Urban Sketchers Week - Dublin Sketchers' special sketchwalk

Loved our sketchwalk with Dublin Sketchers on Sunday 3rd May, in celebration of International Urban Sketchers Week. We had a map of locations, starting at 11 am and finishing at 4pm (in the pub), with about 45 minutes at each location. It can be challenging, but also exhilarating, to sketch quickly and then move and settle and start all over again! All while chatting to sketchers from Dublin, and also Galway, Gorey, Northern Ireland and other parts. You could say it was our first National event for Ireland! 

As the International logo for this year was green, I tried to incorporated green in all my sketches. Worked mostly with pen, inktense and ecoline. Some watercolour when I had more time. I enjoyed the fast pace, and the chats along the way. Text added at home, everything else done on location. Was completely exhausted the next day! And Brendan took some photos and put a video together.  A great memory of the day.

 

Around our neighbourhood. It's lilac time

Tried some more flowers and leaves from our neighbourhood walks. I love the smell of lilacs. I need to add some gouache to this one to catch the soft light of it. The red leaves, I don't know what they are. I might cut it up.

Everyday joys

I have been in avoidance mode in the last few weeks (it's about 2 months actually! - I don't really know why, nothing in particular, maybe an accumulation of distractions and stresses, maybe I'm more tired than I would care to admit? I also have a stye that's stubbornly troubling my vision!). I can't seem to continue on the path I was on. So I'm trying other things. Rather than confront the problem straight on, I'm looking at other nudges, other things that have been catching my attention lately. The reality is that I live in the city, in the suburbs of Dublin. And I do love my life here. And I do notice all the beautiful little things that we spend most of our lives ignoring, like the song of a blackbird in the afternoon, the Spring light and shadows from the trees, the big bubbly clouds in the sky. None of it as dramatic as the Atlantic crashing on the West coast, but I'm appreciating these little daily joys all the same. And if I look at the photos on my phone, there's plenty that catches my eye, so why not try and paint some of it.

So, I started with cherry blossoms on cheap cartridge paper, buckling lots with the amount of water I use in my watercolours. It doesn't look quite so buckled in reality. Moved to heavy cartridge paper, more cherry blossoms from down the road on our afternoon walk. Third one is an attempt at shadows on the footpath. Didn't work out. But I really enjoyed painting the first two pieces, finding ways to express the pinkness of a cherry blossom at its peak!

Pencils4Tea 30 April 2026

I missed last week as I was in Belgium, so I was glad to participate in this session.

 

Top of Capel street

Don't be foold by the lovely sunshine. It was still not that warm in the shade and wind. Which is why I picked a seat in the sun, even if it meant that I wasn't going to sketch the designated building. Does that sound familiar? I'm not great at following instructions, or even just suggestions. Not anymore. I used to be such a good girl, doing what was expected of me. It took me long enough to get to this stage.

What really caught my eye wasn't the jewellers/pawn shop, but the shop at the top of the road, still far enough that I couldn't really see the details. Perfectly framed by street planting and other buildings. Then I decided I wanted to sketch the sketchers, and the spectacular lilies. Not sure about the overall result, but I'm glad I experimented. 

Fude pen (Platinum Carbon ink), Inktense and Ecoline markers.

Cropping and exploring - no colours

More cropping. What can I say, black and white doesn't excite me as much as colour.

 

Cropping and exploring

Remember that A2 piece on cartridge paper that I was reluctant to crop? Well I took the bull by the horns today and went for it!

Crop and collage 1. Love the marks and colours and shapes. Might need something with darker values somewhere, but it's got enough interest for now, to inspire me to get moving again.

2 is quite a vertical view, a slice of that big wide landscape on I could see from Bolus Head during my Cill Rialaig residency. I found it interesting to narrow the view so much.

3 is really all about the vegetation and wildness of February on that barren coast. It doesn't have as much in terms of composition, but I want to keep a record of those marks and colours. Maybe it's about the roots that appear where the road has been cut and the stones have collapsed. And the mountains on the other side, so far away, and yet so close.

Testing Inktense pencils and Ecoline markers (and others)

I dug through my collection of old Inktense pencils and Ecoline markers (and a few other brands). And yes, a few colours are the new ones I bought that I mentioned previously, like the Iris Blue and the Pink Flamingo. I'm loving the intensity. And it's sometimes easier than deploying the watercolours, particularly if I'm standing. Although I'm adding more to my backpack, so a cull will be needed soon. I chose one yellow, two greens, a pink, a blue, a red and a sepia. Plus all the Arrtx acrylic markers I have swatched below. Definitely too much to carry. I will regret this!

Irishtown

We were sketching in Irishtown. So much to sketch there. But I wanted to draw the pub, the Merry Cobbler, and the alleyway to the side of it. I could sit within that 100m radius and find dozens of interesting things to sketch! The weather wasn't quite as warm as forecast. Maybe 16 degrees, but with a sea breeze, I was glad of my woolly hat (26 April). 

Liz Steel had set Frames as the theme for April in her Patreon, and I was really inspired after watching her video to wrap up the month. I'm particularly happy with my sketch of the alleyway, where a nothing-special view becomes interesting when framed! Also, I'm applying the theme from a previous month on Liz's Patreon, using neglected art supplies, in this case Inktense pencils and Ecoline markers. Though I have to admit I bought a few more Inktense pencils in new colours. I'm very fond of that Iris Blue that I used for the pub!

More pigeons

More pigeons from photos. I never thought I would say that, but they're growing on me, pigeons. 

Pigeons voyageurs

Actually, the pigeons were going nowhere, but I was on my way to Belgium, and for some reason, I don't feel like sketching on these trips, even in the airport. So, since I learned how to draw birds with Andrew James, I just make sure I have photos of birds on my phone and I draw them with the supplies I have. Also did a blind continuous line drawing at the gate, with people waiting for the previous flight, using 3 different pens. That's all I did over that 3-day trip. I'm glad I did these!