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.
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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
How I Fell In Love With France, 1975 -2022…& A Week at Clermont Dessine, 14th-20th June ’22
June 27, 2022
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All about a week of sketching and teaching in the Auvergne, France, at Clermont Dessine, with good friends.
A Bit Of An Owl Chat, And Art In Gardens – 6th-10th June
June 12, 2022
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Monday 6th June It’s a Bank Holiday in Ireland and there’s a talk on in the Burren Nature Sanctuary. A guy is coming to talk
Summer Days of Sketching: 25th May – 4th June
June 6, 2022
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Wednesday 25th June I am a believer in “drawing in the cracks” and so I sketch the view from the post office in my village,
My Sketching Week, 9th – 22nd May
May 22, 2022
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Monday 9th May I want to paint the roses my lovely family bought to welcome me home from hospital, and I finally get my chance
Not A Lot Of Sketching Going On…April 23rd – May 6th
May 11, 2022
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I get a fever, everything goes pear-shaped and I end up spending ten days in hospital.
My Sketching Week: Easter with the Family 16th-22nd April
April 22, 2022
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Saturday 16th April The subject for my sketchalong class is a well that my daughter stumbled upon in a field up the road from us