Sketching Tours in South Yarra, Victoria | Travel company

Sketching Tours

Locality: South Yarra, Victoria

Phone: +61 414 358 975

Address: French Fusion Travel, Suite 901/101 River Street 3141 South Yarra, VIC, Australia

Website: http://www.frenchfusion.com.au

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24.01.2022 Register for next year's art and travel sketching tours! - https://mailchi.mp//register-for-next-years-art-and-travel

24.01.2022 Celebrating the almost end of 4 months of lockdown with a delightful lunch and a sketch of this gem called The Commons in Melbourne yesterday. There’s even a Puppy Playground! I loved it @brucekeebaugh It is beautifully curated and the foxgloves and lavender everywhere were breathtaking. I want to take a sketch class here soon as it is delightful.

23.01.2022 Love old historical everything (husband included). Love men in Spats too. Dont see too many these days. Bring back Spats! This is a 1947 Chevrolet with its iconic stylish classic curves. FUN FACT: by 1911 Automotive Investor and insufferable boss, William Durant had already lost Walter Chrysler and Wilfred Leyland who each went on to found their own corporations. Durant then hired a Swiss mechanic named Louis Chevrolet whom he summarily sacked soon after for daring to smoke near him one day. But he kept Chevrolets name to - you guessed it - bestow on the iconic car. Poor Louis: famous yet unknown. .

23.01.2022 Melbourne Lockdown. Longest in the world. Nothing open, all businesses closed. Curfew each night. Its a simple life.

23.01.2022 My dear friend Nikki lives in the French Alps with her adorable husband Hugh and Opi and Cass:two sister Cairn Terrier puppies. Each year I usually take tours to her stunning place though in 2020 I have had to suffice with photos. I sketched this from one her photos she took last week of Misty Autumn in the Mountains with the puppies exploring. I sooooo miss her place and can’t wait for our July sketching tour there next year! (Inshallah) To find out more click this link below: https://frenchfusion.com.au//gourmet-food-illustration-an/

23.01.2022 Lovely seaside town in France. Done in the Procreate app sitting on my couch in Melbourne lockdown (day 9,000) sources from a lovely photo by @bmseventh whose photos I love as I am missing France beaucoup. .

22.01.2022 Guess where this might be? Day 8 million of Stage 4 lockdown here in Melbourne. Life trickles along for me quite happily. Yes masks itch and muffle us but as President Macron says: they may just help! The French face a 250 euro fine if not wearing them in certain places. .

21.01.2022 What a divine place The Prom is. Nothing better than sketching with friends wearing a lampshade on a beach on a hot day! .

21.01.2022 A paltry scribble done in Procreate with my beginner skills. But DID YOU KNOW that Clarence Crane invented Life Savers in 1911 on his pharmacist friends pill-making machine. But they were a huge flop because the paper wrappers made the mints go stale. A NewYork businessman bought the idea, began wrapping the mints in tin foil and WHOOSH he became a multi-millionaire!

20.01.2022 Melbourne city skyline on the Yarra River. We have a nightly curfew at 8 pm so this was of course taken from a photo as Im prostrate on the couch by 8 pm! Done in Procreate.

18.01.2022 Ever been down this particular Shambles? Full of 14thC wooden buildings and snickelways (lane offshoots) its named after the 9thC Saxon word Shammel: a table for selling wares. This is where butchers slaughtered, carved and sold their meat and then piffed the offal into - yes, where else, the cobbled central gutter. There were butchers shops here up until the 19thC. My cousin lives here but Ive not been back to York since a wildly romantic tryst there 8,000 years ago now..... Im going to be organizing a Sketching Tour here I promise!! .

17.01.2022 Spring is a lovely time of year. The garden is in bud. Ranunculus are flowering. . #sketch #sketchwalker #sketchbook #travelsketch #travelsketcher #travelart #journalling #sketchoftheday #drawing #travelsketching #sketching #sketchworkshop #onlocation #freehand #watercolor #watercolour #travelblogger #urbansketcher #urbansketchers #urbansketching #traveljournal #illustrator #artistsofinstagram #procreateapplettering #travellersnotebook #sketchingtour #handlettering #visualjournal #sketchguru #procreatewatercolor

17.01.2022 A 30 second video of how I sketched this lovely scene from a photo by @by.steph in Paris. Once you get the perspective right it is just a matter of refining the details and finally putting in the people. Easy. If I can do it anyone can. .

17.01.2022 Another day another attempt at Procreate-ing. (A Covid plus.) .

17.01.2022 My favourite word? AXOLOTL. Isnt it brilliant? Who amongst us has not pondered the differences between a salamander and an axolotl? FUN FACT: 1. Native Axolotls are only found in one place: Lake Xochimilco which is essentially an extinct lake under Mexico City that is now just a bunch of polluted canals and so wild Axolotls are near extinction of course. 2. Like the salamander, they are amphibious.... Unlike a salamander, the Axolotl has no thyroid so it does not change its body and never matures like frogs do from tadpole to adult frog for example. A salamanders body morphs from aquatic to a creature that lives on land. The axolotl keeps its baby gills (pink feathery things on their heads) and the tadpole dorsal fin and so they live in water. 3. Freakishly they can regenerate their own new limbs, tissues and organs. How cool is that?? 4. Oh and NO Salamanders are not fire-resistant. If you throw a salamander onto a fire it will burn and die a horrible death! . See more

15.01.2022 Yesterday’s sketch was a bit bald so I planted some more strelitzias this morning! I go almost every day to the Botanic Gardens it is so beautiful. There is the heritage architecture, hothouses, herbarium, rainforest walk, bridges, ponds, gondolas and just well EVERYTHING gives me pleasure.

15.01.2022 Blissed out in my studio (mask off ) this afternoon to Verdi, Joan Sutherland and Pav. Painted this monster. Never again. My neck hurts! No, I loved the whole process - but I really need @stephanieabower next year in Croatia for perspective training! Please HURRY UP and get a vaccine world! .

15.01.2022 A year ago I was taking a Sketching Tour to Greece. Glorious weather, scenery, cuisine and group of sketchers. Such a memorable time with lovely @a.aradilla. I so miss the camaraderie of sketching and learning in a group of enthusiastic travelers whilst exploring great places around the globe. It is a wonderful thing to do. Im supposed to be in Canada taking a sketching group with awesome artist Shari Blaukopf at the moment. One things for sure: Covid makes you appreciate the world we had before 2020 and how free we were. Where were you going to be this year (besides the couch) ? I sketched this on my iPad with the app Procreate whilst watching the Tour de France. Delightful!

14.01.2022 Early morning walk through Fitzroy. Lockdown silent, a bit of low cloud and a beautiful sunrise. I do Love the heritage buildings of Melbourne. I could sketch them all day.

14.01.2022 Am I a bit obsessed? This is my final foray into trying to sketch these Shambles of York. I want to try different angles and options - from my studio in lockdown of course! I am now seriously having TRAVEL withdrawals after 19 years of going/taking tours to Europe and abroad each Summer. Its exacerbated by being in Covid lockdown. I think the most tantalizing fact is that Europe is at its most luscious and alluring at the moment but with no tourists crowds. Im counting my blessings but still a smidge miffed about not traveling, and SERIOUSLY disturbed about the US election, that Village Idiot Trump, Covid, our childrens inherited debt etc etc. Other than those things: Im as happy as a clam!

14.01.2022 Pendle famous for its bridges and WITCHES. In 1612 the most famous witch trials in history ever recorded were here. King James had passed a law imposing the death penalty where people had used magic or exhumed corpses for magical purposes! 9 women accused of child murder, cannibalism and causing sickness in others were hanged at Gallows Hill in 1612. Today there is a statute to one odious witch called Alice Nutter. Victim of the testimony of a 9 y.o. girl! Packhorse bridges were used in England to - believe it or not - carry packs on horses! This bridge in Barrowford dates back to the late 1500s and no doubt was used by the victims en route to their sentencing. .

14.01.2022 What’s not to love about St Remy de Provence? Did you know Nostradamus was born there in 1503.

14.01.2022 I love STRELITZIAS. Don’t they look like a bird? A crane. The bird of paradise flower originates from South Africa and was name after Queen Charlotte who was the Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. A quick sketch in the Botanic Gardens on a stroll the other day.

13.01.2022 Grab a cuppa and watch this FASCINATING articulate witty doco on the last impressionists. Parts made me laugh out loud. Escape from now and go back in time. Superb presentation and great scenes of Paris including le Lapin Agile in Montmartre. https://youtu.be/axf0AfL4ftI

13.01.2022 Whiled a pleasant hour or so away on my iPad today experimenting with this beautiful house in Michigan. Photo credit: @aidyl211

12.01.2022 If I cant go to the beach then the beach can come to my couch. Day 10,000 of Lockdown. 28 new cases in our state..... Fiddling on my iPad Procreate again. Oh yes. Bit obsessed. Should be in Paris today traveling from Sicily. But Im ZEN about it. .

12.01.2022 Dog fed, cat fed, plants fed. My monstera is galloping along beautifully so I have been sketching it (swipe left)

12.01.2022 Still Procreate-ing here in my studio by the fire.... in lockdown. I am a total Virgin but learning heaps. Having a delightful time. Hope you all are too .

12.01.2022 Lockdown sketching in my studio! NICE n cosy and I am not listening to the news anymore because it is too depressing, stark and miserable. Bloody Putin, Trump, XingPing and Covid seem to gobble up all the news stations continuously and Ive had enough! Am I selfish? Probs. .... #travelsketching #travel #usk #painting #apartmentdecor #travelsketcher #sketchoftheday #travelsketch #illustrator #urbansketcher #art #sketching #sketch #sketcher #drawing #watercolor #urbansketchers #history #travelsketching #funfacts #funfactsoftheday #history_facts_daily

12.01.2022 I’m pretending I am in Paris. I’m looking at my favourite medieval building on the island of the City in the Seine. It is STEEPED in history. Parts of it still date back to the 10th century when it was a ruined Roman temple. It was then built as a palace. Much of what we still see today is 14th century. Its exterior has the beautiful medieval clock (l’horloge in French) and Queen Marie Antoinette spent her final years imprisoned here before she was guillotined. The revolutio...nary artist DAVID sketched her from a window as she clattered past in a wagon on her way to be decapitated in October 1793. Round the back is the Palais de Justice law courts as well as the spectacularly beautiful Sainte Chapelle built by the pious King Louis XI in 1350 after he returned from a crusade to house parts of the holy cross and crown of thorns of Jesus he believed he had found in Jerusalem..... . See more

11.01.2022 Day 7,000 of Lockdown and Curfew here. Another sunny Winters day. Loved the clouds above the city and made an attempt to portray them. I took a B&W photo of my balcony view to concentrate on shadows and light rather than detail. Walked the dog at Park1, sketched, read, trained the dog, walked and socialized dog at Park 2, fasted all day and now about to eat and watch Netflix. Groundhog Day but still most enjoyable. @ Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

10.01.2022 Sketched this tragic daub after I was in Stratford upon Avon last year fossicking around the Shakespeares hood. Did you know in the 16th century it was quite normal for an engaged couple to copulate and get pregnant before marriage? It wasnt frowned upon and hence their first daughter Susanna was born six months after Will and Anne Hathaway married. This is Susannas house that she shared with her husband. Shakespeare had 2 other children. The only boy was called Hamnet (r...ing a bell?) and he died tragically when he was 11. Judith the other daughter lead a less upstanding existence marrying a vintner and fornicator! . #travelsketching #travel #usk #painting #travelsketcher #sketchoftheday #travelsketch #illustrator #urbansketcher #art #sketching #sketch #sketcher #drawing #watercolor #urbansketchers @ Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire

07.01.2022 A very messy rendition of a beautiful photo that caught my eye by @bmseventh of a shop in Sri Lanka. Still learning to master Procreate. .

07.01.2022 Oh I do love a Caesia Gumtree! So beautiful. Its a eucalyptus with white and maroon pendulous branches and the most EXQUISITE flowers which I simply cannot do justice to. It was a delight trying though.

07.01.2022 Missing being in Europe - especially Greece - as I know someone who is there now on holiday! Grumbling. Thats all. Im (Covid-willing) escorting a Greece sketching tour next September so thats roughly only 412 sleeps to go! .

06.01.2022 Well. That was bloody un-easy I can tell you! Ann C challenged/shamed me into trying to sketch my city skyline. Ill keep trying each month to see if I improve. Ive really no idea how to do this view justice. . #travelsketching #travel #usk #painting #travelsketcher #sketchoftheday #travelsketch #illustrator #urbansketcher #art #sketching #sketch #sketcher #drawing #watercolor #urbansketchers #history #travelsketching #funfacts #funfactsoftheday #history_facts_daily #melbourne #southyarra @ Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

06.01.2022 Gosh I admit to being envious as hell of those travelers who can visit beautiful spots in Europe at the moment without the horrendous crowds of summer tourists! Imagine going to Florence, Venice, Burgundy, Bordeaux, Paris, Moscow, Split, Dubrovnik etc without the crush of ice-cream licking crowds? Oh the joy! A rare one-off experience. I sit here at home and sketch instead. It is substantially cheaper than going there I am finding! - and nowhere near as exciting.

06.01.2022 Why am I drawing insects all of a sudden? I dont know. I blame Covid and lockdown. Im walking 10 kms per day (dont tell the cops) going clubbing with the puppy each afternoon at the dog park, reading, learning stuff, up cycling old furniture, sketching.... repeat each day. Nice. I may clean the windows one day soon if I can find enough time in my day. For now, back to the Bugs. .

06.01.2022 Driven to drink. Melbourne. State of Disaster. Lockdown. Curfew. Here we go again. Chins up. So glad I live here and not most other countries on the globe with this pandemic. The Spanish Flu killed 50 million people in 2 years globally but most of it was in a deadly 3 months during a SECOND wave after people prematurely came out of lockdown too early. So Im staying PUT! ... Cheers and chin-chin! See more

05.01.2022 1651. Poor George Spencer born with only one eye was accused of bestiality when a piglet was born also with only one eye. The Puritans of New Haven hanged him for fathering said piglet citing the mother pig as the witness! True. .

03.01.2022 Spring here. No Covid and beautiful sunshine and flowers. Foxglove’s scientific name is DIGITALIS because it fits over a human FINGER. Historically used in medicine and as a very effective human poison too. Van Gogh was treated with it to control his seizures which may explain his Yellow Period Art as it affects the eyes sometimes giving haloes around objects. .

03.01.2022 Still plodding along happily learning Procreate tricks. Such fun! Next week I think Ill teach myself Quantum Physics. Covid-why-not? .

03.01.2022 Kyoto. Once Japans capital city is packed with temples, shrines and traditional wooden houses. So very very different from the West in its architecture, culture, cuisine and social attitudes. A feast for the eyes and for artists and Sketchers. I loved this picture taken in Gion with its white-capped policemen and gaily colored Geishas. Ill be back!

02.01.2022 Had another stab at sketching The Shambles in York. Tried a grungy look to see if it made it look more historic. Then I tried making it black n white. I like both effects more than my originals over-use of colour. Always my problem. Im like a kid in a candy store: oooh what would pink and purple look like? The real thing is exceptionally dull grey, brown and black. So I reckon anything is an improvement on those colors. Back in the 14thC there would have been far more RED and purple of course from chopped up offal and severed limbs.... What do you think? Which is more effective? .

02.01.2022 Each night Steve n I have a huge platter of Veges and a bit o tofu for dinner. If we are feeling peckish we top it off with a bit o Greek yoghurt and a sprinkle of blueberries. Its boring and repetitive as hell - like being in lockdown really. But it is beneficial and good for us - rather like being in Lockdown (we hope). This decadent wee food platter caught my eye so I PROCREATED it on my iPad - so to speak - whilst listening to the boring and repetitive news broadcasts on TV about Covid. Thats the joy of iPad painting - no cad red paint stains on the couch! .

02.01.2022 I’m still mentally in Paris. Working on light and shadow. Can you guess where this is? Iconic Paris. .... #sketch #sketchwalker #sketchbook #travelsketch #travelsketcher #travelart #journalling #sketchoftheday #drawing #travelsketching #sketching #sketchworkshop #placedelaconcorde #watercolor #watercolour #travelblogger #urbansketcher #urbansketchers #urbansketching #traveljournal #illustrator #artistsofinstagram #shadowsketching #travellersnotebook #sketchingtour #handlettering #visualjournal #sketchguru #paris #digitalwatercolorpainting

02.01.2022 Loving using the app Procreate on my iPad for making maps. This is a map of Split for my sketching tour group that is now going to be there next year (covid-vaccine willing) watercolour & mixed media sketching with @patsouthernpearce in June 2021 and watercolour with @stephanieabower in September 2021. Ive been making Procreate art stamps, new brushes, grids, textures etc and experimenting my little head off the last week or two. Feels like Im in Croatia! - sort of.... .