Something

Something is better than nothing.

I had applied ink (Apache Sunset - I must get some more, it's the one colour that makes me happy!) to the page, just because I needed to empty that small ink bottle.

Then I found a photo I took in France a couple of years ago. And I played with colour pencils

It's not much, but it's something.

My Dad would have been 90 today. He missed it by a couple of weeks.

Airport Sketching

There is too much going on at the moment. I wanted to sketch, but I couldn't. No, actually, I didn't even want to sketch. I was staring into empty space, despite sitting in an airport, the best place to sketch people. Because nobody will notice you.

But on Friday evening, I had a late flight and a few hours to kill, a lot on my mind that I didn't want to feel swirling around my head. So I took my sketchbook out of my bag, one pen, one marker (and a little bit of pencil for the plane). Nothing fancy, but after a while, it became everything. I welcomed the flow. It felt good. I needed that.

Queen Street

I have to say I like Dublin when it's old and gritty. But, sometimes, when an area is changing, it's not all bad. There are a few hotels popping up at the back of Smithfield, behind Bargaintown, for instance, near Queen Street. And with those, new bars and restaurants are appearing too. 

It was a rainy Sunday, so I had to find shelter indoors. I picked WokeCup café on the corner of Queen street where it intersects with the Luas line. I got a matcha latte and started sketching what was in front of me, including the big orange coffee machine. But then they told me they were closing in about 20 minutes (but staying open for take-away - it makes no sense to me), so I rushed the rest of the sketch. Someone told me that they are closing down soon. A pity, I would have liked to go back and sketch that street corner.

So I looked across the road, and I saw the Fidelity Bar, as in High Fidelity. Big windows, cool decor, lots of cocktails and great views of the street across the way. I opted for a mocktail - no idea what it was, but it was delicious. Frank Ryan's bar across the way only opened at 4pm. And the vegan place with a picture of a chicken in the window (go figure?) wasn't open either. But I was happy at the Fidelity bar, cool music, not too busy, very comfortable. The kind of place I would love to go back to. Queen street is a pretty busy road, so I added a car to my sketch and called it done.

And then it was time to meet the other sketchers in the Hendrick hotel lobby. Not busy and lots of quirky details to sketch. Most of the sketchers were still busy putting the finishing touches to their sketches, or drawing each other, so I sketched too. But at that stage, I like to look at people's sketchbooks and chat. The problem is that you can't look at someone's sketchbook if they're still working in it! Must find a way to break that pattern! I'm a social person. I miss the chat.

PS: I'm working in a Strathmore Watercolour sketchbook, new to me. It's not the easiest. It needs a few glazes before the colours pop. I don't have enough patience for that!!

Without text:

Urban Sketchers work-in-progress shot:

Zoom portraits

A very good Admin meeting with Urban Sketchers. I've scrubbed the names and notes, just in case you're wondering what the squiggles are.

Quick Portraits

 No time for art at the moment. But quick portraits are good for the soul.

 

Women of the world

 A quick sketch to stand with Ukraine, and with women of the world.

Self Portrait

Another self-portrait done from a crazy selfie I took. I found that the pencil marks were a bit dull, so I added ink. A blue and Apache Sunset. That jazzed it up!

Richmond Street Sketching

Last Sunday, we were sketching on Richmond street, an area of Dublin that is changing a lot. I used to live around there around 1987/9. It was lively, with lots of students living around the area and in Rathmines. It had its social problems, with flats located between Richmond Street and Charlemont Street, pretty much a no-go area for a middle-class girl like me. 

Now these flats are gone, replaced by modern apartments, which are probably not even available to buy, only to let, which is one of the major problems in Dublin. It wouldn't be so bad if the rents were reasonable, but they are crazy. Someone told me that even shared-accommodation flats, i.e. with a shared kitchen and sitting room/dining room, were going at 1800 euro per month!!! And the current government seems to be sleep-walking through this crisis. I just don't get how our government lets greedy developers control our country so much!

So on Sunday, I walked through the pedestrian area between Richmond Street and Charlemont Street. There is a new Tesco Express. But no other businesses at ground level yet. Some apartments are at ground level, which I think is just not good enough! And of course the canyon effect - wind, no light. But on the Richmond street side, a beautiful red-brick Georgian cottage remains. I had to sketch it. Lots of people stopped to see what I was doing.

Then I moved onto Richmond Street, found a spot at the top of the steps of a Georgian house divided into flats (I've lived in similar ones before - lots of character, not much heat!), and sketched the building site across the way, with a beautifully-restored building at the end. I think that might be part of the Clayton hotel on the canal? Everything behind is modern. And soon, everything in front will be modern too. I will miss the old Dublin. Souvik, one of our sketchers, was leaning against a lamppost while sketching. I just had enough room to fit him in!

 

And then it was down to the pub to chat - lots of talk about pens and ink!

A few photos taken by various sketchers (the first two were taken by Maya). Yes that's me at the top of the steps, with a rubbish bag on the other side! And it was milder than in recent weeks, but there was a cold wind sweeping down the street.

Folding geology

Believe it or not, I was looking at a photo I took on the Beara peninsula last autumn when painting this abstract piece! I just love how the mountains seem to fold in on themselves and that provided the starting point here. After that, my mind and my paint brushes went on a journey of their own! This was a good opportunity to play with soft and hard edges, even a couple of rough edges in there. And also to use art as mindfulness and therapy, to calm my nervous system, and help me process the world around me.

 

One Week 5 People

I've been doing this challenge since 2017. This is the first year that life got in the way. Looking forward to next year. 

Tectonic folds

This one looks abstract maybe. But I was actually looking at mountains in Beara, where the folds of tectonic pressure appear so clearly on the bare mountains. It's just an idea for now. To develop when I am less preoccupied. And I need to try it on rough paper.

Abstract exploration

Abstract exploration. Or Red Fuji? 

I was inspired to explore an abstract composition. I was preoccupied. And chatting to my friend and muse Shelley. This is what appeared on my page.

Beara - Textures

Sometimes what appears is not what I intended. But maybe what was in the back of my mind. If it is beautiful, does it matter?

Beara - shapes and values?

I was watching the final of Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year the other day, and what the three finalists were good at was thumbnails to figure out composition. Something I need to do more of. So there you go.

And my planning book is full of notes and squiggles that only I understand! 

Beara - In search of a composition

These all look like there is  a tornado engulfing everything. Not the intended effect. The ones with the cute cottage are too quaint. The ones without are more abstract than I had intended. Maybe it's time to go back to my pencil and work out a composition and values and shapes! 

Beara exploration

I love exploring in watercolour thumbnails Colour exploration is as important to me as shapes and values. Maybe the little cottage is too Oirish, but it's cute and it helps to explain what I'm looking at. My favourite is the one at the bottom left. What's yours?

Ink exploration

Today wasn't as stressful as yesterday, but still, my mind was too busy to paint. So I picked up my Kakimori nib pen and I explored the rocky landscape of Beara. Before I did that, I notanized the photo I had taken last October, and it helped me figure out a more abstract approach!

 

Procreate

I watched Uma Kelkar do a demo of a Hawaii scene using Procreate, and I learned so much in that 20 minutes that it inspired me to try that tool again. I'm not one of these people who likes to read the full user manual (I translated enough of these over the years), and I could never find what I wanted, like the Color Drop tool. I didn't know what it was called, so I couldn't google it! Watching Uma create layers, and add texture and draw all the lush vegetation was amazing. My attempt here in Procreate is not a patch on what she did, but it has inspired me to explore further!

More Hawaii

I was so inspired by the Hawaii locations that I did two more.

The first one was the view that Uma Kelkar demoed in Procreate. I worked in watercolour and Stabilo Woody pencils. Exploring textures in watercolour was fun! 

For this one, I took the river rock view and turned the map 180 degrees. There was no focus, just flat rocks in the shallow water leading towards lots of lush vegetation. I didn't feel the need to compose this view - I was happy with the abstract quality of it. I feel there is cruciform composition in there somewhere with strong verticals and horizontals. (PS these 2 and the other 2 on my previous post were done in an Etchr Perfect sketchbook. I had forgotten how good the paper is in these!)

Hawai!

It's been a tough couple of weeks. I've been all over the place. Some awful sketches, no painting at the easel. But on Thursday, I had a choice between yoga class and Street View World Tour. It's organised by Eleanor Doughty and Jenny Adams on a monthly basis.They pick a location on Google maps, and everybody sketches the view, plus they invite a guest who gives a free demo. A wonderful way to connect with urban sketchers from around the world and learn new skills!  They have been virtually travelling all around the world in the last 11 months, and I only just joined this week. Now, I will have to be a regular! And what a great location - we were in Hawaii! And the artist who did the demo was Uma Kelkar. She was showing us her work in Procreate, but the concepts she was explaining could apply to any media. What Uma told us about greens is bouncing around my head still! I worked mostly in watercolour, with some white Gelly Roll pen, and my new Stabilo Woody colour pencils, plus some Posca markers, and a white resist pencil.

This first sketch was done in 10 minutes, but I'm very happy with how it turned out!

I was working at the same speed for this one, but I had double the time, so I think I overworked it a bit. I struggled with the rocks in the water, but Posca markers came to the rescue!

For the final location of the evening, we were at a black volcanic beach. It was fun. I think the wind in the palm trees was better in the earlier stages. I kind of lost some of it by adding too much on top. But I like my overall colour scheme all the same.

Pen and watercolour doodles

I haven't been at my easel in a couple of weeks - it's not obvious on my blog or Instagram, as I always schedule my posts a few weeks ahead. My mind is so busy, with everything, in the present and the future. Hard to even think about what to paint, let alone plan and execute it.

This is as far as I got

If in doubt, do self-portraits

Again, in reverse order. The initial ones were done after watching one of Koosje Koene's Draw-tip Tuesdays, using leftover paint and a variety of tools that I don't know that well.

The last one, first here, done with a Polychromos pencil. I'm starting to like pencils! All from selfies I took about a week ago just for the purpose of self-portraits! 

Sunday sketch adventure

The Dublin fruit and veg market opened in 1892 and closed in 2019. It's a beautiful Victorian structure and the red bricks glow in the winter afternoon sun. If you had been there last Sunday, you would have seen a band of intrepid sketchers braving the cold to capture this beautiful architecture. Well, it's not that cold in Dublin, but when the sun goes in and the wind picks up, you feel it in every bone of your body!

I feel very strongly about sketching Dublin before it disappears. Before the pandemic, there were plans to transform it into a fancy market, a bit like the Borough Market in London. Now, well, the economy isn't doing so well, a lot of shops are closing around Dublin. So, we don't know what's going to happen. Hopefully it won't be left to collapse, only to be replaced by a bland modern hotel, like many that are sprouting in the area at the moment.

If you head to Dublin Sketchers, you will see the work we do in documenting the city as it currently stands. That's what I love about urban sketching, it's our collective works that tells the story of Dublin, from so many different perspectives and in so many different styles.

Before I sketched the market, I had lunch (Malabar curry in Cornucopia), then pastel de nata and tea in Café Lisboa near Capel Street - their beautiful teapots are reason enough to go there, in my humble opinion! The pastel de nata is a bonus!

Then we went to the pub and I sketched Hari. Before the pandemic, we used to look at each other's sketchbooks after 4pm. Now, most of us just continue sketching. It's a bit of a different dynamic. But I miss looking at everyone's sketchbooks, as there is a whole narrative in a sketchbook, as opposed to just one page or one spread. Which reminds me that I need to do a video flipthrough. There's a long list of others things that need to be done first! But I'll be sure to post it here when it's done!

Close-ups

Urban Sketcher photos

A photo of us in the pub, as you can see absorbed in finishing our sketches or sketching each other across the table. Photo credit: Alice Campbell