Nightdrawing
I had to dash over to London recently and flew the redeye from Waterford Regional Airport to Luton with Aer Arann.
It's the way flying used to be. You park right outside the airport, wander into a concourse about the size of a convenience store, grab a coffee and board with the minimum of fuss. Total commute time from my door: 2 and a half hours to the taxi rank at Luton.
On the night-time return I did some quick sketches on the way.

Outside Luton terminal.

At the check-in. Mine had no queue thankfully. This was a little way up the departures floor.

Boarding in Luton. The plane is an Aer Arann Atr 72500 twin prop. It's got about 80 seats. Maybe it's because of the props, but its landing speed is scarily fast. Nice and comfortable though... and quiet. This was sketched in a bit of a rush and finished on the plane so I'm pretty sure the wheels and arches are all wrong.

Back in Waterford

Madrid

I was in Madrid with some friends recently to play and watch some football. Hanging around with a bunch of na'er do wells intent on having a good time is not conducive to filling in a sketchbook and it wasn't until the fug of the weekend began to clear on the Monday morning that I got a chance to exit the bars and wander about the city and do some doodling.

Madrid

We were staying just off the Grand Via and between match fixtures and post match celebrations, I got little chance to wander off the beaten track, which always supplies the most interesting subject matter for sketchbooks. Despite that, the centre of the city is pretty interesting architecturally and with just a brief few hours on Monday morning, I at least got a few sketches down.
The ones in the bars were quickly jotted down on whatever paper was available and worked up later. There are a couple that I haven't worked up and remain scraps on the back of an envelope with scribbles indicating colours and features. I might get around to doing something with them at some later date.

The Industrial Environment

The Industrial Environment

Here's a bunch of sketches I did around some local Industrial estates.

They're a pretty unloved environment, understandably so, since it seems to me that care of property is very much aligned to exposure to the general public. If it's a tile distributor or mail depot, they're generally scrubbed up, new and gleaming, but if it's a steel fabricator or obscure machinery parts outlet catering only to specialists, then you're lucky if the crumbling fascia has been painted in the last 20 years.

Perversely, the latter are usually the more attractive, avoiding the bland warehouse architecture taking over the perimeter of our cities

Industrial Estates, Kilkenny

Industrial Estates, Kilkenny

Happy Halloween

Have a great spooky night!

National Ploughing Championships
This year's National Ploughing Championships took place at Cuffesgrange, Co Kilkenny.
I grabbed my wellies and a sketchbook and headed out to try and capture some of the spectacle

National Ploughing Championships

National Ploughing Championships

National Ploughing Championships

Roadway Construction Sketches
The new Waterford-Dublin motorway continues apace. Here's a couple of sketches I did where the northern Kilkenny spur road is under construction.

Hook Head lighthouse on the Wexford Coast
Blindingly white on a summers day with all the whitewash around.
There are a bunch of cottages (second pic) just away from the lighthouse which now house a cafe/shop and admissions desk.
It's thought to be one of the oldest operational lighthouses in the world. It dates from the early 13th century and is a unique example of an almost intact medieval lighthouse though it doesn't look it a first sight.
The tower was constructed of local limestone and the original building survives almost intact at just under 37m high. It consists of two tiers linked by a mural stairway of 115 steps. The upper tier, originally supported the coal beacon, which in modern times was replaced by a lantern.

Never mind the Bollards.
Bollard's pub on the corner of Kieran Street, Kilkenny

Thursday Farmers Market, Kilkenny

Customs House, Dublin