QVMAG Friends Our people, their stories-August 2026 Drawn from Life

Bringing together two members of Launceston Urban Sketchers whose life journeys have bought them to a similar place; finding calm and reward in drawing from life, their urban surrounds whether in Tasmania or travelling abroad.

PATTY EDGE:

About Patty:

Patty Edge is a retired obstetrician and gynaecologist from Northern Tasmania who exchanged hospital corridors and operating theatres for sketchbooks, watercolours and considerably more travel than she had ever planned. Known online as The Sketching Doc, Patty threw herself into urban and travel sketching after retiring from medicine and moving from Perth, Western Australia, to Launceston. Somewhere along the way, what was meant to be a pleasant retirement hobby has begun behaving suspiciously like a second career. She now sketches historic streets, villages and cities around the world, teaches urban sketching in Australia and overseas, and has filmed online tutorials designed to help people simplify complicated scenes and sketch with more confidence.

See Patty's work here @thesketchingdoc

RENNIE NEASEY-O'CONNELL:

About Rennie:

I’ve been a Funeral Director for 30 years, and for about 28 of those years have owned and operated my own funeral business in Burnie, Parkside Funerals, and we serve local families mostly on the North West Coast, West Coast and Circular Head. Funeral work can be very stressful, and I always say, ‘it’s important to know what recharges your batteries and do it’. And for me, one of the ways I recharge my batteries, is through my art. And I love sharing what I know with others. Especially when people who always believed they couldn’t, now realise they can.