Channelling Hogarth

Last week I went to the south of Portugal. I was teaching a six-day watercolour sketching workshop: the idea was to share techniques that would demystify some of the more useful, and prettier, effects possible with paint when you’re out sketching in the big wide world. I was anxious leaving, and it’s my experience that…

The Journey Is Everything

At Taekwon-Do last night, the instructor took us though kicking moves. He explained the stance we should be taking and the part of the foot we needed to deliver maximum impact. We are beginners, so he found fault with one or other aspect of our moves. “You’re focusing on the destination,” he said. “Focus instead…

Silver Linings

Last week I realised I only had ONE tricolour in my collection of sketches for my upcoming book. One! I am a passionate patriot and I love my country. It was time to right the wrong! And so yesterday I went into Galway City to draw the flags that festoon Quay Street. It was a…

Follow Your Bliss

“Follow your bliss.If you do follow your bliss,you put yourself on a kind of trackthat has been there all the while waiting for you,and the life you ought to be livingis the one you are living.When you can see that,you begin to meet peoplewho are in the field of your bliss,and they open the doors…

Taekwon-Do – Part 1

Yesterday I did an urban sketch with no purpose. I include it here by way of an illustration for this blog piece, which is about Taekwon-Do. I sketched it in my car on the way home after teaching a delightful class of kids, and although I filmed it and broadcast it live on Instagram, the…