Around the World Blog Hop

I was nominated by Miriam Benmoussa to participate in the Around the World Blog Hop.

I met Miriam at the USK Symposiums I attended and we have been in contact online fairly regularly lately. Thank you for choosing me to participate, Miriam! It is a great opportunity to take time to reflect on this creative habit that we share.

So how does this Around the World Blog Hop work?

Every week someone is nominated to answer a few questions about their creative process, post those answers on the following Monday and nominate someone else to do the same.

This is my Monday and here comes the challenging part with the questions I'm not sure to have a good answer to.

What am I working on?

Nothing in particular. I don't really have any plan about what to draw and why. I just mainly go with what I feel like sketching and also take on challenges or make drawings for friends.

I try to experiment as much as I can. I guess so far it's more visible in my JKPP portraits.

I consider myself to be continually in a learning process and so I "drift" a little.That is why I try to participate in a lot of activities like JKPP, Sketchbook Skool, Sketching Workshop, InkTober, etc.

It's probably something I should work on, actually. I would like to set myself some specific goals from now on.

I'm also trying to get more people together for regular sketchcrawls here in Luxembourg. At the moment our group is quite small, but so far we have managed to be at least 3 people every time.


How does my work differ from others of its genre?

This question implies that I do have a genre and I'm not sure I do. I do urban sketching and a lot of portraits, so can these be considered genres?

If yes, then I think that my work, in particular my urban sketches, is a lot based on line and less on colour. Which I would like to change, for I absolutely want to use more colour in a creative way. I just don't seem to get the hang of it somehow. Or at least I'm not completely satisfied with what I do. Then again, this insatisfaction must be normal, right?


My favourite subject, though, is people. I feel less daunted by people than by buildings. Which is strange because buildings are much more forgiving subjects if only because they don't tend to move so much.

Is it because they are so big and the sketchbook so small? Is it because of all the details or the perspective? I'm not sure. It just seems to be impossible for me to be spontaneous with immovable subjects. I have the occasional fluke, but I definitely need to work on that.

So I would say that my work differs from some people's work in that I love to draw people and love to use simple lines.

Why do I create what I do?

As I stated before, I'm in a constant process of learning. I only started drawing regularly again a bit over 2 years ago, so I know and feel that I have A LOT to learn in order to improve my skills and one day have my own clear voice.

At the moment, drawing is a process of meditation and self-exploration for me. A way to get to know myself better. For example, I discovered that I am a much more impatient person than I thought I was.

Maybe one day this habit will evolve into something else. I would love to be able to live from it, but it is not a priority for now.

How does my creative process work?

It's actually mostly very spontaneous. I just draw what catches my eye or inspires me. I carry a small sketchbook with me most of the time, so I can seize the opportunity to draw when I see a subject that interests me.

I'm my most creative when I'm travelling, though, or with other people. Travelling awakens my curiosity and everything I see seems interesting.

I try to push myself to draw at home as well, specially if I haven't worked in a while. In those times I feel slightly constricted in the beginning, but I love to see how my work slowly develops. It's less spontaneous but it gives me more time to see the different stages of evolution and learn from them for future projects.


And now the nominee for next week (drumrolls):

For next Monday I nominate my fellow Urban Sketcher friend Sue Pownall. Sue is an artist and illustrator from the UK whom I met at the USK Symposium in Barcelona and again in Brazil. She has a lovely blog in which she shows her art projects which are quite varied. I'm looking forward to reading her thoughts on her creative process.

Thank you again, Miriam, for nominating me. It has been interesting to reflect on these questions.

I went to Brussels...

... and didn't see anything of it.

I was there to attend a day of conferences at the European Commission, followed by a testing day of various European Points of Single Contact (PSC) websites.

Although this is not the most thrilling thing I have done so far, I did enjoy the opportunity to meet people from other European countries and exchange points of view and ideas on our work.

The sad thing is that I didn't get to sketch much. I was way too tired in the evening to go out and see the city.

But I did get plenty of time to sketch people on the way there and back in the train. A three hour ride each way does get a bit long when you have nothing to do.

There were the usual suspects:

... the person busy with their phone...

Looked like a busy businessman

... the person reading a newspaper...

There was a reference to Charlie Hebdo

... someone playing sudoku, in this case my colleague...

Completely engrossed in his puzzle

... the novel reader (I always wonder what they're reading and whether I would like it)...

I know: the levels... Couldn't figure out how to improve them here without making the colours look weird

... and the sleeper.

Sweet dreams!

I do love to sketch in the train. It's far easier than in the bus and less conspicuous too.

Sketchcrawl at d'Coque

Last Sunday we had a Sketchcrawl with the Luxembourg sketchcrawl group at the olympic-size swimming pool called d'Coque (the shell) in Kirchberg.

It is an interesting sketching place if you wish to try your hand at drawing people in motion.

However, be sure to think of wearing lighter clothes, as the temperature is pretty high there and the air is humid.

I admire some people's dedication to swimming regularly. I love swimming and being in the water in general, but it's difficult for me to find the motivation to go out and do it.

There are simply too many people and it's a hassle to have to avoid each other in the water constantly.

Maybe if I had my own pool I would use it all the time? Note to self: must get rich to be able to buy my own swimming pool!

It was so tricky to get some acceptable sketches of the swimmers!

The Coque has several swimming pools: the olympic-sized one, one for diving and 2 shallow ones. I also spotted one where they teach people to swim.

These 3 looked so cute together!

I remember coming to the Coque for sports class in highschool. We were also allowed to try the diving boards at the end of the class, but I never got higher than the second board.

Actually no, I got to the third one once. It was quite a painful experience for I landed on my butt. Never again! Haha

I didn't quite finish this one. Maybe I'll go back sometime.

After sweating at the pool for a bit, we decided to end our outing with a traditional drink-and-draw - my favourite part of every sketchcrawl - and went to the Chocolate House.

That place is always crowded, but we were only three people this time, so it was easier to find a spot.

Their cakes are particularly popular.

Looking forward to the next outing!

A Merry Christmas

It's funny how Christmas is one of the most awaited periods of the year and when it comes you barely have time to register it.

This year I spent a few days with my parents and brother. Nothing fancy, just lots of delicious food, good mood and a few presents to make it all even better.

I also found some time to scribble a few things here and there.

The Advent wreath was lit one last time until the cadles burned out.

The Advent wreath has done its time

The delicious turkey was very much appreciated.

Turkey delight

And Christmas decorations added warm light to the jolly mood.

Took hours to complete, but it was a fun little companion

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas time, whether you celebrate it or not, and wish you a very happy New Year!

A few JKPP portraits again

It's been a while since I did some portraits for Julia Kay's Portrait Party.

I have so many photos stored that I don't know where to start or just don't always have the motivation.

It was time to practice again, though, so here are some I did lately.

What attracted me to this photo was the pronounced shadows on the face. I really wanted to show that the sun was shining on it. 

I was less inspired with the background, but I like it this way

I loved the moustache on this one. I challenged myself with the hair, trying to put the right highlights were needed. I think the moustache got good. I'm less happy with the hair, though. Practice makes perfect!

Again, the background...

I knew I wanted to use different paper and medium for this next picture. I think it looks a bit like an old children's illustration book. This paper is very tricky to handle, so there are always surprises, but I like it.

"Martine au salon de thé"

Sketch crawl at Krëschtmaart

For the latest outing of Luxembourg's sketch crawl group we went on a tour of a few Christmas markets, or how we call them in Luxembourgish: Krëschtmaart.

Every year the city gets illuminated with Christmas lights and several markets appear on strategic locations.

We (this time only Leen and I) started out at Place d'Armes, where you can find a lot of food stalls, music and even a carousel and blacksmiths.

There were pumpkin carriages, elephants, ducks, bears, even a Mickey Mouse

They were crafting angels out of metal

Before heading out to another one we made a stop at a coffee shop called Kaale Kaffi (litt. cold coffee). Luckily they also had hot beverages and we were able to warm ourselves up.

It was my first time there and I have to say I loved the place. It's full of second-hand clothes and old items that you can buy. One of the waiters told me that the interior decoration was constantly changing.

In short: a sketcher's paradise.

Very elegant mannequins

Apparently this Thierry Mugler piece is very popular

Leen and I finished our tour at the Christmas market on Place de la Constitution, where the Gëlle Fra (litt. golden lady) is.

What I love about this particular market is that every year they dedicate one part of the location to one specific country or region. This year it's Alsace, so you can get tasty tarte flambée (or Flammekueche, as they call it there) and other specialties from that region.

There is also a ferris wheel and even a Santa Claus waiting for people to take photos with him inside a giant bubble. It almost looks like a giant snow globe.

Santa seemed a tiny bit lonely in there

I have to admit that I had to push myself to go out and sketch, with the cold and all, but I'm really glad I did. It was fun to be among the Christmas crowd and to experience the Krëschtmaart in a different way.

Draw Tommy Kane

I love Tommy Kane's work. I don't know if it's his style or his humour I like most, or even his clever self-promotion.

He just seems like a nice guy. Someone I would love to hang out with.

He has this Tumblr account called Draw Tommy Kane, where he showcases portraits of him made by anyone who would like to draw him.

Check it out, it's quite fun to browse through this big diversity of drawings.

Here is the one I made.

The squirrel is a last-minute addition. He seems to like them and he has this very cool drawing of a squirrel with a gun.

There happened to be some tape with a squirrel on it among the presents I got from my friend Sari for my birthday, so I added it.