Surely You’re Joking, Ms Curé
Thirty-five years ago I took part in a larp: this is the awful, cringey story of that day.
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Tour de France 2026 – Part 3
I spent a dreamy week teaching a wonderful group in Atelier Clos Mirabel, in Southwest France, this July.
Tour de France 2026 – Part 2
Part Two of my Tour De France 2026, during the USk Symposium in Toulouse went better than Part One.
Tour de France 2026 – Part 1
I have visited France twice in the last three weeks, so I am saying it’s my Tour de France 2026.
Welcome to Wild Atlantic Ink – Stories from the Edge of Ireland
Friday 22nd May Breakfast in the hotel dining room CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH I deserve this. I’m RELAXING. CRUNCH But it’s sliced white pan toast and fake blackcurrant jam. The first slice is hot but by the time I get to the next one a little time has elapsed and it’s bendy and cold. I smear…
“Vignettes of the Pyrenees”: Urban Sketching in France 2026
Join me in France this summer for a week that promises to be unforgettable. From 25th July to 1st August 2026, I will teach a one-week Urban Sketching course in ink and watercolour in the beautiful Clos Mirabel, a French manor house near the city of Pau in the far south of the country, in…
The Show Must Go On: Course Dates and Locations in 2026 and 2027
Thank you all for responding to my last post about Fake George. You were all very kind and gracious about my gullibility. One or two people wondered what Fake George and his silly friend Adrian Bot wanted from me: I don’t really know. If it was an elaborate way to get me to pay Adrian…
It’s Been Intense But I Wouldn’t Change A Thing
November is here and I have started to exhale at last. Back to writing my beloved blog. I hope you noticed my absence. I shall be greatly offended if you did not. It’s been intense. In August I taught for the Urban Sketching Symposium in Poznan, Poland and picked up Covid. Spent much of the…
The 7th Swiss Urban Sketching Symposium, Geneva: Part Three
PLEASE NOTE: Due to a cancellation, one place has just become available in my French Pyrenees week-long course, 18th-25th October this year: https://atelier.clos-mirabel.com/painting-holidays/vignettes-of-the-pyrenees-a-sketchbook-masterclass-in-ink-and-watercolour-with-roisin-cure If you’re free and can get a flight, have a look at the schedule for the week. Just the thing before the long winter sets in. But back to last week in…
The 7th Swiss Symposium Of Urban Sketchers, Geneva: Part Two
Thursday morning, 4th September I teach a workshop in the afternoon, so I head out to the workshop location I’ve been given to suss it out and maybe make an explanatory sketch or two. When I arrive at Place de la Fusterie close to the edge of the lake I am struck by the number…
7th Swiss Symposium Of Urban Sketchers: Part One
Just back from Geneva. Whew! Between Poland and Switzerland just two weeks apart, it’s so good to be back on terra firma. I will tell you all about my trip, but as usual, if you’re hoping for some nice sketches of fairytale Swiss streets of half-timbered houses, along with upbeat descriptions of a great time,…
Everything Is Copy
I was one of the lucky people to have taken part in the annual International Urban Sketching Symposium this August, which took place in the very pretty city of Poznan, in the west of the country. I was one of 18 instructors from all over the world, representing Ireland in my own small but very…
Sketching Odyssey In The Aegean: A Week In Greece
Tuesday 22nd April I am heading to Greece to spend a week with nine students from all over the world. They, like me, are keen sketchers, and I will share some of my techniques with them as we explore the hills, valleys and coast of the hidden part of Greece where we’ll be staying. I’ve…
Always Ready To Sketch: A Weekend Teaching In Barcelona
Thursday 13th March Dublin Airport. So happy to be heading off to Barcelona for a weekend of sketching. Even happier to be spouse-free in Dublin Airport. My husband Marcel has a different style from me when it comes to air travel: I consider myself relaxed, he considers me reckless; I consider him overanxious and rude,…
Sketching Course In The French Pyrenees, October 18th-25th 2025 – And A Fashion Faux Pas!
The year: sometime in the late Noughties. The place: the road outside my kids’ primary school. The occasion: pick-up time. I park up and get out of my car to collect my little ones, and as soon as I step out of the car I realise I have made a terrible mistake, and the pick-up…
Join Me For An Art Course In Greece April 23rd – 30th, 2025
As I gaze out into the winter storm from my studio here in Galway, I allow my mind to drift to scenes of sunsets and sundowners in Greece in only a few months’ time. Exactly five months from now your hostess Sue Wake and I will welcome creative souls from all over the world to…
Sketching By The Sea: A Week In Gozo, Malta
It’s the end of July and I am in Gozo on my summer holiday. Gozo is an island northwest of Malta. I am here with my husband Marcel and our three adult children, aged 24, 22 and 20. It’s very nice that our three kids still want to come away with us. I am switching…
Sketching In Mauritius – A Memoir
Mauritius is an island in the Indian Ocean. I lived there for a few months and sketched everywhere I went.
I Want A Job And An Apartment In Nancy, France
My son Paddy Is spending six months in Nancy, France, on the Erasmus programme. My husband and I visited him there last week.
I Have Something Emotional To Say…
I saw my beloved at a huge family party this weekend. Heartstrings were pulled.
2023 Was A Beautiful Year
2023 was a beautiful year for me, all because of my sketching activities.
Sketching In Menorca 31st July – 7th August
This article first appeared on Substack. It’s free for everyone there, and here: however, if you like what I write and draw, then please consider becoming a paid subscriber on Substack. Because I have been honoured with some paid subscribers, that is where I will share my soul’s deepest thoughts, for their enjoyment only. Warning:…
How I Fell In Love With France, 1975 -2022…& A Week at Clermont Dessine, 14th-20th June ’22
All about a week of sketching and teaching in the Auvergne, France, at Clermont Dessine, with good friends.
Sketching in Morocco: September 13th – 21st & September 23rd – October 1st 2021
A Dream Sketching Holiday Are you dreaming of your next sketching trip? Cast your mind to nine days in Morocco: the desert, the food, the architecture, the oases, the date palms, the people. In partnership with Morocco Ecoway, I am delighted to announce a wonderful trip, planned for September 2021. My teaching style is to…
Compostela Ilustrada! Santiago de Compostela, Spain, 8th-10th November 2019
I have just returned from the beautiful medieval city of Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain, where I attended the fabulous Compostela Ilustrada sketching event. (Warning: this may be an envy-inducing post, unless you cannot abide rain, in which case you will be very glad indeed that you did not attend.) The old part of…
The 10th International Urban Sketching Symposium, Amsterdam, July 24th-27th 2019
The 10th International USk Symposium has just wrapped up. It took place in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands. The 9th USk Symposium was held in Porto, Portugal, in July 2018. One of the organisers, Nelson Paciencia, stood up to say a few words about the experience during the introduction one morning. “The Symposium is not about…
A Week in Sweltering Amsterdam with My Family
This year, I brought my family with me to the Urban Sketching Symposium. It provided a nice balance between work and relaxing. My family is unusual in that we occasionally have rows over stupid things, and the searing hot weather meant rows over stupid things were a little closer to the surface than normal, a…
A Watercolour Sketching Workshop in Haarlem, 19th-21st July 2019
I was in Porto, Portugal, last year when this year’s Urban Sketching Symposium location was announced. It would take place in Amsterdam. “You should consider staying in Haarlem,” said Anne Rose Oosterbaan, one of the many Dutch sketchers in Porto. “It’s very pretty, cheaper than Amsterdam – and only twenty minutes away by train.” That…
Book: An Urban Sketcher’s Galway
I am so excited to announce that my new book is out. It has been a while in the gestation, and I have had a wonderful time drawing and writing it, but it’s all come together at last. It’s crammed with full colour urban sketches in ink and watercolour that I drew on location in…
Water & Waves In Watercolour…
It’s May and it’s paradise here in Galway. It’s hard to find a place that is so totally unspoiled this close to action, but we manage it in this hidden part of Galway. So I don’t need much persuading to head down to the shore with my sketching stuff and an excited white fluffy terrier.…
Foreign Relatives Enrich Your Life
Marriage brings all kinds of benefits. If you have married into a family sprinkled with other countries of origin, your life can be enriched in many ways. I feel very lucky to come from a family of mixed origin – my mum is Canadian, my grandparents English – and to have married into a British…
Sketching A Love Letter To Porto: 9th USk Symposium 2018
It was a privilege to teach at the 9th International Urban Sketching Symposium took place in Porto, Portugal, from 19th-21st July 2018, and I fell in love with the city…
A Sketch Tour of the Algarve, Portugal
PREMIUM. To be sent to a country I’d always wanted to visit – to sketch for the Tourist Board…was a dream come true. Portugal was way beyond everything I’d imagined.
Keeping Up With The Curés – Holiday Special (in Sketches)
The end-of-year holiday over Christmas and New Year provides a great opportunity for sketching family, one of which I take full advantage.
Farewell to the French Riviera! Watercolour Memories of Nice
PREMIUM. My parents have a place in Nice, on the French Riviera, a city of sun-baked beaches, fabulous gastronomy and exotic landscapes. I spent a happy week helping my mother pack.
The Ballad of Seán and Orla and Other Stories: a Weekend in Nice, France
PREMIUM. A long-overdue family reunion was a marvellous opportunity to sketch my loved ones, who had travelled far and wide to be in Nice, France, for a sunny weekend.
Till Death Do Us Part: Sketching and a Family Wedding
PREMIUM. Family weddings are always fun, even if it’s not the bride whose nerves are in pieces…our trip to Rye in the summer was made the more memorable by my sketches.
Drawing in Public: Feel the Fear and Sketch it Anyway
PREMIUM. Drawing in public can be nerve-wracking when you start, but not only have I encountered great kindness in the onlookers I’ve met, they’re often very entertaining too.
Sketching for Mindfulness: or, Asylum Drawing
PREMIUM. Sketching for mindfulness is a powerful tool. I’m a nervous flier and not alone does sketching takes my mind off fears of imminent death, It’s a lot of fun, too.
Cruinniú na mBád: Galway Hookers in Kinvara – Grace and Beauty in Blackberry and Oxblood
PREMIUM. Galway Hookers, traditional boats of Ireland’s West Coast, were once a vital part of Galway’s trade and economy. Their beauty and glory are celebrated every year in Kinvara.
Sketching Coconut Harvesting in Mauritius
The Coconut harvesters of Mauritius risk their lives to bring us their bounty – and to let Róisín sketch them at their work.
Painting in Jamaica: A Tropical Odyssey with Fiona Godfrey
PREMIUM. Fiona Godfrey has painted the tropical landscape of Jamaica for 25 years. Life as a painter on a Caribbean island isn’t always easy, however. Godfrey’s magical paintings speak for themselves.
The party refuses to end in the City of the Tribes
Róisín Curé describes how in Galway, the City of the Tribes, the magic is enduring.
A Week in Provence…I’d Prefer a Year: A Sketching Experience in Nice
PREMIUM. Róisín describes her sketching experience in Nice during a short break with sun, strong shapes and shadows – and Bouillabaisse!
Next Year in Paradise? A Sandy Beach in Mauritius
Róisín talks about finding paradise on a sandy beach in Mauritius
Painting the Botanical Garden Pamplemousses, Mauritius, in Watercolour
Róisín paints the botanical garden Pamplemousses in Mauritius, including its famous giant lilies
Surely You’re Joking, Ms Curé
August 18, 2026
No Comments
Thirty-five years ago I took part in a larp: this is the awful, cringey story of that day.
Tour de France 2026 – Part 3
August 5, 2026
4 Comments
I spent a dreamy week teaching a wonderful group in Atelier Clos Mirabel, in Southwest France, this July.
Tour de France 2026 – Part 2
August 4, 2026
4 Comments
Part Two of my Tour De France 2026, during the USk Symposium in Toulouse went better than Part One.
Tour de France 2026 – Part 1
August 2, 2026
8 Comments
I have visited France twice in the last three weeks, so I am saying it’s my Tour de France 2026.
I Don’t Dislike (Or Like) Anyone Based On Nationality, That Would Be Stupid
July 4, 2026
5 Comments
Someone wrote to say they didn’t know I disliked British people: this misses the point of the article, which was about using anything at all to avoid being in the wrong.
Lemongate
July 4, 2026
12 Comments
We all like to think we’re the good guys. But what if there’s no room for doubt that you’re not?