金斯福德·史密斯纪念博物馆

" the details of my life are inconsequential" ... I am a 57 year old woman who lives in public housing in Rocklea with my dog and cat. I live with a mental illness. Art of all kinds has been a lifelong interest, and I have enjoyed attending urban sketching events for several years. I appreciate being part of this all inclusive community of artists. As a Brisbane native I feel especially connected to many of the sites we visit- I remember visiting the Kingsford Smith Memorial on a school excursion.

Alan Innes is a Brisbane artist with a 50 year design background in architecture, urbanism, landscape and graphics. His hand drawings include sketches and hybrid works [digitally edited and assembled] depicting local street views. His sketches appear in World of Urban Sketching by Stephanie Bower published in USA in 2022. In 2024 he was invited to take part in AsiaLink Sketchwalk in George Town Penang as an urban sketching demonstrator. Between 2018 and 2025, Alan has been a finalist in art awards including the Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award [Grafton Regional Gallery], Harold & Agnes Richardson Drawing Prize [RQAS], Clayton Utz Art Award, Lethbridge 20000, Lethbridge Landscape, and ArchiGraphicArts [Moscow].

What I love about Urban Sketching is that you see the familiar with fresh eyes. You see the beauty in a rusting air conditioning duct snaking its way up a wall, or power lines making spider webs against the sky. And I get to go to corners of this city that I've never been to. 

Case in point: I've been working at the Brisbane Airport precinct for 20 years but had never stopped at the Sir Charles Kingsford-Smith Memorial. I did two contrasting sketches: the Southern Cross aircraft in washes of graphite, and the building itself in pen and watercolour.

In front of the ‘Southern Cross’ aeroplane at Brisbane Airport’s Kingsford Smith Memorial, you feel its looming bulk and power, imagine the roar of its three radial air-cooled piston engines and its great flight. That's what I aimed to convey in this sketch. As a Brisbane artist, I've sketched and painted in ink and watercolour in my studio and worldwide, exhibited regularly and received awards for artwork. I've found that pen drawing with acrylic ink rendering is ideal for urban sketching-a great medium for rapidly capturing character, mood and the life.