[By Chris Haldane in Melbourne]
It’s the epitome of everything I love about inner city suburbs: Brunswick St, Fitzroy, which I recently got the chance to revisit on a trip south.
Melbourne prides itself on having the best coffee in the world, and with so much to sketch I needed a good coffee to get me going for the day, so my first decision was which cafe would provide the best caffeine hit. Gutz Cafe? Or Grumpy and the Dreaded One’s Little Café of Awesome? Great names, but one look inside the door of Sonido and I just knew I had to draw that amazing yellow and red combo. And the mismatched furniture, and the plethora of colourful knickknacks. like a giant duck hanging from the ceiling, some very shapely buttocks holding a plant, a huge rabbit beside the coffee machine, and a toucan watching the barista do his magic, amongst many other things!
I then began my sketchcrawl along Brunswick Street, Fitzroy’s main drag, and found the first of many murals that I saw that day. Melbourne has been called the street art capital of the world, and the street art of Fitroy is amazing for its variety, the talent with which it has been created, and the powerful messages that underlie much of it. I found myself roaming down alleyways and side streets in search of it, and found the stunning example at the top of this article, which covers the whole side wall of the old Rusden and Birrell building. Home owners who appreciate art are increasingly realising that having a mural painted on their walls like this gives their home a unique touch. “Praying Mantis” by Buzzard was another favourite mural – such an unexpected subject and so cleverly painted and, interestingly, the “exposed” brickwork was painted onto a completely white wall.
Then there are also Guiseppe Roneri’s unusual sculptural mosaic lounges (above) – a nice spot for locals to sit and chat in the sunshine on a winter’s day.
One of the great things about us as urban sketchers is that we become keen observers and learn to look all around us, and as a result we see things that many others miss. It certainly pays to look up in Brunswick St, because the artistry continues with really decorative examples of shop signage, especially that of Flowers Vasette, with its huge metallic bees, a sunflower windmill and a rather scary looking Venus fly trap adorning its upper walls.
Also sitting and laughing up above eye level, balanced on the edge of a plinth plastered with posters of various musical events, is the engaging life-size statue of local character “Mr Poetry” , one of a number of public artworks commissioned by the Council to revitalise Brunswick St In the early 1990s.
Between sketching, eating, drinking coffee and shopping, you can’t be bored in Fitzroy so there’s plenty more to see on my next visit to Melbourne!
