Wandering through Lisbon - unexpected encounters

I spent a few days in Lisbon last week, soaking up some much needed sun and meeting friends and family. It's always a pleasure to go back to this beautiful city with its old charm, friendly inhabitants and (usually) great weather.

I arrived on Thursday in the early afternoon and set out to do one of my favourite things: wander around aimlessly, see where I end up. The call of my stomach being quite strong, I stopped at this place called Cister for lunch.

There was a football game on one TV screen, a telenovela on another. Welcome to Portugal! :D

I somehow ended up near Príncipe Real where I saw this fascinating building. The sketch doesn't do it justice at all, but it was really beautiful.

I particularly liked the cupolas with the spikes.

 After a while, I noticed that there was an unusual amount of activity, specially in the areas of Chiado and Baixa where most shops are. Apparently I had chosen the day of the annual Vogue Fashion's Night Out to arrive.

Shops were open until late at night and there were concerts and special offers all over the city. Lisbon was buzzing with activity and excitement and there were beautiful people everywhere.

Some elegant gentleman took a picture of me while I was sketching this

I was planning to go people watching and sketching after dinner at a restaurant called Relicário near my hotel, but I got side-tracked by my friendly neighbours, a group of jolly elderly people from Bermuda.

They were Portuguese descendants and were on their first trip to explore their ancestor's original country. They were very curious about how you said things in Portuguese and I was happy to teach them a little.

I was bemused that one of their surnames was Da Silva, my mother's maiden name. I like the idea that if we were to dig far enough in the past, we would discover that we are related. The world is so small after all.

They loved my sketch and even paid for my dinner

The following day I was meeting Eduardo Salavisa and some other sketchers from Lisbon in the afternoon. I had some time to sketch the elevador da Lavra on my way to our meeting.

I love to stumble upon one of these cute yellow fellows

More on that in my next post.

Sketching at the Schueberfouer

Every year, starting around mid-August, the Luxembourg city funfair called "Schueberfouer", a mixture of market and funfair, takes place for three whole weeks.

It is one of the oldest and most beloved Luxembourg traditions for young and old, so it was inevitable that I would go sketch it at some point, on my own and with Urban Sketchers Luxembourg.

 

The Schueberfouer was founded in 1340 by John the Blind, King of Bohemia and Count of Luxembourg. It was initially a huge market where people from all around the Greater Region came to sell their products, ranging from agricultural products and livestock to cloth, pottery and other household products.

Over the centuries shows and games started to become part of the fair, and the Ferris wheel and rollercoaster became permanent fixtures in the 20th century, later joined by more and more sophisticated attractions, some of them not meant for the faint of heart.

Today the market part is limited to one alley of small retailer's booths and the showmen with their attractions come from all around Europe: Luxembourg, France, Belgium, Germany and even the Netherlands and Switzerland.

People from all over the Greater Region come to enjoy the thrills of the different attractions and savour the typical Gromperekichelcher (potato patties), gebakene Fësch (fried fish, usually trout) and other delicious treats you can find in the numerous food trucks and restaurants.

 

The beginning of the Schueberfouer always feels bittersweet to me, as it brings loads of fun but also announces the end of the summer holidays.

On Sunday, we went there with Leen and Maria Grazia for the monthly USk sketchcrawl. I focused on the Ferris wheel, which I find immensely photogenic. The owners of the attraction came regularly to see how our sketches were progressing.

I am pleased to say that they loved them and even asked if they could buy my sketch. I told them that unfortunately, as it was part of my sketchbook, it was not possible, but I later sent them a scanned image.

 

One ride on the carousel and a drink later, I was ready to call it a day and to say goodbye to the Schueberfouer for this year and mentally prepare for the arrival of autumn.

Short trip to Manchester and back home

After our week in London, and before heading back home, I made a detour through Manchester, where Anne was kind enough to host me for two nights.

In such a short stay, I only got to see a few glimpses of this very interesting city, but it was a welcome change from the hustle and bustle of London.

Anne showed us around her town and we stopped at a beautiful hotel, where they let us sketch in the lobby. I played around with colours and paint to sketch the beautiful glass cupola. Not a perfect sketch, but I like the colour combination here.

There was one thing I really wanted to experience while in the UK: a typical afternoon tea. The cafe inside Town Hall offered a beautiful tea, starting with a selection of small sandwiches and other savoury snacks, to scones and delicious little cakes.

It felt great to just sit and enjoy the afternoon in that beautiful place, taking time to sketch and chat with Stephanie, Anne and Gail. I discovered that Gail and I had a more relaxed view on traveling. We both love to take it easy and just enjoy a place. No need to speed through everything.

Outside town hall, there was a jazz festival in preparation, which I tried to sketch, but really it was beyond me at that moment. So I sketched Gail sketching the place. In a way you can say I piggy-sketched the place through her.

That was all for Manchester already. Short and sweet. On the train ride back to London, I saw this beautiful lady with a striking head scarf. Unfortunately I didn't get her likeness, as she moved around a lot.

 

Waiting at the airport, I had enough time to sketch what was going on outside. I find it's a good mental preparation to go back home. A way of adjusting mentally to the end of the holidays.

There were many businessmen in the plane. I started a conversation with my neighbour after he commented on my sketch. He found the bald patch of the man in the seat in front of mine particularly amusing. What can I say? I sketch what I see...

Sketching London - sketchcrawls

On Saturday, we joined the Urban Sketchers London on Trafalgar square, where I was very happy to meet yet other sketchers I knew, besides our Asian friends. 

I was not surprised to see Martine, a sketcher from Paris who attends most big sketching events and who must figure more or less prominently in almost every sketcher's sketchbook. I know I sketched her a few times myself in the past. It is always a pleasure to see her.

KK, Pramote and Tia already at work

I imagine Trafalgar square is a popular meeting place. At the time we were there, preparations for the Busk in London festival were underway, adding a bit to the general confusion. To get more comfortable and away from the crowd, I climbed on Nelson's Column, where other sketchers were already tackling the vibrant scene.

A very relaxing spot in a very busy place

There are many statues all over the square, but this one, of the horse's skeleton, caught my attention in particular. There was a ribbon-shaped bit on which text was scrolling. I think it was numbers of the stock exchange. I was told that this particular statue was there temporarily and that artworks exhibited on this spot are regularly replaced.

Maybe it's Admiral Nelson's horse

After a quick bite, I tackled another giant of a subject, Admiral's gate. I tried out something similar to Pramote's technique, using a lot of water and dipping my watercolour pencils in water to make them nice and juicy. I felt exhilarated during this sketch, leaving behind any wish to make an exact sketch and just letting intuition guide me. I was fairly satisfied with the result and Pramote told me it was my best one yet.

Playing with accidents

The following day, Sunday, we met again by St Paul's cathedral for a sketchcrawl organised by Pete Scully, which he calls Sketching Wren's London. Pete started by giving us a bit of historic background on Wren and his work. He was very generous with his knowledge and even gave us a handout. I was sorry that we had to leave early to catch our train to Manchester.

I had time to make this quick sketch of the cathedral, sitting next to KK and Pramote. I let intuition guide me again and had a lot of fun with it. This sketch even earned me the highest praise from Pramote. He looked at it and exclaimed: "This is fun!" I couldn't be prouder of myself.

Even KK seemed a bit impressed :)

Before leaving, I walked around the cathedral for a bit and sat down to chat with Pete and make this quick sketch. I learned that Pete had been to Luxembourg in the past and would love to come back to sketch. Anytime, Pete! I will gladly guide you whenever you come.

Sketching London - Asian inspiration

One of my favourite things about urban sketching has always been to meet other sketchers, be motivated by their drive to draw and share tips and ideas for sketching to try out later.

On our third day in London, Tia and Patrick from Singapore, KK from Malaysia, Pramote from Thailand, and many other Asian sketchers arrived. Some I had met at previous symposiums, others I only knew from their sketches online.

Meeting them didn't start out well. I was just getting ready to join them in sketching Covent Garden when I realized I had lost my favourite Hero fountain pen. Most sketchers will be able to relate to that, particularly since that model is now quite difficult to find.

Seeing how disappointed I was, Pramote gave me one of his bent nib pens with lovely Super5 blue ink in it. The sun was shining again! Now I have a new toy and a beautiful memory to go with it.

In the evening we all went to Piccadilly Circus, where KK made one of his masterpieces as usual, and I tried out my new pen.

So crowded!!

The next day we all met for a day of sketchcrawling around the city, starting by Westminster Palace. I was honestly not very inspired at first, trying to test different things, nothing really working. The palace is such an imposing building (again), and we had been there already...

A bit muddies up, but I like my ghost people

Pramote kept telling me to just have fun and put lots of water and colour on the paper. Me being slightly uncomfortable with how unpredictable water can be, I started with the "just have fun" part.

So I focused on the tower and tried out a few approaches with different tools, Tombow brushpens and watercolour pencils, for a start.

             

This exercise helped me loosen up and I tackled the palace in a more abstract way again. Quick, simple and effective, I'd say. And more importantly: so much more fun!

 

We split up briefly for lunch, some people (like me) lured by the call of their stomach. Funnily enough, we all ended up at the same place: the cafeteria inside St. Martin's in the Fields. You would never guess there is such a lovely quiet place right on Trafalgar square. 

Tia & family, KK and Pramote

In the afternoon, we headed in the direction of the London Tower, stopping near the London Eye to sketch the view over the Thames after KK proclaimed with a silent nod and a cheeky smile that it was a good spot to sketch.

Panoramic view over the Thames, with Gail in the foreground

After finishing my quick panorama, I turned to find this very sketchable food truck a few metres away, which entertained me while the others were finishing their masterpieces.

This truck reminded me of the one by the Rotondes in Luxembourg

Unfortunately, the first rain of what had otherwise been a very hot week so far started falling. It was both a bit of a party pooper and also oddly very welcome.

This decidedly very Asian day ended at a Thai restaurant in Piccadilly, right across from our apartment, where Pramote knew the lovely owner, Nikki. Best Thai food in town and a very pleasant way to spend the evening!

Lazy Sunday afternoon on the Mosel bank

For the August sketchcrawl we went to Remich, at the border with Perl, Germany. Or rather, we went to Perl, at the border with Remich.

It was Leen's brilliant idea to sketch on the German side, thus enjoying the beautiful sights on the Mosel river while avoiding the crowds.

Under the shade provided by trees, we had a variety of subjects: the boats, the people, the landscape, the café. I chose to sketch a boat (ship) that had just docked called Iris.

We were quite the novelty there, with many people stopping to observe us. It was after I heard the third Luxembourgian person around us that I realized that forget Remich: this side of the river is actually where all the Luxembourgers go to enjoy the Mosel river.

This sketch is off to greener pastures

One of the skippers of the Iris stopped by to admire our work. He hinted not very subtly at the fact that he would love to keep my sketch, so I obliged. It is always flattering to have an admirer.

We had planned to meet again at 3 pm to share our sketches, but it was so nice to be in the sun and just sketch and talk that when we looked at the time it was almost 4 pm. High time to go for a drink and sketch each other and counter-sketch in retaliation!

It's difficult to capture an Italian woman's natural elegance on paper. Maria Grazia did not approve

It was a fun afternoon and I highly recommend to anyone going to the Mosel to enjoy Remich in Perl.

Sketching London - red boxes, Germans and Mary Poppins

There is so much to do and so much to see in London! On the first few days we walked around to so many places that I don't actually remember in what order...

One would think that when using only one sketchbook, the problem of chronological order would be solved, but I hopped around a bit on this one, so here are my sketches in the order I think they were made.

Stephanie was very keen on sketching St Pancras station and I could easily understand why. The building is gorgeous. Made of red brick, it looks like a castle and was a bit too daunting for me - I was a bit tired of imposing buildings.

Fortunately, the station is as interesting inside as it is outside and I was immediately attracted by this statue called The Meeting Place by Paul Day. The frieze at the base of the statue caught my eye in particular. It features images from the history of the Tube and train: soldiers departing for war, people queuing, even a couple embracing while one of them keeps looking at her phone (very contemporary).

I heard the piece did not get good reviews. Not brainy enough probably. Call me cheesy or naïve, but I liked it.

At first I thought it was a tribute to soldiers who went to war

London being such a big and busy city, I sometimes felt it difficult to find a quiet place. As a tourist you just don't know where to go. Fortunately, Anne knows some good spots and she took me to Berkeley square, where I practiced painting foliage and finally added the iconic red phone booths to my sketchbook. I couldn't leave London without at least one of these lovely red boxes.

 

No trace of the Tardis, though

Covent Garden, another one of those names you hear over and over again but can't really picture if you haven't been there before, is a bustling place with markets and lots of visitors.

While I was sketching, a German guy asked me if I could quickly sketch a reproduction of Van Gogh's Sunflowers. He was participating in a friendly competition over the city and one of the tasks was to copy the painting. He assured me he was no good at drawing at all, so I helped him cheat.

So many tourists!!

At some point, Anne took me to the Court of Justice, another impressive building. We sat on a bench in front of it, and in front of some activists from Anonymous who were protesting about something.  I find it very interesting to see something that I only know from TV or the internet. It makes it much more real.

This is where I lost one of my favourite pens...

In search for another quiet corner, we stopped near Fleet street to sketch these cute buildings. The area seemed to be full of solicitor's offices, there were smart-looking people coming and going.

Chim Chim Cher-ee

The whole afternoon I had songs from Marry Poppins stuck in my head.