The Wall - Dublin Sketchwalk on the occasion of International Urban Sketchers Week

1-7 May was the first International Urban Sketchers Week. We did quite a bit in Dublin Sketchers for it. Well, when I say 'we', you know what I mean. 

This sketchwalk was inspired by a journey that Chris had organised for the Wednesday sketchers, following along the route of the old Dublin City Wall. Like most old cities, Dublin defended itself with a wall to prevent enemies from entering and plundering. The Vikings had mostly wooden walls, so there is nothing left of that. But the Anglo-Normans (yes, they came to Ireland too, after 1066!) built solid stone walls. Parts of it are still visible. Others are just marked by stones with a circle embedded in them. These markers were actually put in place by Pat's brother, so we feel a strong connection to this journey. 

We started at the Record Tower at Dublin Castle. The sun was shining and the wrought iron behind me cast a shadow on my book. A shadow! We don't get those very often in Ireland. So I had to paint it for posterity.

We walked across the back of Dublin Castle to the corner of Ship Street Little and Ship Street Great. So many tourists in Dublin, it's hard to avoid them. Some of the groups are quite large and take over the footpaths. Some have tour guides speaking through a microphone. As if we need more noise in the city! And somehow, the Yield sign seemed important at the time.

Onto Lamb Alley. Where this building at the back of the Iveagh Markets seemed much more attractive to me than the big chunk of city wall that is there at the top of the road. No tourists here. Not the safest spot for tourists, and yet, there is so much of the old Dublin here. This building is the former wash house, and the window is a diocletian window. With Pat around, you always learn something new! Hopefully some day, the legal wrangles will be resolved and the Iveagh Markets will open again. It is so sad to see such amazing parts of the city abandoned.

A quick sandwich in St Audoen's park, and I was ready to sketch again. My energy was starting to run low, so I kept it simple. The people on the left were jumping on some sort of musical instrument. Think of a park version of Tom Hanks in Big in the toy store! And Maya was the perfect zen sketcher in the foreground.

After a little break on my own in a café on Dame Street, I was ready to join the others again at Essex Gate. I had already drawn the building across the way on a previous occasion, so I decided to sketch the sketchers. I added the lines and colour at home, and called them The Usual Suspects.

And for our final location, before we went to the Beer Temple, we sketched on the plaza beside City Hall. The wall marker was actually used as a drying line by the occupant of the tent. If you're curious about our journey and you want to see everyone else's sketches, click here and here.