Fidgetting camels...

Breakfast time.

 ... are a nightmare to try and sketch.

Breakfast II

However these are this mornings attempts done with pencil and watercolour in A5 Daler sketchbook.

Being ridden & faces.

2nd Doha SketchCrawl - 11th December

Pen & ink in A5 Daler sketchbook.

I found the 2nd Doha SketchCrawl a little disappointing. Despite calling for sketchers on several different forums, including the SketchCrawl official site, there were only 3 of us again last Saturday. On top of that, the others seemed more interested in chatting and relaxing, which is what a Saturday is about I guess. We drew the giant oyster on Doha's Corniche, which was our meeting point and is every tourist's first photo point. However, after that there didn't seem any good places to sit and draw the nearby dhows. This is my second failed attempt to sketch them, the first back in October was abandoned due to the high humidity, third time lucky perhaps?

1st Oct.  Being a tourist.

Then we headed into the souq for coffee. Whilst the others chatted I sketched a couple of people nearby, attempting to talk too, unfortunately the others' lethargy rubbed off and that was all I did.

Virtual Paintout - County Clare, Éire.

Shannon Estuary. Pen & ink 245x160mm

After drawings for the Muscat exhibition I want to do more pen and ink work. However, I want to experiment and try a looser style ~ a mix between the controlled finished pieces and my sketching style. This is the result from yesterday's attempt for Virtual Paintout.

The main purpose of Virtual Paintout is "to gather in one area of the world, virtually, once a month with other artists. To paint or draw a scene and composition of your choosing, within a predetermined area."  My previous VP entry was in April, you can see it here.

While the main rule is that "the artist must use a view found through Google Street View as the reference for the painting or drawing". Here is the map where I found my view, to the west of Limerick, in the Shannon Estuary.

© Google Maps

Check out the other County Clare pictures over at Virtual Paintout.

EDM 301 - Draw something cute

Isabelle's cat
Originally uploaded by travelingsuep

Sketched whilst staying with Isabelle in Muscat last weekend, Tom is certainly something cute.

Pen & watercolour in A5 Daler sketchbook.

Muscat exhibition

As I wrote in my last post, I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in the Oman-Africa event to celebrate 40 years' rule by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos. In the end I had 3 pieces hung of which you can see two in the picture above.

I think I'm not in a good place at the moment as even when I saw my pictures hung, I had negative thoughts...

• The framing is wrong. The framers reduced the area of the pictures, not a problem on the 1st two, but I took the last one to my edges and had to trim it to get it in the mount. I was non-specific about sizes, and they cut a narrower mount than I envisaged, which I also didn't specify. Live and learn! 
• They look so small. Everyone had huge paintings.
• I shouldn't have brought the third piece as it's not as good as the other two. 
• I should have worked harder and done more pieces.
• The exhibition space is not good.

Maybe the reason I felt/feel like this is because I do have drawings hung in various peoples houses (not just my parents'), and I have done since I was at college, so to see my pictures hung was not really a new experience? Maybe if the event had only been an exhibition it would have seemed different?

15th Street Mosque, Khartoum

I know I need to change my thinking. I need to focus on the positive.

• I took part in an exhibition.
• I got some finished pieces done, instead of just sketching.
• I do not know what interest may have been generated.
• Everyone has to start somewhere.
• The event was a success for the organisers. (I must stop being so egotistical in my positive thinking.)

Am I alone in this experience? Am I the only one who hasn't bounced for joy at their first exhibition? I would love to hear your experiences.

The secret...

...I'm exhibiting in Muscat on the 6th and 7th December, that's in one week, and it's my first ever! So now you now the reason for the art confidence crisis. At this point I must say a big THANKS to Sandra of Sandra Draws who's been at the receiving end of lots of emails and has written back all the nice things I needed to hear.

Anyway, I’m participating in a group show, which is part of a 2-day event to celebrate 40 years of His Majesty The Sultan of Oman’s rule. It is organised by the Oman-Africa group and will consist of art, culture, shows and entertainment.

Why am I participating? My Oman/African connection is that I fell in love with Sudan earlier this year, I’ve visited several African countries, I used to live in Oman, and, most importantly, I was asked. Thanks Martin! I will post the pictures after the event. There was a sneak preview of one drawing in progress in my last post and below are all three pieces in progress.

Works in progress.

The event is at the Oman Women's Association Hall, Qurum, Oman 

(nr Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Opera House), 

on 6th and 7th December, from 10-10pm daily. 

Pop by if you can.

Adventure is relative.

A very normal work area.

Peggy of Margaret Sterner Cox left a comment on my last post about my adventurous life and Cathy of Down a Dusty Lane commented on its foreignness. The reality is I have a normal life, just in somewhere a little different. I wrote about normality from Khartoum in my post Neglected and here in Doha it is a similar story.

Normally, I get up (at the silly-time of 5.20am), go to work, come home, watch tv, do computer stuff, eat, go to bed, early. On the weekends, Friday and Saturday, I get up, have several cups of tea, clean, do laundry, shopping... yawn, so uninteresting. Here in the Middle East the summer is too hot to do much, like winter in Europe you stay at home and hibernate as much as possible. However, in the winter, when the temperatures cool to a more manageable 20-something degrees, that's the time for events, sightseeing, meeting friends etc. hence the opportunities like the tennis tournament.

My very normal lounge.

What has changed, is that I permanently have a sketchbook in my handbag, which I use as much as possible. However, I carried it everywhere in England this summer, so I guess that's just a change in my reality and not part of the foreign adventure.

I am glad that I can share this part of the world with all of you, and show that there is more to the Middle-East than the media images of war and violence, and that the majority of people here, like anywhere in the World, are good, kind, gentle people.

Qataris and expats relaxing together under the stars.

However, I couldn't resist finishing thispost on normality with a little touch of the exotic.

Cool enough to open the door...

... and turn off the a/c.

I have a light teaching load at the moment, and so sat in my office yesterday morning sketching the view through the door. I added colour at home last night, which the photo above has bleached out.

First, I sat on a desk by the door.

Then I sat at my desk.

Quiet strangely, it suddenly came over dark, we had several heavy showers, some thunder and lightning,  and then the sun came out again.

The re-emerging sun.

Some unpublished sketches.

Part of tree at work. 10 Nov

First let me thank everyone who commented on my last post after I had a mini-meltdown. I will reveal the cause in the next few days. For now here are a few sketches I've done in the last week.

Side table. 13 Nov.

Cameraman at the tennis. 16 Nov

Asian games mascots at tennis.

aaaaaargh

who am I trying to kid, I can't draw!