FEATURE S

SMITH, an artist who goes by Jasonic, grew up in St Ives and still pays tribute to the area that inspired his passion. “I love walking the older streets of St Ives, looking at the beautiful houses. I grew up in Cambourne Avenue so I have always loved venturing into the bush to the Cascades and even up the other side to Belrose. There are stunning caves and creeks down in the national park, so there are many excellent places to explore.”

But it’s not the natural beauty that occupies most of his focus. As part of his 1000 House Drawings project, Smith lets loose on his inner “frustrated architect” and has made it his mission to “combine a love of sketching with a love of houses”.

“My passion for architecture means a respect for all styles and eras of architecture, including those styles and eras that I don’t personally like,” he admits. “I’m not a utopian idealist; I recognise that many buildings and houses will be lost for various reasons, but I fear losing too many of the buildings that are a part of our architectural heritage. As I like to say, nobody’s building old homes anymore, so once they’re gone, they’re gone. So I made a commitment to myself to preserve homes by drawing them.”

His interest started young. Smith’s father and builder grandfather constructed his childhood home when he was three, which kindled a fascination with how they were designed. “As a child my first memory of this was watching TV shows like The Brady Bunch and Happy Days wondering why the internal layout didn’t fit the outside of the house.”

His mother would take him to display homes on weekends, with his interest further fuelled when his parents developed some property in the Snowy Mountains. “I spent my teenage years crawling over building sites in Jindabyne. It’s only natural that I would gravitate to drawing homes,” he says. “I do enjoy drawing other subjects like landscapes, streetscapes and people, however I keep coming back to houses and built heritage.”

While most drawing skills can be taught, it’s passion that drives the motivation to continue to improve, he says. The other elements are being observant – “I notice tiny details about floor plans or buildings that capture my attention” – and patient. “I recently drew some 1930s office buildings in Melbourne that took me over 20 hours each. Without patience and a strong desire to complete the task, nothing would get finished.”

Most works start as pencil on cartridge paper before he uses a fine line marker for the linework. Colour comes from either Copic markers or, rarely, watercolour. Some older buildings warrant a charcoal treatment for a “visually and metaphorically” darker appearance.

The biggest challenge is often which house to draw next from the hundreds he’s documented by photograph over his neighbourhood wandering and travels, and even from historic records. (“I almost never draw a home/building in person,” he explains. “They usually take 2-3 hours per house minimum, so sitting out the front of someone’s house for that long would be a little weird.”)

“Often I choose the ‘road less travelled’, the homes and buildings that most people wouldn’t want to draw. These might be the homes that are often overlooked like red brick homes from the 1960s, fibro houses from the 1940s or brown brick and orange tile homes of the 1980s. It probably describes my character: when everyone is heading in one direction, I’ll go the other way,” he says. “Sometimes it’s my mood. I’ll select the kind of house I feel like drawing. If I enjoy drawing it, I’m likely to draw it well.”

Smith also takes commissions from people who want to preserve their home on paper. “As a lover of architecture, I’m thrilled to draw any type of home although there are some that I wouldn’t personally draw. Maybe their grandparents built it, or it was their childhood holiday home, or it was their family home and their parents have now passed away. Knowing these homes are emotional for people is what makes me passionate about drawing them. After all, homes are more than just bricks and mortar, they are part of our narrative.”

1000housedrawings.webnode.co.uk @1000housedrawings

St Ives Showground Community Markets

Organic and fresh produce, meat from the farm, deli goods, gourmet groceries, flowers and plants, homewares and hot food.

Every Saturday at the Showground. 8am – 2pm St Ives Showground

450 Mona Vale Road St Ives Free parking on site

FIFA World Cup live site

Watch the Matildas matches in the FIFA World Cup at our live site at St Ives Village Green. Food and drinks, games and coaching clinics before kick off at 8pm.

For details visit krg.nsw.gov.au/whatson