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...
Unfortunately I didn't make it into town yesterday for the Woman's event. It was held under clear sunny conditions, unlike today's Men's event which was miserable. A shame because sketching while holding an umbrella about to take off isn't my idea of fun! It made capturing the moving competitors really tough, and I wasted several spreads of my sketchbook before I got this one.
Exciting race to watch though with New Zealander Kris Gemmell making a huge breakaway in the cycle leg, probably over a minute ahead of the pack, only to get sucked back in to finish 20th. The kids had a great time screaming 'Go Kiwi' with the rest of the enthusiastic home crowd too. The race was eventually won by Javier Gomez of Spain who just out sprinted Jonathan Brownlee of Great Britain in the final stretch. Brownlee claims the overall World Championship title for 2012.
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