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

O'Connell Street, Dublin
Acrylic sketch of O'Connell St

Hair Piece

messing about with photoshop

Ink n nibs

Some inky bits n pieces

Ah Paris... I remember it well ...

Went over to meet my friend Vincent a couple of years back and it was great to get a tour of out of the way places from a someone who knew the city intimately. He always seemed to know some local coffee shop around the corner from the main drag, so we never spent more than a euro on the stuff compared to 2.50 plus on the main streets.
The new Bibliotech is astonishing, with a veritable forest within the enclosed courtyard. Not on the usual sightseeing route, but well worth a detour to see. Didn't get to sketch it though.
The sketches are of the Trocedaro from the Eiffel tower side, rooftops in the Opera quarter, the canal St Martin- take a trip. The tunnel from Rue du Faubourg du Temple to the Place de la Bastille is like something from a Caro and Jeunet film. The canal featured in Hotel du Nord by Marcel Carné. The last drawings are from around the rue St Germain.