George's Street Arcade, Retroshop, Simon's Place and Yamamori

Stage two of the Journey South.

First stop. Retro Shop in George's Street Arcade. I just asked the lovely lady in the shop if I could sketch there (pen only, no watercolour), It was early in the day, and not too busy. She even gave me a chair. I sat in one of the changing room, just facing out towards the prettiest petticoats. And I set to work. We chatted about hair colour and the dangers of bleaching, and about whether rockabilly dresses need heels or not.

Second stop. Simon's Place. A quick scone. I love the green on their counters, so I painted that too. But I wanted to see more of the street. So I left and sketched outside. Big mistake. It was sooo cold. I did three pen sketches standing up, but my hands were cramping and the sketches are a bit stiff as a result. I added colour and some writing at home and the pages look nice enough now. But I wish the weather improved a bit! 

The building in the middle is an example of the lovely detail in brick buildings . Unfortunately, some of these beauties have been replaced over the years by ugly modern buildings. The 1970s wasn't a good era for architecture in Ireland I think. There's  even a building where the top two floors have been kept intact and the bottom two are pure 70s brutalism. I just don't get it! 

And the students looked more like English-language students than music students to me. But the sign says Waltons New School of Music and I checked the website. So now I'm a bit confused. But to me, the coloured backpack is a total giveaway of language students that we see around Dublin all through the year.

I was really cold by the time I started this sketch and wasn't happy with it at all. But I added colour and detail when I got home, and now it's not so bad.

This one here is not an urban sketch. I painted it from photo after I got home. When all the delicious food appeared at the table, I was too cold to sketch. I needed warm food and tea in my tummy. It was worth it. Agedashi tofu, ebi tempura, unagi and ikura. Plus green tea and umeshu! What a treat!