The Dead Zoo

Sketches from a visit to the Natural History Museum in Dublin.

New country, new post!

Very very very long time no blogpost... but that will all be changing as I have a whole new city to serve as inspiration - having been relocated to Dublin, Ireland!

One of the first things I did upon arriving was look up drawing classes etc. I found a local sketching group and below are the results from my first outing with them. We met in a big busy cafe in the city centre, famous for its opulent art-nouveau style interior (not going to name and shame but if you've been to Dublin, you've probably been there), less famous for its impatient and unwelcoming staff, trying to move me on while only half-way through my coffee... and I hadn't even got my sketch book out at this stage! Needless to say when I did so, it didn't go down too well with the waiters. Hmm!! So this was all I managed in there...

So I decided to head to nearby St Stephen's Green as no-one would be kicking me out of there, not till sunset anyway (which incidentally is about 21:45 round here!), and found some nice sculptures to sketch. Firstly this bloke, who internet research tells me was a Bengali polymath, and also the only non-Irish person to have a statue on the green.

Secondly this bloke, who is quite famous round these parts.

Sicilian architecture, mostly!

After working hard all summer it was finally holiday time at the end of September, so I took off to Sicily for a week of quality food, scenery and weather. And it didn't disappoint - first stop was Catania, which I arrived in about 9pm and promptly headed out for some fettuccine alla norma (pasta with aubergines and tomato sauce, which I later discovered is a local speciality) and to marvel at the beautiful architecture. The next day I had a few hours before my bus left, so I went back to the main square to sketch the cathedral.

Then it was on to Taormina, a small beach resort on the side of a cliff just up the coast from Catania. After checking into the smallest room ever in an otherwise quite luxurious hotel, and plastering myself in suncream, I headed down to the beach via an interesting hillside path. Typically the beach by this time was actually in the shade, but still good for a nice swim and very picturesque with a little island just about joined to the mainland by a small rocky causeway.

The next day I headed in the opposite direction, further up the hill to another village which overlooked Taormina and the coast, and had great views over to Mount Etna. I sat in the shade in some castle ruins and sketched the rooftops until hunger got the better of me!

After 2 days in Taormina my next destination was Petralia Sottana, a small town on the edge of the Madonie mountains in northern Sicily. Most people had been saying to me "Why are you going there?" and "How are you going to get there??" but undeterred I continued with the plan - in the end it was actually a pretty straightforward, if long, journey. While there I failed to do any hiking in the mountains proper (my map-reading and orientation skills let me down!) but did have some nice walks in the countryside around the town. When I first arrived and asked for directions to my hotel, I was told it was just after "the church". I passed about ten churches before I found it, and concluded that the below is officially THE church.

Next stop was the big city Palermo for the last 3 days - typically chaotic, hot, beautiful. No sketches of the city unfortunately so this last one is Cefalu, a beach town 1 hour by train from Palermo which has the most fantastic setting, just below a massive 270m rock which you can climb for amazing views up and down the coast. After the climb and a very satisfying picnic lunch of arancini (deep-fried risotto balls - delicious, really!) and cassata (sponge cake with ricotta and candied fruit) I went back to the town for a wander and a swim and a sketch of the harbour.

Fashion!

Phew! Long time no post (or sketch!). Which I blame entirely on spending the first half of the year studying for my TEFL diploma... and then just being out of habit. Anyway, I have been forced to get back into it as I have taken over running the drawing club at school! Numbers have been a little disheartening - usually nobody turns up, though I had an impressive 4 students last week!

 In a bid to make it more interesting we are piloting taking students out rather than sitting in a classroom drawing whatever ropey still-life I can cobble together from assorted bits and bobs in the staffroom. So, today it was me and lovely loyal Elina from Japan going off to the V&A for some inspiration. On her request we went to the fashion section, the results of which (well, mine, not hers!) can be seen here. We have a combination of 50s ballgown, Christian Dior dress suit thingy and a 19th century corset.

If you were wondering pt 1: lovely Elina did some super-detailed sketches of a flowery lace headscarf (no copies to upload here, you'll have to take my word for it!). If you were wondering pt 2: Yes there is a bra suspended in mid-air behind the dress in the first picture.

Yawns, epic struggles and contemplations

I have been so unproductive on the drawing front lately! Here are a few recent sketches from sculptures in the V&A Museum and Saatchi Gallery.

A pile of clothes on a pile of chairs at the life drawing (minus model!) session this afternoon at the EFL school where I work. The teacher did a nice introduction on contrast, cross-hatching, foreshortening etc, then got the students started drawing the lovely still life composition above. Everyone seemed to be getting on well, we had a nice mix of nationalities, the teacher was moving about giving the usual encouraging comments, then he got to one girl and said "Hmmm, Ok, well, it's always open to interpretation..." I wondered ooh what abstract thing will she have done? Turns out she was just drawing a picture of her cat. The instructions must have got lost in translation...

Hanging out

I paid another trip recently to Nunhead Cemetery, a beautifully overgrown Victorian cemetery full of cracked, uneven gravestones and the odd angel. These are a couple of pen and watercolour sketches I did there.