Some time ago I found an old wiro notebook in a drawer. A scruffy wiro bound notebook with a photo of 2 men in a kayak with a bear on the front cover. In that notebook I found terrible sketches drawn in pencil made while travelling in 1991. One sketch leapt out at me. It was a rough pencil sketch of Mt Ararat from a backpacking trip to eastern Turkey. The sketch really surprised me – it was a very basic pencil sketch, drawn using a .5mm technical pencil on a cheap notepad. The sketch is just black and white… To my surprise the sounds and smells of the day came flooding back. Meeting some Kurdish goat herders and their flock near the base of Mt Ararat, about 10km from the Iranian border on a bright sunny but cool, alpine day. Along with memories of driving across the mountain steppe in an old Renault 19 and the smells of chai and coffee in a Doğubayazıt pasta solunu. It all came back come flooding back! Why did it evoke such vivid memories? I’m not really sure to be honest. Maybe t...
Sketching amongst the crowd, it seems I've become proficient at sketching while moving with the music while people bump into my sketchbook.
It was hard not to notice lead singer Ch!’s voice. Wow! Supported by an expert band including @andrewisdale and @thabanigapara. Thabani's afro-jazz saxophone style at times reminded me of African favourites Manu Dibango and Fela Kuti.
It wasn’t the nicest of days, cold and windswept, but the music, colourful outfits and food helped warm things up. Unfortunately we lost many of our Urban Sketchers Auckland group in the crowd today — it was difficult to catch up with everyone!
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