Sketchcrawl in Limpertsberg

Last Sunday we met at the Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg and went out sketching from there to the area of Limpertsberg.

Limpertsberg is one of the residential areas around the city centre and is particularly known for the many highschools located there.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a couple of new faces, people who seem eager to sketch on a regular basis.

As we were by the Grand Théâtre, we decided to sketch it, too. I find the building a bit tricky with all its slanted windows, but it was fun to try and I also found an interesting looking fire hydrant which served as a nice break from the building.

There was a party the previous day

All fire hydrants should be this original

It turned out the cycling Tour de Luxembourg was passing through Limpertsberg, so we had time to see a few cyclists rushing by before we headed out in search of a nice café or pub.

We found a nice Lebanese restaurant (L-Bey) that only served drinks and sweets at that time. Perfect for a short drink & draw break.

The people there were very friendly and even offered us some cakes. I definitely recommend this place.

Old and new sketchers :)

Time flies and we only had time for one more stop after this. Leen took us to a small park at the top of Limpertsberg where I saw these interesting trees (I think they were birches) through which cars and houses were peeking.

Levels are still tricky...

Our little group is getting bigger and more regular, which I'm very happy about. Plus, we are soon going to become the national USk chapter for Luxembourg, so that is very exciting news.

It's the little things

I'm at a point in my sketchbook where I still have a few pages to fill but not enough to take it with me on a trip anymore.

Call me obsessive, but I don't like to have a few pages about the same trip spread over several sketchbooks.

So I'm slowly filling it with drawings of various little things from everyday life, trying out compositions, colours, techniques.

Wonky contour drawing and play with writing...

The wonkiness makes it fun

...illustrating a quote from Fabio Consoli from Sketchbook Skool...

Who doesn't like a good plate of spaghetti with tomato sauce?

...keeping a memento of delicious treats from Strasbourg.

I'll have to bring more next time.

It's the little things that fill the sketchbook.

A hen party

Last weekend I attended a friend's hen party.

Her matron of honour told us that she had requested 2 things for her hen party: that we had a pic-nic and that there be a pink princess cake.

The plan was to surprise her in the morning, dress her up in a pink tutu, a princess tiara and special t-shirt  and, little twist to the story, take her to Strasbourg for the weekend.

The bride-to-be in her outfit for the day

After we arrived and left our luggage at the hotel, we headed towards a parc where we had a nice pic-nic with the star of the show, the princess cake.

I have to say it was really pretty and I think the matron of honour did a great job finding it. Plus it was quite yummie, so alltogether well done.

A princess cake for a princess bride

After the pic-nic we went for a walk during which the bride-to-be had to distribute candy and small toys to people.

It was fun to see some people wave at us from the distance when they understood what was going on. The pink tutu and crown were a dead giveaway for sure.

A ride on the carousel on place Gutemberg finished the princess part of the weekend and we had a delicious dinner at a Brazilian restaurant I can only recommend, the Rio's.

The following day we strolled around some more - this time the future bride didn't have to wear the tutu -, bought some souvenirs and had lunch at Flam's, a place specializing in tartes flambées (or Flammekueche), before heading back home, tired but satisfied with the weekend.

Eating Flammekueche, miam!

A Bee commission

A while ago, I was challenged to post 3 of my drawings every day during 5 days on Facebook.

On one of these occasions, I posted a selection of my portraits and a contact of mine, Kristen, asked me if I took commissions. She wanted me to make a portrait of her little daughter, Bee.

To be honest, I never seriously considered earning any money with my drawings, even if, of course, it is a bit of a dream of mine, so I was hesitant at first.

Not so much to make a portrait on demand, but more about getting paid for it. I'm no professional, so it seemed a bit preposterous and I had no idea how much money to ask for it anyway.

However, I overcame these qualms and took on the challenge and made a comprimise with Kristen (and with myself): I would make the portrait (it was good practice anyway) and she would take it only if she liked it.

There were many cute and cheeky pictures to choose from, so that was a bit of a challenge in itself, and I settled on one that I found both a bit complicated and showing a bit of the girl's personality.

Kristen and Bee liked the portrait and it has now arrived safely to Switzerland. It is now part of a collection of Bee portraits, of which I am pretty proud.

It has certainly been a growing experience for me and I am grateful to Kristen for nudging me in this direction.

We are a long way from opening a business from this, but I am now a tiny bit less daunted about selling my work.

Sketching at Kaale Kaffi

Last Sunday we had our monthly sketchcrawl meeting in Luxembourg-city. We were hoping to go on the Vauban trail around one part of the fortress. Unfortunately, it was raining the whole afternoon, so we did the next best thing: we went to Kaale Kaffi.

Kaale Kaffi is a peculiar and very interesting place I first discovered during a sketchcrawl with Leen. It is a mixture between a coffee shop, a second-hand shop and an antiques shop.

From outside it looks like a regular second-hand shop, but when you look closely you discover that you can go in and spend time surrounded by a variety of old objects and clothes.

Most items can be purchased, which is why the inside setup changes on a regular basis.

So the rain pushed us to go in and we ended up spending over 2 hours there with Leen, Carlo and Aniela.

Carlo and Leen busy sketching. Aniela was on my left side

There are so many interesting things that the most difficult part is to choose what to sketch. I think I could fill a whole sketchbook with this place alone.

As an example of the variety of objects you can find there, I was sitting next to a mannequin set up in a running motion, standing by a table with an old candelabra and picture frame (complete with the old sepia picture) on it.

Run, Forest, run!

Next time I will try to make a sketch of the place as a whole. I think it will take me at least 2 hours, but it would definitely be fun.

If you are wondering where exactly this place is, I can only say that it is in the old part of the upper town. They don't want to advertise themselves too much and I must admit that I don't want it to become too crowded either. I have a feeling it might become our sketching headquarters in time.

Mailing animals

I'm participating to another mail art exchange organised by Sylvie Bargain at Carnets de... vie.

The chosen theme is "Animalerie", which I interpreted as meaning animals in general.

I chose to work with the fox. For one thing because I found a cute stamp with a fox on it and for another because of the Luxembourgish literary figure of de Renert, who is a fox.

It was a bit of a last minute work, though I hope it is not too obvious.

I folded my fox head to turn it into an envelope. This is what it looks like closed.

front

back

My fox is far from domesticated and likes to gobble up chicks in the nearby farms. But fear not! You can save them by opening and unfolding the envelope.

Easter impressions

To me, Easter celebrations mean family gatherings complete with eating lots of food for afternoons on end.

It is also an occasion to look around and see the little things that brighten up the house, like these flowers my mother had at home and whose colour just screams Easter to me.

Yellows, oranges, light greens ; friendly colours.

It is the time when my brother and I got spoiled with a cute chocolate bunny. Getting spoiled like this by your mother never gets old.

It was almost a pity to eat it. Almost.

Like most years, Easter is also the occasion to see parts of the family again. This year was no different, as I was invited for long lunches at at by mother's cousin on Sunday and by one of my cousins on Monday (Easter Monday is also a free day here, lucky us).

The biggest surpise is always to see how much the children have changed since the last time I saw them.

I have a 5-year old cousin, one of the sweetest little boys you could meet. This portrait isn't really flattering nor is it accurate, but it was the best I could do with a subject that has a portrait thwarting super sense or something like that.

How else can you explain that this fidgety boy would decide to scratch his nose, rub his eyes, bite his lip at the exact times when I got to those parts of the portrait?

Signed by the spoilsport himself.