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:…
All about a week of sketching and teaching in the Auvergne, France, at Clermont Dessine, with good friends.
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…
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 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…
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…
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…
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…
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.…
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…
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…
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.
The end-of-year holiday over Christmas and New Year provides a great opportunity for sketching family, one of which I take full advantage.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Coconut harvesters of Mauritius risk their lives to bring us their bounty – and to let Róisín sketch them at their work.
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.
Róisín Curé describes how in Galway, the City of the Tribes, the magic is enduring.
PREMIUM. Róisín describes her sketching experience in Nice during a short break with sun, strong shapes and shadows – and Bouillabaisse!
Róisín talks about finding paradise on a sandy beach in Mauritius
Róisín paints the botanical garden Pamplemousses in Mauritius, including its famous giant lilies
This month sees the return of the popular Sketchbook Revival event, free and online. Find out all about how to sign up in this article.
I want to tell you a story about colour. A colourful story, if you will. When I first started sketching, I was a bit “AI”
Spring is in the air, and with Valentine’s Day around the corner, love seems to be in the air too…just look at those cute rooks
Whatever your resolution is, it’s bound to be ambitious, good for you and something you feel you didn’t do enough of in 2022. For me,
My First Steps I taught my first online class in May 2020. It was about capturing foliage from life in ink and watercolour. The people
Last January I announced two urban sketching workshops for the month of August. Each would last two and a half days and would take place
