Sorry For Your Loss
They say we do funerals very well in Ireland. Well, my mum says it, because she’s Canadian, and maybe they don’t do funerals as well there. As I started class today, the mum who’d just dropped a few...
View ArticleSorry For Your Loss
They say we do funerals very well in Ireland. Well, my mum says it, because she’s Canadian, and maybe they don’t do funerals as well there. As I started class today, the mum who’d just dropped a few...
View ArticleTexaco Art Competition – and Lent Starts Today
Today was the last day the kids I teach could submit the paintings they had done for the Texaco Art Competition. This competition has been going for decades in Ireland: many Irish adults still bear the...
View ArticleFestive Fun in Dublin City, and a Grudge Match
A Christmas Shopping Safari One crisp, cold winter’s night a few weeks ago, in Dublin on a sketching trip, I came to the end of South Anne Street, entered Grafton Street and was confronted by a vision...
View ArticleThe Christmas Blog Post
Christmas Eve It’s Christmas in Kilcolgan, in our little corner of windswept west of Ireland. On Christmas Eve my daughter Liv and I went up the road to the ruins of Tyrone House to stretch our legs;...
View ArticleHappy New Year!
30th December 2019 My students are so full of enthusiasm for sketching in 2020 that it has inspired me in turn, so I am making sure my sketching kit is never far away. Here is my 15-year-old, Liv,...
View ArticlePractical Urban Sketching: Workshop, Dublin, 20th-23rd March 2020
When it comes to urban sketching, there is a world of tips and techniques to make your experience easier and better. From choosing handy tools to clever ways to paint: from sneaky ways to master...
View ArticleGetting Attention Will Make You A Better Artist
I saw this TED Talk the other night, and I had a few thoughts that I’d like to share with you. Joseph G-L seems like a very nice person, and showing the vulnerability in the talk that he did was...
View ArticleSketching Is Getting Me Through January
January is awful, weather-wise, and this year is no exception. However I’m cheering myself up with a good bit of sketching. Technicolor in Neachtain’s After a long gap, Urban Sketchers Galway met in...
View ArticleCapture Your Family In Sketches
One of the most satisfying things I do as an urban sketcher is to capture my family in sketches. While I’m not one for putting into words the love I feel for those closest to me, it’s there on the page...
View ArticleSorry For Your Loss
They say we do funerals very well in Ireland. Well, my mum says it, because she’s Canadian, and maybe they don’t do funerals as well there. As I started class today, the mum who’d just dropped a few...
View ArticleSorry For Your Loss
They say we do funerals very well in Ireland. Well, my mum says it, because she’s Canadian, and maybe they don’t do funerals as well there. As I started class today, the mum who’d just dropped a few...
View ArticleTexaco Art Competition – and Lent Starts Today
Today was the last day the kids I teach could submit the paintings they had done for the Texaco Art Competition. This competition has been going for decades in Ireland: many Irish adults still bear the...
View ArticleUrban Sketching Workshop: Heritage & Human Ingenuity in Kent, UK
The county of Kent, in the south of England, offers many historic destinations to excite the urban sketcher. Join me this September 11th-15th for an inspiring workshop there. The post Urban Sketching...
View ArticleThe Lockdown Blog: Days 0, 1 and 2
Thursday 12th March 1.00pm The Irish government announces that all schools are to close from the next day, Friday, and will remain closed 13th-29th March. Later, my good pal Lorraine collects the kids...
View ArticleThe Lockdown Blog, Day 3
Hello folks! I will start by saying thank you for your effort in getting here: my links to this blog on the various social media are refusing to work. I suspect I have a problem with my website because...
View ArticleThe Lockdown Blog, Day 4
Monday 16th March 9.10am I sit down to breakfast. Paddy (18) already has the books out on the dining table. Liv (15) is his study buddy, and she is nowhere to be seen. I phone up to her bedroom but get...
View ArticleThe Lockdown Blog, Day 5
Tuesday 17th March 1.00pm It’s St. Patrick’s Day. It’s raining. With the best will in the world I just can’t muster enthusiasm to go out for a walk. I decide to do a fun drawing for kids to put up on...
View ArticleThe Lockdown Blog, Day 6
Wednesday 18th March 10.00am The government is showing great leadership. Yes, the “lockdown”, such as it is, could have come a bit more quickly, but a good balance was struck between doing too little...
View ArticleThe Lockdown Blog, Day 7
Thursday 19th March 10.30am I host a Zoom session with my husband Marcel, Paddy (18) and Liv (15). The idea is to find a way to continue teaching online. It is moderately successful: the video quality...
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