Aggie organised a sketch meet in Perth today and she didn’t need to twist my arm to attend this event … The stars have not really aligned in the last month or so and mainly because weekdays are quite tricky for me. I’m really glad that I could make it today.

For those of you who are not familiar with Perth – Shafto Lane is a little laneway tucked away from the city centre. It is mostly a laneway parallel to King Street which starts opposite Cloisters Arcade on Hay Street and joins Murray Street.  This little laneway is mostly a melting pot of cuisines, and the last time I remembered coming here for a proper lunch was during work, in my previous life when I used to work in the City.  There used to be  Jackson’s Art Supplies store here, but that has long since closed and now replaced with a men’s fashion shop.

I had a really good time sketching out today and I met quite a few new sketchers. I haven’t had much luck with my scheduling of late, and Chinese New Year being so hectic – but it was great to take some time out in the city.  With all the new developments in Perth,   We met up at Shafto Lane today and spent a good two hours or so sketching under the shade next to a relaxing water fountain. I seated myself facing Durty Nelly’s Irish pub, with Taka’s to my left shoulder and started working away. Thankfully, the shade didn’t move so we were mostly in the shade.

We met up around 10am and continued steadily – first in complete silence and contemplation and then towards the end, with laughter and conversation as the restaurants started picking up the lunchtime crowd.

I did remove the umbrella from my sketch. I wasn’t so keen on the big black blob in front of me. It was a supremely bright day, and so there were some serious contrasts of light and dark happening there.

Two hours is actually a long stretch of time for me to be sketching and usually my brain runs away with me. I did get my colours on the page while out sketching and was pretty happy with the colours I put down.

All in all, a good sketch – I wish I had remembered to add people! But they were usually moving too fast as they walked by.