Richmond Barracks

I love a project! So we've been invited by the Dublin City Council Culture Company to sketch around their new location at Richmond Barracks. Inchicore is an area of the city that's changing. Still very much a working class area, but the Kilmainham middle class is moving in. So it's interesting to observe and capture what makes it special, before it's all replaced by soulless apartment blocks.

The first day we went there it was too cold to sketch outside, and we stayed in most of the time, but I was itching to go out and explore. So I found a sheltered spot to sketch the flats, across the green. A lady went by and admired my sketch and commented that it was even colder inside the flats than outside! 

I also bumped into May from Bluebell. I was delighted she recognised me. We talked about the high of the Bluebell project with the performance at the National Concert Hall. And then she told me that Ray had been found dead at his home about a week after the concert. It was so sad. I remember he had said he enjoyed the music so much. And I never got to ask him about his Australia tshirt! He will be in my thoughts as I sketch here over the next few months.

And here are my indoors sketches - we were in a classroom for a while. Is it the same soft green that's used in classrooms all over the world? And the same tall windows? The only thing that was different from my school back in Belgium was the statue of the Virgin Mary. We had portraits of the King and Queen. Maybe there was a crucifix too, but I don't remember it!

And my first page in my new sketchbook. Not a great start. Although the little plant and the ink portrait are all right. Still, we had a nice chat and a good laugh!