I go to a sleepy country town two evenings a week. My daughter Olivia does Taekwondo in Gort, a small town in south Galway. Not a lot happens in Gort, and I have an hour and a half in which to do it…twice a week. (Two things make it stand out: it has the best…
My youngest, Olivia (Liv), took up Taekwon-do a few months ago. The classes take place twice a week in a boxing club in Gort, a small town some twenty minutes’ drive away. There is nothing to do at nighttime in winter in this town except go to the one hotel and have a coffee. You…
When I’m out and about sketching, I’m struck over and over again how nice people are to each other. I find it inspiring and it makes me want to be nicer. Trouble is, I keep failing. A couple of days ago I was in Ó’Máille’s, sketching away. It’s a special shop selling the most beautiful…
I had a few minutes to wait for a meeting in Dublin last Monday. It was cold but very sunny so I did a quick sketch of a pretty little statue in the sun, part of the Oscar Wilde monument in Merrion Square. As the paint refused to dry, running all over the page and…
Sometimes it’s a big effort to go out at night. You’ve had dinner, you’re tired, a glass of wine sounds nice. But as a sketcher it’s always worth the effort. I’m in the throes of putting together my first solo book. I’ve illustrated lots of picture books, and I’ve written a blog for years, but…
I really love cheese, but when you are raising teenagers you’re not going to buy fancy hand-made cheese at fancy prices. They would have it all gobbled in a morning! So I do my best – I buy it in a supermarket and try to leave it at the right temperature to get the flavours…
On Saturday I went into Galway to get on with amassing sketches for my new book, An Urban Sketcher’s Galway. I wasn’t too happy to leave the cosy home and drive into a busy, wet town, but time’s a-wasting, and my deadline looms, so I did. You know, one of the best things about the…
I am collecting sketches for my new book, An Urban Sketcher’s Galway. Being January, I try to identify indoor locations with big windows. This plan is working: there are far more big windows than I had ever realised. One of them is in Papa Rich, an Asian-fusion type restaurant in the centre of town, and…
It was the 1990s. I’d just completed my first year in the university of Galway. It was time to choose the subjects for the next year: I was in a hall full of students milling about, choosing the subjects they wanted to pursue, and then joining queues at tables with someone from each department at…
Yesterday was Gloomy Monday, the most miserable day of the year. That made sense. I went into Galway City yesterday to get on with a sketch I need to do, and I sent a text to my husband that read “You cannot imagine a more crappy and miserable day in Galway. Pouring rain, freezing cold…