Sometimes, I just have to keep going, even when things are not working out. I had started sketching this beautiful building on Grafton Street with a fountain pen, and what I believed to be waterproof ink. But when I started adding watercolour, my whole drawing dissolved under my eyes. I got very frustrated at first. I was ready to pack up and go home. But my sketching time has become so precious lately that I took a deep breath and decided to keep going. I was in a bookshop café, Dubray Books on Grafton Street. Great views, great toasted scones. And also great toasted sandwiches! And great books of course. So I thought I needed to give a sense of where I was. I started to sketch some of the other customers, and then added the books with Ecoline markers. I wasn't going to risk any more watercolour on that page! And that drawing became like a meditation - I was completely in the moment. Nothing else mattered.
I still had a bit of time, so I painted the windows across the way. I kept it too abstract for it to be an urban sketch, really. But it doesn't matter. I was all about the doing, not the result. Although I am finding the paper very frustrating. I've been using Moleskine watercolour sketchbook for years and always loved them. But this one, my first in the portrait format, I don't know what it is, it's like the paper is scratchy! I must check if other people are experiencing the same problem.
And here is my toasted sandwich:
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