Monday, January 9, 2012

From Grand vistas to a single leaf

Happy New Year to everyone!
I haven't posted for a long time here... no excuse except trying to do too many things at the one time. I have been on my summer holidays here and last week (or was it the week before) I escaped the city and had a few days up in the mountains - the blue mountains(plateaus is more accurate)...it is only 1.5 hours drive from the center of Sydney. Wonderful vistas looking down into valleys.
Summer! 28WE_09 Pulpit Rock from Govets Leap

A consistent sandstone escarpment separates the tourist from the valleys - so any hikes involve a steep climb down and then back up again. As I was on my own I stayed on the top. Still plenty to see and sketch.
Summer! 28WE_07 Grose Valley view from Pulpit Rock
The mountains are supposedly bluer than normal due to the haze of the eucalyptus oil from all the gum trees - sometimes the blueness is very strong.
Summer! 27TU_07 The three Sisters
The most famous rock formation is the three sisters
Summer! 28WE_06 Pulpit Rock overview
...but my favourite place is pulpit rock which few people know about - you can walk down to an exposed rocky outcrop and sit on a bench and feel like you own the valley.
Summer! 28WE_08 Pulpit Rock-the scary part!
There is the scary 'pulpit' itself... I wasn't quite up to sketching way down there this time.
Summer! 27TU_09 Plant studies
From sketching the grand vista I picked the most ordinary leaf and tried to describing it using the coolest 6 page laminated card that I got at a nearby shop. I can see that I am going to use this card to appear very knowledgeable! I never realised that there were so many different types of leaf bases and that they all have names. I am rather discovered by this discovery...
Botanical Field Guide _Stefan Mager & Dr Geoff Burrows
More details here

4 comments:

  1. Beautiful Liz! I've been there and it is so nice to see it again through your eyes. Best wishes

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  2. Happy new year Liz! your sketches are very interesting!!

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  3. Hi Liz. I've missed seeing your work so thanks for posting. These are fabulous pages. And what an interesting looking place. I'm curious about something...do you take the time to draw in those colored grids before you make the notes/drawings or do you put them in after? Your pages always look so "finished." Paula in VA

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  4. Thanks for the views. I feel like I've escaped to the country with you!

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