to do with them. Also I have accumulated lots of art equipment and its the only time I have presently to use them, so that was an incentive to do something different as well.

I was still playing it safe by keeping it monotone. It’s a mix of a 2B graphite pencil, an intense black pencil, then going over it was a Tomo black brush pen then putting in line details with a fine point pen. To create the grittiness I used the side of my pencil to block in shaded areas because it has a nice subtle texture. I also did the same with the felt pens, however not as successful as they were fresh pens and didn’t always leave a dry brush feel. That is something I want to explore more of – dry brush technique. It was something I learnt when I did a fashion illustration course last year, which I do need to blog one day.

 

I also found this box of kids crayons my mum “seconded” when she used to work at my old primary school back in the 70s. They’re really crappy, they’re full of bits that scratch your paper, but I thought I’d give them a go. I had no idea what I was doing or what I want to achieve I just left it all to pure instinct, trying to channel my inner Monet. I think if I found a more suited subject matter they have a lot of potential.

When I walked closer to the bridge there was all this wonderful shadow and light play that was creating an inward spiral in conjuction with the vertical poles.

While waiting for everyone to gather for the group review and photo, I quickly sketched this amazing warehouse. Surrounded by all these lovely well kept, rennovated Victorian houses there is this patchy, weathered and boxy warehouse.
I’m not sure if it will ever come back to life again, but fingers crossed.