Winter Wadi

Winter Wadi. Pen & ink. 360 x 240mm © Sue Pownall 2012

In April, I joined the tour company The Guide Oman to cross the Hajar mountains. I did a few sketches, which I shared here, and took a lot of photos. This drawing results from that trip.

For those who don't know, winter here in Oman is really just less hot than summer with occassional rain. You can tell this is a winter picture after rain, as you can see grasses growing between the buildings.

This original drawing is for sale. Please use the contact form for more details.

PechaKucha Muscat II

Audience A5 sketchbook © Sue Pownall 2012

The 2nd PechaKucha Muscat event was held earlier this month. The venue was too small for the large crowd, so like many my view was obstructed. I did manage to see either the speaker quite well or the screen as the sketch below shows of 1st speaker Mohammed Al Kindy. Mohammed, a graphic designer, was very interesting, and I enjoyed the originality of a young Omani girl talking about her nail art. However, the best speaker in my opinion was Faisal Hameed, a photographer, who was a great speaker, amusing, and had chosen fabulous images to show & talk about.

Speaker Moh'd AlKindy A5 sketchbook © Sue Pownall 2012

Due to the visability, I drew the audience as I listened and the results are at the top of this post and below. 

A5 sketchbook © Sue Pownall 2012

A5 sketchbook © Sue Pownall 2012

PechaKucha Muscat 3 is planned for January. I really hope the team get a bigger venue, spending some of the British Council grant they successfully won, preferably with a stage area, so everyone can sit comfortably and see.

Stop-over sketches

 Rustem Pasha Mosque, A5 sketchbook © Sue Pownall

My flight home from Italy was first back to Barcelona then via Istanbul. As I had a 10 hour stop-over in Istanbul, I met up with one of my favourite arty people Samantha. She blogs at Harika and is an urbansketcher. Also, with us was Pedro, an illustrator from Portugal (I forgot to get his site address). We spent most of the time in the Taksim area of Istanbul, in a café drinking Turkish tea, chatting, and of course sketching. My drawing is a composite as people came and went.

Firuzağa Çay Bahçesi A5 sketchbook © Sue Pownall

This is what our table looked like minus a few tea glasses.

Firuzağa Çay Bahçesi © Sue Pownall

When we finally left the café, we walked through the narrow streets of Taksim and down to the river to have fresh fish for lunch. We crossed the river into the Fatih district and after lunch wandered around for something else to draw. I had only my little point-and-shoot Olympus with me, which needs throwing away!!! However, I did get one good shot (below).

© Sue Pownall

We chose to draw at the Rustem Pasha Mosque and tiredness made me shy away from tackling anything to detailled or difficult, so I drew two colourful tourists having a rest before visiting the mosque. (top)

A day in the life of... me

I sometimes wonder where my 'drawing' time goes. Yes, I waste time on 'marketing' myself a.k.a. facebooking, checking emails, and tweeting. However, serious internet time is spent catching on my blogging friends, adding content to my facebook page, and checking out possible art opportunities etc. So after finding no time to draw today, I thought I would chronicle my day.

It started at 12.45am when I got up, not being able to sleep, in order to finish my submission for an exhibition, whose deadline was today. I went back to bed an hour later with it 99% finished. 7.30am I got up for the second time and fiddled with my submission on and off for a couple of hours, whilst facebooking, eating breakfast, showering etc. 

9.45 I got in my car and drove to the printers I use for scanning and got the drawing scanned. I then sat in the car putting it its frame. From there I drove to the gallery, which should hang my work later this year, which is at the far end of Muscat. At the gallery I swopped Festival Face #5 The Grandfather, which I had taken with me, for His Brother's Musar. The reason was that I'd received an email the evening before from someone wishing to purchase His Brother's Musar and I need to mail it to its new home in Australia.

From the gallery, it was a mad dash in Muscat Wednesday traffic (think Friday evening in Europe) to the Omani Society of Fine Arts, arriving about 11.30. I handed in my drawing, relieved, was asked about submission details, which I had emailed last week... BUT then was asked about the cd with the jpeg of the drawing aarghhh. Dashed home, cleaned scan from printers in photoshop, burnt a cd, and drove back to OSFA. As I was pulling into the carpark my phone rang, my mum, quick chat, then I sprinted into the building to drop off the cd at 12.45, just 15minutes before they leave for lunch and possibly the weekend.

I drove home again, via the post office as I'm waiting for a package of greeting cards (of my drawings) to be forwarded on, cooked and ate lunch, showered, changed, set up an autoresponder for my mailing list, and was out the door again at 2.30 to go to the day job, which pays the bills. Six hours later I got home, had a quick drink and catch up with my neighbours, ate a late dinner, and collapsed in front of a tv programme. Then, I wrote this post. It's now 11.10pm.

Time to draw??? Tomorrow I hope  after buying packing material, taking the picture to the couriers...

BTW. In case you are wondering about the picture, I'm not sure I'm allowed to publish it prior to the selection day, so I'm not posting it yet. However, here's a sneak peak in an early WIP shot.

WIP Moon Rocks ©Sue Pownall 2012

Impressions of Italy

Sketching in the middle of a tributary of Fiume Argentino

I'm behind on my summer sketches, so to continue... From Barcelona, I popped over to Italy for a week. With a stopover in Milan I got to see my friend, the author, ceramicist, and B&B owner Diana Baur (checkout her site here!). Whilst waiting for my bus to take me back to the airport for my flight on to Naples, I sketched other travellers.

A5 sketchbook © Sue Pownall 2012

I was busy once I arrived in Calabria trying to sort things out with the apartment - I need to sell it - but went out one evening to sketch an old shed. Unfortunately, I hadn't used any mosquito repellent, so I quickly snapped a couple of photos, abandoned my drawing and headed back.

A5 sketchbook © Sue Pownall 2012

A couple of mornings later, I headed off to paint a ruined building at the bottom of the village. By 9.15, having completed the ink stage, it was already too hot to continue to sit in the sun, so, AGAIN, I abandoned the drawing  and took some reference photos. This time I didn't head back, but went in search of shade further down the valley.

A4 sketchbook

I ended up on a tributary of the Fiume Argentino, literally sitting in the middle of the river on a pile of stones (see top photo). It was very relaxing sitting painting in the shade, and I am quite pleased with the results.

Unfortunately, I did not get another opportunity to sketch before my homeward journey.

It's my 3rd Blogoversary!

 Wow it's been 3 years since I started this blog! 

It started here with An idea of my work  and included drawings like this one, which was sketched in Jordan's Wadi Rum:

A5 sketchbook © Sue Pownall 2005

Sketching and final artwork have dominated the posts, although some of my photography has crept in too, such as this one from Sharjah, UAE:

© Sue Pownall 2009

 The post with the most views was artbased resolutions back in January 2011.

One of the drawings I included in that post was this urban sketch drawn in Torino. It was influenced by the amazing sketches I see on the Urban Sketchers' site and in their flickr group.

At Fiat, Torino © Sue Pownall 2010

 Lots has happened in the last 3 years... little things such as my giving up the pseudonym Travelingsuep... Exciting things have occurred like having drawings exhibited...

Hung at CAS Winter exhibition.

... and 2 books of my sketches & photos published.

Portraits of Khartoum

Cuban Scenes

...As well as interviews in magazines, newspapers and on the radio.

Qatar's Woman Today magazine 2011.

  In the last 3 years, I have followed my nomadic inclination and worked and lived in: Oman, Italy, Sudan, and Qatar. By coincidence, I started the blog in Oman and I'm back in Oman again. I also travelled a little (Beirut, Istanbul, Spain, UAE, Italy, UK, South Africa), with the highlight being my trip to Cuba last year. These countries have influenced all my artwork and sketching a lot. For example, my latest personal work being portraits of Omanis in my Festival Faces  series.

The Grandfather. 240 x 330mm, Pen & ink. ©Sue Pownall 2012

  However, a big influence has come from the people I interact with on the internet through blogs, groups like the Urban Sketchers, and the artists I have met over the last 3 years as a consequence. I always appreciate your comments, thoughts, and advice when you stop by.

Thank you for all your support over the last 3 years
& I hope you continue to stop by.

Sundry Spanish sketches

La Sagrada Familia  A5 sketchbook

My penultimate Sunday in Barcelona, I met with a friend to go to the Picasso museum. Whilst waiting for her to arrive at the meeting point, I sketched the tourists around me in their various hats. Unfortunately, when we got to the museum the queue was about 3 days long, so we decided to go to the nearby Parc de la Ciutadella and then onto the Palau dela Música Catalana.

Hats, hats, hats A5 sketchbook.

Parc de la Ciutadella © Sue Pownall 2012

At the Palau de la Música, we had to join a tour to view the beautiful building - next time I'd like to go to a concert there. First we watched a short film on its history in the new auditorium, which is when I sketched the lady on the left of my sketchbook. Then, walking around the old auditorium I tried to quickly capture some of the flowing sculptural elements.

Palau de la Musica A5 sketchbook.

My last sketching outing in Barcelona was on 7th August when I met the animator Dave Coogan in Rambla de Catalunya. We met at the La girafa coqueta so I tried to capture its lines as my warmup, but my proportions are out. Then, we sat in the shade to sketch the various people.

On Rambla de Catalunya  A5 sketchbook.

From the Rambla, we went to join some of the Barcelona sketchers who were at La Sagrada Familia drawing with Nina Johansson who was over from Sweden. La Sagrada is dauntingly large. My view was chosen for me, as Dave and I sat on the only available empty bench, and I had this view through the trees (top and below).

Sketching at La Sagrada Familia

Drawing & dallying for Dalí

Whilst in Barcelona, I was lucky enough to have my mum and dad come over to visit. On the weekend, we caught the train up to Figueres to visit the Teatro Museo Dalí. The photo below was snapped by mum as I sketched the long, long queue (I forgot to pre-book oops) dad is stood next to me as we chatted & I drew whilst waiting. Of course, the museum was worth the wait but I have to confess I was hungry afterwards having queued through lunchtime.

Shakespeare & starlight

© Sue Pownall 2012

I have had the opportunity to go out with the Barcelona sketches twice more since the SketchCrawl.First, I met the group at Parc de l'Estacio del Nord for an outside performance of Love Labour's Lost. The play was performed by Parking Shakespeare www.parkingshakespeare.com who are very good.

Parking Shakespeare performing in the park.

© Sue Pownall 2012

Despite it being in Catalan, and understanding about 10 words, it was really enjoyable. Most of us sat together drawing whilst watching. I have to say the most impressive was the scene drawn by Sagar sagar but as always I like my new friend Cesar's drawing too, and can't wait to see it finished on his blog.

Barcelona from Hotel America © Sue Pownall 2012

Shot with my Galaxy I at midnight

Last Saturday, we met for a night sketching session. The amazing artist Miguel Herranz (Freekhand) freshly back from the Urban Sketchers Symposium was with us. It was amazing to look through his sketchbook and see his drawings and to hear the stories from the symposium. We started on the roof terrace of the Hotel America after a wander through Barcelona's streets.

More walking followed as we went for something to eat before going to our last locations. Some of us chose to draw La Pedreira (Casa Mila) whilst others another impressive building nearby. Cesar lent me his Sailor pen, which I now covet, which was perfect for the solid black lines. At midnight the main illumination was turned off, leaving the roofline lit, and I headed back to the apartment.

© Sue Pownall 2012

I think Barcelona is the place this nomad can finally settle, so am starting to see about returning after my contract finishes in Muscat. Watch this blog for more details.

*****

Sorry about the quality of the pics, I didn't pack my scanner.

The best day. 36º SketchCrawl Mundial, Barcelona

Plaza del Pi

I had the best day sketching with the Barcelona sketchers on Saturday. I'd like to thank everyone for making me feel welcome, speaking English on my behalf, and putting up with my bad Spanish, especially Cesar and Dave. Also, Sagar, Antonio, Saki, Silvie... EVERYONE was so nice!!!

Muchas gracias a todos!!!!

I wanted to join the Barcelona sketchers partially because I've seen their amazing drawings online, but mainly because I've only done small SketchCrawls that I have arranged. Small - well Saturday was anything but small as the SketchCrawl coincided with the 1st urban drawing contest in sketchbooks. (1er Concurso de dibujo urbano en libreta). 274 people participated in the contest plus there were us non-participants. Incredible!!! I have never seen so many people drawing at the same time, not even in college.

Sketchers in doorways & by walls...

...and in the shade & cafe...

... on the floor, against a tree...

...on stools, in the flowers...

...EVERYWHERE THERE WERE SKETCHERS!

The SketchCrawl started at Plaça Catalunya, where Cesar, Dave & I, along with lots of others, headed up to the café at the top of El Corte Inglés. My eye was caught by a yellow & orange tower, so I had to draw it.

 Next it was on to the church of Santa Ana, where I chose to draw the  flower stall. I was going to add colour but liked the lines as they were.

 Moving on to Plaza de la Catedral, I had an unsuccessful time due to rain stopping the watercolour I was trying to do, twice, so I gave up and drew some gargoyles instead.

 

It was suggested that I finish the watercolour by memory, but I think I will just return one afternoon and continue where I left off.

Then, it was finally lunchtime and I was invited to join Cesar & friends. At the restaurant, sketchbooks were shared and drawing continued whilst we waited for our food.

Got to love paper place mats!

After a scrummy lunch, it was onto Plaza de San Felip Neri, which is where I sketched all the sketchers above. Then on to the last site on the crawl map, Plaza del Pi (top sketch). I was sitting on the floor with some Spanish girls, when we all decided we just couldn't draw any more. I had an invitation for an art exhibition so headed off there. 

 

 I had passed invites onto the others, so after contacting them to say it wasn't worth going, I joined them for a drink. Two & a half hours after I stopped sketching, I ended up doing 2 more... it's compulsive if those around you are drawing, honestly. More sketchbooks were shared and materials too.

6.30pm Plaza del Pi / 9pm George & Dragon pub

 

Saturday's SketchCrawl was the longest day I have ever spent sketching, the furthest I have walked on a Crawl, and the most fun with the nicest people. All in all the best day!

 

Thank you again Barcelona sketchers.

******

If you want to know more about SketchCrawl, please visit the site SketchCrawl.com

The site of the Barcelona sketchers is here.

Please forgive the quality of sketch photos, I haven't located anywhere to scan drawings yet.