It couldn’t last. Five classes in to my new favourite sport, Taekwon-Do, and I’m injured. What did I expect? I’m 51 years old and I’ve joined a martial arts class. Yesterday’s session was going swimmingly. Everyone was doing lots of aerobic and warm-up exercises, and as usual I was crashing out panting for breath long…
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…
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.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…
I’m working intensely to finish a book for the end of February, and so I find myself in Galway City a lot these days. “An Urban Sketcher’s Galway” will be the Galway that I have come to know over the years since I arrived here in 1991, in words and pictures. In the twenty-seven years…
(Never) Always Work With Animals And Children Yesterday I saw some beautiful beech leaves that I wanted to paint. There was something so magical about them. The colours, the hues…I don’t know. I did try to go out and paint – I had been stuck in front of a screen all day – but God…
I love sketching at the bus stop while I wait for the kids. No one can disturb me. The car is tiny but it doesn’t matter. And the only subjects are some trees and a big grain silo so it doesn’t matter what happens. And if the worst comes to the worst and the kids…
The other day, my husband Marcel and I were driving into town. There was a buzzing coming from somewhere in the car. “There’s a bee in the car,” said Marcel, who dreads getting stung. “It’s a bluebottle,” I said. “It’s a bee,” said Marcel. “Oh yeah, there it is,” I said, having spotted a fat,…
The end-of-year holiday over Christmas and New Year provides a great opportunity for sketching family, one of which I take full advantage.
Hallowe’en marks the end of autumn and the start of the long dark days of winter. Going for walks with my lovely teenagers – and sketching – are good ways to cope.