Rathmines has a lot to offer.

We should definitely go to Rathmines more. It's got lots to sketch and good cafés. All you need!

Rathmines College and the Carnegie Library across the way are two magnificent buildings that I need to study in more detail. I only drew them in coloured pencil, which I find very hard to photograph. And I want to wander the side streets some more, and discover all the little gems hidden away. Dublin is not a large city, but still, there is an endless supply of sketching material!

The nice café across the library didn't have matcha latte, so I went over to Starbucks. And I was rewarded with all these free models, busy studying on their computers and books. I love it that each Starbucks is different, with coffee-related art on the walls. I do wonder if they have something like 20 or 100 templates, and if I were to go to a Starbucks in Shinjuku, maybe I would find it's exactly the same as this one in Rathmines? Or is every single one of them different?

Poppies

We had a heatwave in Ireland a few weeks back. 5 days of temperatures above 25 degrees celsius. That might not seem like much to Europeans, but Irish people find it difficult to cope with the heat. I'm generally able to cope up to 35 degrees. But still, I ended up sketching the poppyseed heads in our backgarden, over and over. I've cleared them now, and kept the seeds, so we will have even more poppies next year!!

One aspect of sketching these that I really enjoyed was the rustling sound they made in the breeze. Most of our neighbours were away, and it was very quiet. All I could hear was the rustling of the dry leaves and maybe the seeds gently rolling in their pods?

Glasnevin Cemetery

It is said that it holds about 1.5 million residents! Glasnevin Cemetery's population is larger than the population of Dublin itself! And on a warm day at the end of the summer, it is perfectly peaceful, after a brief brouhaha in commemoration of the death of Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins. The past is still central in Irish life and politics. Thankfully I did find parking a little further along, and I settled in a quiet spot, not far to the path to the Botanic Gardens. I did three sketches from one location, beside the resting place of Lucy, who died aged 21 in 1841. I don't know anything about Lucy, but I felt it important to honour her memory with my sketches. It's a lovely spot, with lots of trees, and not too many visitors. RIP, Lucy.

6 months of war - Independence Day

 I can't find the words. When will this war end?

Tomatoes and other plants in the backgarden

 Memories of our 5-day heatwave.

Going back, time to move on

I did have another go or two at that view on the Beara Peninsula. In markers, and in direct watercolour. But it's not working the way I want. So I'm going to park it for now. All good practise, though.

St Audoen's

Sketching at St Audoen's park a few weeks ago. I found lots of thing that interested me. I sketched them all, including the flowers, and sensory toys that seemed to attract more adults than children.

The light kept changing. It was beautiful. And then it was time to catch up with friends.

Deliveroo and some more from Rathmines

I could have painted some beautiful old buildings. But, on that day, the Deliveroo guys hanging out across the street before the rush were more interesting! They spotted me, I waved and showed them my work in progress from the other side of the road. A couple of them came over, and one of them asked if he could film me while I was sketching, as he is a film maker. And that's how I ended up in a reel!  And the camera definitely adds ten pounds! I wish!!

Going back - woof woof

I thought it was looking good. But then Brendan saw a dog. And I saw the dog. And I couldn't unsee it!

I think that's the universe trying to tell me it's time to move on!

Going back

This scene is calling out to me again. Will I dare go big? Probably not in the first iteration. But I have just watched a video by Ian Roberts where he talks about answering that call. But I think I lack the stamina for that, at the moment anyway. Too many distractions.

Also, much as I love this view, it misses an essential element - the sea. For months, I've been saying that I just want to paint sea, rocks, sky, and it seems I've been quite successful in my avoidance methodology!

Then I just get lost in colour mixing. 

I'm placing this painting right at the end, in the hope that nobody sees it. I got lost in the trees, and adding the yellow markings on the road made it a lot worse!

Yellow and blue

 Playing with ink, thinking of Ukraine. 6 months of war. Independence Day.

Blue and yellow - pushing the colour boundaries

 Just letting ink do its thing.

Drawing

I'm thinking a lot about my style these days. Both in sketching and painting, I feel I have lost myself, trying to draw or paint too perfect. In a way, it's important to me to prove that I can draw, not a skill I was ever particularly good at. But my instinctive style would definitely be less precise, more attack the page with feeling. And I'm forever bouncing between these two. What I want is to have the energy of that gut feeling, without completely losing the actual shape I'm trying to represent. Why is it so hard?