I've been creating these little thread and collaged mixed media drawings of Melbourne
Since arriving to live in Melbourne 11 years ago I have been madly in love with this city's vibrant bustling gorgeously atmospheric lane ways. These places really seem to capture everything I love about Melbourne.
I have long been enjoying exploring these atmospheric hives of eating, drinking and socialising activity, and more recently have gone exploring with my sketchbook.
There are a few challenges to drawing in Melbourne's Lane ways.
The first is of course how to avoid drinking too many coffees or eating one too many of Shandong Mama's delicious dumplings (while still eating and drinking enough to assuage any guilt you might feel about hogging a precious table to sit and draw for hours)
The second is how to make sense of the total sensory overload that's going on when you are seated immersed in the middle of this chaos of alive pulsating human activity - enough sense to get what is essential down on paper, which is, to my mind, what a sketch is.
I find the strong vertical, horizontal and diagonals of the architecture and furniture essential anchor points that totally contain the writhing life that is momentarily held within these spaces.
In the lanes we are outside but the sensation is of being within, totally immersed in the city - hence inside out
Then there are the splashes of vibrant lit up colour contrasting sharply with the shabby dark brickwork and deliciously grungy walls.
And then there are the people: the pulsing life force that constantly move and change and bring their lives into the lane and sometimes sit or just pass through.
I've been taking my Melbourne Inside Out sketches and turning them into little mixed media thread sketches. Lots of collaging, stitching, applying whatever materials come to hand. Fun :)
You can find my Melbourne City Sketches in my website shop or in person at my market stalls