U Café

We are a dedicated lot, Dublin Sketchers. We didn't sketch on Christmas day, but a few of us arranged to meet in the middle of the week for a session. Pat had checked out to make sure that U Café on James Street was open, and we met there, exchanging Christmas stories, sketching the view, and even making new friends, in the form of a young American woman who had just landed in Dublin that morning. She was in Ireland for a friend's wedding and had a few days to explore on her own. She saw us there, introduced herself, borrowed pencils and paper, and sketched with us. 

I tend to not overthink what I sketch. Sometimes I find cafés frustrating, because my view is blocked, but most of the time, I just enjoy sketching the sketchers. This is Annah. I love her hair, and she was wearing a warm cowl-neck scarf which I found beautiful. So that's where I started. Then I extended the sketch to include some of the café paraphernalia, including the man who runs the place.  I'm working in a largeish sketchbook (about A4) and I love filling the pages with one big sketch.

After a while, I generally feel the need to leave everyone behind and go sketch on the street. It's not the easiest thing to do at this time of the year. I walked back and decided to sketch this church that you can see from across many places in the city. It's so easy to spot, with its glass spire. It was starting to drizzle, so I took shelter at a bus stop and this was my view. I stood there and sketched, It wasn't the best angle, and I had to pause many times, as this seems to be a busy bus route. I added colour and text when I got back home, and I'm glad this church is now in my sketchbook. It's called Saint James Church, and the architectural archive photos show it before the glass spire was added. Next time I'm around there, I must check the indoors and the graveyard!

This is how the sketch looked on location. Not much to look at, you'd say,  but I'm glad I did it.