One Week 100 Peope - Met Opera on Demand in Blue and Yellow

Iphigénie en Tauride provided the anguish I needed for my last day of One Week 100 People

One Week 100 People - more opera on demand

Soldiering on.

This is Roberto Devereux (Donizetti)

Protest at the Russian embassy in Dublin

A month since Russia invaded Ukraine. How many people dead? How much destruction? How much heartache?

I went to the protest at the Russian embassy in Dublin. I would have liked a little less speeches by the Irish Trade Unions, but it felt good to be there, to give support, one sketch at a time.

And a few photos taken by my husband, Brendan.

One Week 100 People - Met Opera on Demand

One Week 100 People. I gave myself a break and sketched from the Met Opera On Demand app. Still couldn't focus, really, but I did try to convey the emotions, particularly the hands. I think I did better in previous years. It's hard to do something like this when people are dying in Ukraine.

Some worked out better than others.

Le Comte Ory (Rossini)

Akhnaten (Philip Glass)

One week 100 People - more café sketching

These sketches really show how distracted I was. I used an hour in a café to catch up on my One Week 100 People, but I really couldn't concentrate. So it's all little moments caught, but no sense of place. At least there is a sense of time. I hope that one day soon I will be able to leave my blue and yellow pencils at home. But for all the people in Ukraine, they won't even have a home to go back to. Putin and his army are just destroying everything, bombing civilian targets, killing women, children, old people. What kind of people do that?

One Week 100 People - with Dublin Sketchers

Feeling rusty with sketching people, but it was One Week 100 People and I stuck with the programme, even if I wasn't feeling it. At first, I sat in Saint Stephen's Green and sketched people walking by. I was getting frustrated with it, so I went in search of fellow sketchers. I found them outside at the Moli café. Lovely courtyard at the back. It was pleasant in the sun. There wasn't much to sketch there, except people so that was good. I sketched Betty, Jean and Delphine. And I dressed them in blue and yellow. 

One Week 100 People - at home

Sketching people at home - that means sketching Brendan while he cooks.

Garden of Remembrance

How can I sketch pretty pictures while babies are dying? So instead, I sketched at the candlelight vigil at the Garden of Remembrance. Again, I found it hard to focus initially, but bit by bit, I got into the rhythm. I even sketched this lovely couple, who kindly agreed to pose for me. She was wearing the most beautifully headdress. I added the flag around their shoulders with watercolour when I got home.

All the candles on the ground. Let there be light. Please.

And thank you Olia Shchepak for taking my picture while I was sketching.

I managed to do one quick location sketch before the protest began.

Anti-war protest

Went to the protest at the GPO. This was on the 5th of March. A lot of Irish people joined the Ukrainian community to demand an end to the war and to beg NATO to protect the Ukrainian skies. I stood in the middle of the crowd and sketched non-stop. Initially, it was all disconnected in my eyes, people everywhere, the crowd moving and shifting. Then bit by bit, it all came together. The flags, the banners, the chanting, and even the ghost of Jim Larkin looking on towards the GPO.

Painting from thumbnails

 #standwithukraine

I did find peace in painting. Although this is very different from my usual style. I'm a bit lost. Two versions.

Paddy's Day sketches

Lots of quick sketches on Paddy's Day. I was more interested in watching the people than the parade. Plus I'm not tall enough to see over the crowd! Wonderful to be out in the crowd and soaking up the atmosphere. Lots of Blue and Yellow in the parade too. And don't forget that blue + yellow = green.