Summer party at Drimnagh Castle

Fantastic day at Drimnagh Castle where Dublin Sketchers had our summer event. Lots of sketching and cooking and eating! 

In the downstairs kitchen (no longer used). I had some time on my own in this room before Zuzanna started the interviews for the documentary she is working on about Dublin Sketchers. What do I do to calm my nerves before going in front of the camera? I sketch of course!

Then I went into the kitchen where Amanda, Monica and Louise were working on two of the four paellas that were being prepared for the 34 of us who attended! They were supervised by Dora the cat who always sits on the spiral staircase in the corner of the kitchen. I didn't get to sketch Betty and Maria who were cooking outdoors, in the rain, under a tarp set up by Pat, over a wood fire. Next time! 

Without planning

Sometimes, it's good to paint something without much planning, just as a reminder that I do need a plan before I start painting! The difficulty I have with this one is that what interests me is the sky. But then ended up giving a lot more prominence to the trees. And I have this sky hole on the right-hand side that draws too much attention. It was there. The sky in the distance. A warm colour against the dark rain clouds that were gathering. But it draws too much attention to the trees on the right which should be just supporting actors. 

So I'm trying another version. I've cut the paper in a slightly taller format so I have more room for the sky. With a light drawing to keep me focused. I'm pointing the clouds more towards the left of centre. I've reversed the curve of the road so I direct the eye to the left. And added two cars parked on the road. We'll see where it goes!

Black sail, Dun Laoghaire

It wasn't an easy decision to paint those sailing boats. But I had to remind myself that they were the reason I had taken the photo that inspired this painting. It was May 2022. And a cold day, with very grey skies. When painting this, I knew that I had to make my clouds greyer than usual! But I still wanted some warmth. I used three colours: Raw Sienna Light, Alvaro's Caliente Grey and Alvaro's Fresco Grey. Plus some blue that was in my palette to make the see a little bluer than the sky.

And in case you're wondering, these boats had black sails, which is what made them interesting to me.  

Morning clouds over the bay - inspired by Killiney Bay

Another wet-in-wet soft sky that inspired me to paint an Irish landscape. I loved how my wet in wet washes had worked out, Raw Sienna Light, Horizon Blue, Ultramarine Deep and Burnt Umber. But it wasn't enough to make a painting. So I looked through my folder of photos of Irish landscapes and I found a photo I took at Killiney Beach in December 2018. I flipped it horizontally to fit the soft wash I had painted. I strengthened the golden colour with more Raw Sienna Light and Hansa Yellow Deep. I added a thick wash for the rocks and the hills. I lifted a thin line on the horizon. And it was done. I love the warm feeling of the sun behind winter clouds.

Forestry

Sometimes, you don't have very much to start with, then you see something in it. An empty sky and land that reminded me of bogland at first. Then I remembered the forestry area that I painted before. I think I will have another go! 

I used Horizon Blue for the sky, and I think it's the closest to an Irish summer sky as I can get. Ultramarine deep and Burnt Umber for the dark clouds. The Van Gogh Ultramarine Deep gives that lovely purple feeling that I love so much.

Sketching at St Mary's Abbey

I love it when we get invited to sketch somewhere special. The OPW invited us to sketch inside what remains of St Mary's Abbey, just near Evans. It was closed to the public for years, and they are re-opening it on a limited basis. It looks like nothing much from the outside, but when you go in, it's amazing. The beautifully-lit space of the Chapter House and the small chapel beside it is all that remains of this huge cistercian abbey that covered a large area in Dublin, before it was dismantled by Henry VIII, and the stones removed over the centuries for various building projects.

I sketched outside first, then did my best to represent the beautiful ceiling arches, and light wall, including some of the sketchers who got absorbed in capturing this site. I finished with a little bit of wall texture.

Wet sand, sky and sea

I painted 4 paintings back to back. The 4th one, I'm happy with. That shows me I need to set aside a longer painting time to really get into a flow state. And also that the more I paint, the more I build up my stamina.

This one is somewhere on the East coast, wet sand, beautiful reflections in the sea, dramatic clouds. I love to say so much with so little.

Wet in wet experiments

Sometimes, there just isn't enough in a watercolour wash. I'm going to experiment with these and see where it leads me. One of them, I see the peat bog in the Midlands. The other, cloud reflections. Let's see what I can do with them!

Landing - larger

Time to move up a size. It might take me a little while to settle, but I want to paint in half sheet size now. All part of the experiment. Some will work out. Some won't. But I love exploring my boundaries. I'm always happier with the version done in one wash, moving fast before the paint dries.

For me, it's the feeling I have in my heart when the plane is getting lower over the Irish sea, and the clouds, horizon and land are all merging into one.

Do you know which I painted first? Do you know which I prefer?

War Memorial Garden

Last Sunday was more about chatting than sketching for me. We were at the War Memorial Garden at Islandbridge. The weather miraculously stayed dry. Normally, I would sit by the river and try and capture its flow. But I played it safe and just painted a few trees and a bench. The light kept changing. That's Ireland for you.

I really enjoyed chatting with everyone afterwards. It was really lively. Lots of old and new people. Even a visitor from Las Vegas! It was hard for me to keep up with all the conversations I wanted to be part of. But so much fun!

Landing

Loved the light when my plane landed in Dublin after a week in Belgium. It inspired me to paint a scene from above. I do love sea and sky! And purple clouds and mountains

More sketches from my travels

I'll call this the B-roll. Although there are sketches here that I'm very happy with, and that are associated with great memories. Some capture the in-between moments. Others show the ebb and flow of my sketching energy!

I nearly filled a sketchbook over the 3 days!

Testing brushes, paints, etc.

Between goodie bag and gifts and a great artshop in my hometown, I came back with new tools to try out. And a heavier suitcase!

Erika gave me a beautiful set of Gansai watercolours. I had to try them straight away!

Then I tried them again when I got back home to Dublin.

Doodling on the plane. Just 3 Ecoline markers 

A chisel marker

More doodling on the plane

And some more

Got a matt pit graphite pencil in the goodie bag. Always enjoy trying these things. Not so much using them.  And I got a Payne's Grey in the Sennelier ink brushes. And was given an intense green (deep turquoise in my opinion. I found them much more fun to use by adding water, and kept playing!

My parents' shop

I wrote the rest in French, but for this sketch, which I finished at home, it seems more natural to write in English. Go figure.

One of my priorities when I was in Namur for the Urban Sketchers Belgium event "Dessiner Namur", was to sketch my parents' shop. It's now a Zara and the interior looks nothing like it used to. But the façade has been kept, and seeing it there brought back so many memories. I had to wait until the Sunday morning so that I could sit across the road, in front of another shop, with a clear view across the Rue de Fer. I started sketching before having breakfast even. With a result that I started feeling a migraine coming on and had to leave after drawing in ink. I added the colour when I got back to Ireland.

The façade is quite unusual, with its mosaic tiles. Most buildings in the town have stone window surrounds with brick. I don't know when the house was built and why it was built in a different style. All I know is that it survived the bombings during WWII. The neighbour's house wasn't so lucky.

As a child and a teenager, I spent more time in the shop than at home in Champion, on the outskirts of Namur. We went to school in Heuvy, just outside the town, and then for secondary school, it was the Lycée first, then the Athénée when the two schools merged. I did my homework in the office, and when I was done, I would go up to my grand-aunt and grand-uncle for a glass of chocolate milk and a petit beurre biscuit and to watch a bit of telly. I also roamed around the back of the shop and the empty apartments above. At one point, before I was born, three families lived there, my parents, my grandparents and my grand-aunt and uncle. My parents built a house in Champion and we moved there a few months after I was born. My grandmother on that side of the family died when I was 6. My grand-uncle when I was 18 I think. And my grand-aunt when I was already in Ireland (after 1986). There were two sets of stairs, more if you count the stairs to the workshop. The apartments were connected. There was a lot of storage space at the back, some open to our customers, some less salubrious. I remember the attic and feeling that the floor could collapse any time. And some of the cellars were pretty scary. When I was 17/18, my parents let me use the shop as a base for me and my friends to sleep during the Fêtes de Wallonie. It was pretty special. I knew every nook and cranny. It's still engraved in my memory.

I'm glad it's still standing. And I still have my memories.

Sketching my Hometown!

I've written this in French already, so I'm going to copy and paste and you'll have to use Google Translate - there's normally an automatic translation done!

​​​Bonjour, 

Je m’appelle Marie-Hélène Brohan Delhaye. Je suis Namuroise d’origine. Mes parents étaient propriétaires du magasin d’ameublement Delhaye aux Quatre Coins à Namur. J’ai passé toute mon enfance et mon adolescence dans les rues de la ville.

En 1986, après mes études de traductrice, je suis partie vivre à Dublin, en Irlande. Où je vis encore. Je reviens régulièrement en Belgique pour voir la famille. Malheureusement, mon Papa est mort (à plus de 89 ans) et ma Maman est en maison de repos à Bruxelles. Donc j’ai de moins en moins l’occasion de revenir dans la région namuroise. 

Je fais partie du groupe international Urban Sketchers, dont je suis administratrice à Dublin. Je suis une passionnée du croquis urbain. Je ne rate jamais une occasion de dessiner dans les villes et campagnes. Et j’adore rencontrer les autres fous de l’urban sketching!

Ce fut donc pour moi une occasion merveilleuse de pouvoir revenir à Namur pour dessiner ma ville (“my hometown”). Merci à toute l’équipe USk Belgium (Urban Sketchers Belgium) pour l’organisation fantastique et leur enthousiasme chaleureux!!

Voici quelques-uns de mes croquis faits entre le 7 et le 9 juillet 2023, ainsi que quelques photos prises sur place. Une tradition des Urban Sketchers est en effet de prendre une photo du croquis avec la scène croquée en arrière-plan.

Vendredi

Place de l’Ange

Le soleil est de la partie. Je m’assieds donc à une terrasse pour commencer mon premier croquis. J’ai des souvenirs d’enfance, je descends la rue de l’Ange pour aller vers l’Innovation pour voir tous les jouets qui sont exposés à l’étage avant la Saint Nicholas. Je me souviens aussi que ma grande-tante achetait des fleurs tous les samedis sur le marché. L’ange nous regarde d’en haut. 

Rue de l’Ouvrage et Cathédrale St Aubain

J’ai été à l’école au Lycée, puis il y a eu fusion avec l’Athénée. Comme mes parents avaient un commerce en ville, je pouvais quitter l’école à l’heure de midi pour aller manger. Les autres élèves me passaient des commandes pour acheter des bonbons. Je me souviens des bonbons à la violette. Le magasin de bonbons est maintenant un restaurant.

Église Saint Jean et une Chouffe sans alcool

J’ai retrouvé un urban sketcher allemand, Stuart, que j’avais rencontré à Porto en 2018 pour le Symposium international des Urban Sketchers. On a repéré la vue de l’église Saint Jean de la terrasse du Tea Time Café. Je bois une Chouffe sans alcool et je dessine Stuart, qu’on repère facilement avec son tshirt orange et sa barbe et sa moustache

Les croquis du téléphérique

J’ai facilement le vertige, mais je ne peux pas résister à l’invitation d’aller dessiner dans le téléphérique. Au départ, je suis super nerveuse et je ris comme une adolescente à chaque fois que le téléphérique nous secoue. J’essaie de dessiner alors que nous sommes encore en mouvement (légende 1, 2, 3, 4) et que je panique encore. Quand le téléphérique s’arrête au dessus de la Sambre pour 30 minutes, je me calme enfin et je me concentre sur les ponts qui enjambent la Meuse et la Sambre et certains bâtiments que je reconnais, un bloc d'appartements à Jambe, la clinique St Camille, la Halle al’Chair (qui va devenir l’office du tourisme), les remparts de la citadelle, et un arbre qui me rappelle des souvenirs d’adolescente!

See how relaxed I am now that the cable car has stopped!

Samedi

Les Échasseurs

Il fait chaud sur le Grognon. Je trouve un tout petit coin d’ombre pour dessiner. Avant que les échasseurs arrivent, je dessine l’arrière-plan, la vue classique de la Citadelle. Et puis je me concentre sur la façon dont les échasseurs tiennent leurs bras et l’angle des échasses.

 

Une échasseuse tombée

Une échasseuse fait une mauvaise chute. La pauvre jeune femme souffre beaucoup. Beaucoup de personnes veulent aider. Mais il faut attendre l’arrivée de l’ambulance. Après un certain temps, les échasseurs reprennent leur entraînement. The show must go on. Je dessine. J’espère que la jeune échasseuse pourra bientôt se remettre de son opération.

Molons 

Les Molons, comme les échasseurs, font vraiment partie de mon enfance namuroise. Je les regardais défiler de l’étage du magasin de mes parents à la Rue de Fer pour les fêtes de Wallonie. Je ne parle pas Wallon, mais je sais chanter Li Bia Bouquet (le refrain et le premier couplet en tout cas). Ma grand-mère parlait Wallon avec ses amies au village. Ma mère le comprends. Et moi, juste cette chanson.

Je dessine Benoît, un Molon plus jeune que certains. Il m’explique la philosophie des Molons. Je lui demande des informations sur l’instrument qu’il tient en main. Il me dit que chaque Molon choisit un instrument qui correspond aux choses qui l’intéresse. Lui, c’est les reptils. Il a des serpents chez lui!!

Pause au soleil - Confluent

En fin d’après-midi, j’ai besoin de faire une pause avant la photo de groupe au Delta. Un monsieur est assis en face de moi sur un transat. Il profite du soleil. Moi j’en profite pour le dessiner.

Dimanche

Petit déjeuner, place du Théâtre

Petit déjeuner au calme, avec Stuart (my sketching buddy!). Je dessine les ombres sous les chaises et les parasols. J’utilise les tampons créés par les Urban Sketchers de Belgique (USk Belgium) pour compléter mon croquis. 

Vue de la rampe de la Citadelle

Stuart et moi décidons de monter à la citadelle. Je propose la rampe le long de la Sambre. Je sais que je trouverai là la vue sur tous les toits namurois. Il fait super chaud et lourd, mais je repère un coin d’ombre à l'abri de deux arbres. Les jolis toits gris/mauve de l’ardoise, c’est Namur. La cathédrale Saint Aubain domine sur la gauche. Sur les hauteurs à droite, je vois l’antenne de Coditel. Pour moi, c’est le repère qui me guide vers la maison de mon enfance à Champion (c’est là qu’on remontait le soir après la fermeture du magasin). Et bien sûr, je vois en bas à droite un toit rouge. Je raconte à tout le monde que les toits rouges n’étaient pas autorisés à Namur, et que l’échevin de l’environnement montait à la Citadelle, et envoyait des amendes à ceux qui ne se conformaient pas aux normes! Je vois aussi l’école où Maman a enseigné avant de travailler à plein temps au magasin. J’y ai été quelques mois en école gardienne, mais j’étais trop jeune. À la rentrée suivante, j’ai été à l’école d’Heuvy.

Taverne Prince Baudouin

On annonçait de gros orages. Avant que la pluie n’arrive, j’ai trouvé refuge à la Taverne Prince Baudoin. Avec une Leffe sans alcool, j’ai pris mon temps pour dessiner l’ambiance! 

Tour Marie Spilar

Un dernier petit croquis avant de terminer. Une tour du 13ième siècle, mais ce qui m’intéresse, c’est le contraste avec les motos de livraison du Domino’s de l’autre côté de la rue.