Capel Street

On the same day Dublin Sketchers went to 14 Henrietta Street, we also sketched in the Capel Street area. It was a long day. So I needed food. Blas at the Chocolate Factory on Kings Inns Street had the perfect lunch for me - a vegetarian Irish breakfast. And plenty of inspiration for my Bloomsday 2019 Sketching!

Inside Blas. I miscounted the number of panes in the window, but you wouldn't really notice, would you?
'—One thing I never understood, he said to be original on the spur of the moment. Why they put tables upside down at night, I mean chairs upside down, on the tables in cafés. To which impromptu the neverfailing Bloom replied without a moment’s hesitation, saying straight off:
—To sweep the floor in the morning.'

I tried to sketch it from memory (I like my food hot, well not too hot, so I rarely sketch my dinner!) with a pencil and it wasn't pretty. But when I got home, I added a dash of colour and everything worked out all right.
'So anyhow in came John Wyse Nolan and Lenehan with him with a face on him as long as a late breakfast.'

Another sketcher had found a great spot to sketch on Capel Street - towards the top, across from the Black Sheep pub there is a business with a railing in front of it where you can sit down in peace without disturbing any of the passersby - good on a Sunday anyway). This was my last sketch of the day. I was pretty tired at this point, but also energised and I did this sketch in no time - a quick line drawing from right to left (and I'm not left-handed but I often sketch from right to left) and loose watercolour. I was done in less than half an hour. Sometimes, you get beyond tired and the most expressive sketches can appear on the page like magic!
'Where was that? Ah, yes. Mutoscope pictures in Capel street: for men only. Peeping Tom. Willy’s hat and what the girls did with it. Do they snapshot those girls or is it all a fake? Lingerie does it. '