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...
Pretty excited to be featured in Gabi Campanario's latest book; The Urban Sketching Handbook.
One sketch even appears on the back cover!
One sketch even appears on the back cover!
 |
| Back cover sketch - the view from our Rome hotel in 2012 |
 |
| Sharing the page with Stephanie Bower. This house in Auckland has changed colour and the nice old pepper tree is looking a bit rough. |
 |
| Gabi uses the Rome sketch to help illustrate the use of three point perspective |
 |
| My Florence Duomo sketch shares the page with one by Melanie Reim! |
Comments