Klostertorvet

Lunch break sketching with sketching-buddy Anette again today. We had lunch on a bench in Klostertorvet - convent square - and drew the large tree there.



The tree grows from a raised patch of grass and provides a nice border at the broad end of the square.

I sketched it in my small pocket sketchbook last year in November, seen from the other side where the buses stop.



Today the leaves were just beginning to unfold on some of the branches, and the air was full of spring-green dots.





I forgot to take a photo of Anette's sketchbook and drawing - maybe next time.

More lines

Some simple ink pen drawings.



I love drawing with a pen, just simple lines, no colour, no deliberations over which pen or pencil to use next, just the paper and a pen.



Not that the simple lines necessarily lead to a simple result,



but there is a simplicity in working with just that one pen that appeals to me on a fundamental level.

Lines

I have this beautiful Provence thyme in my garden - old and gnarled, and looking like an ancient bonsai tree, spilling out onto the stones of the South facing terrace.

Lunch break sketching 2

Having spent such an enjoyable Tuesday lunch, with my sketchbook and buddy on the steps by the canal, I was off again on Thursday - this time on my own as sketching buddy was out of town. I picked Klostertorvet - Convent Square - just down the street from where I work.


 

The square has benches under young trees, and the cafés use the centre area for their outdoor serving. I came early enough to secure myself a nice spot in the sun, and the benches soon filled up with other people out to enjoy their packed lunch or bought sandwiches in the square. I met a colleague from work who was having a break with his wife and baby, and took the oportunity to draw them sitting together on the neighbouring bench.



Afterwards I did a quick sketch of the café guests out in the square. A couple of women sat down next to me and asked about my drawings, and I told them about Urban Sketchers and gave them one of my little MOO-cards with a sample of my art on the front and the address to both this blog and Urban Sketchers on the back - perhaps one of them will be reading this entry :)



I'm hoping I might fit in one of these arty lunch breaks this week as well, since work is pretty busy and it's always nice to charge the batteries with a little art-break.

Lunch break sketching

Todays lunch break was well spent eating a packed lunch on the steps by the canal, and sketching with my friend and colleague Anette. We both brought along large Moleskine sketchbooks and passed a good 45 minutes in the sun, sketching the many others who'd also had the bright idea of having lunch on the steps in the sun.


Anette working on her sketch.
 
Sitting on the steps, and my sketchbook, pens and pencils.


And the scan of the finished spread in my book. People kept coming and going while we were there, and sometimes they left before we had a chance to finish our sketch. It's a treat that the weather is finally warm enough to do this, and I look forward to many lunch breaks sketching in town over the coming months.

Games

Sketchbook diary entry from Thursday evening. I enjoy experimenting with the combination of ink pens and pencils in the same drawing. The sketchbook format still gives me the freedom not to worry about the result, and I can just start anywhere on the page, without preliminary sketching or planning out the image in advance. It's very satisfying to draw this way.

Sunny afternoon

I spent a little over half an hour enjoying the sunny afternoon after work today, sitting with my sketchbook diary on the steps by Vadestedet beside the small river in central Århus.

The sidewalk cafés are filling up and lots of people stop by the steps for a chat and a cup of coffee on their way home from school or work.





Todays sketch is in my large sketchbook diary, using pens, markers and various pencils. The only person who approached me while I was working was a homeless man wanting to sell the paper Hus Forbi. I bought the paper and read it on the bus home.

Easter in Aalborg

We spent Easter in Aalborg and I managed to fit in a couple of sketches between trips and meals. The weather was fantastic - just the massive dose of sun and warmth we had all been pining for for the past month.

Saturday we went to town and ended up at the café Vi 2 on C.W. Obels Plads by Budolfi Church and the old convent.




I took the oportunity to do a quick sketch of a couple of weathervanes in my pocket sketchbook - the cock on the spire of Budolfi Church, and another weathervane on a more distant building which I couldn't identify.



Since the weather was so fantastic most afternoons included a break out in the yard - a cup of tea, time to read a bit in the paper or a good book, and perhaps a short nap. Here's a drawing of my mother and a friend in a couple of deck chairs, taking a break after a good, hearty Easter lunch.



Happy Easter to all!

Armchair

Spring is roaring away outside my windows - flowers popping open all over the place, birds tugging at the old flower beds gathering building materials for nests, hedgehogs waking up and nosing about - and after surviving months of biting cold and clammy grey winter weather, here I am stuck inside on my third day of nursing an exhausting cold. It's ridiculous.

Maia paid us a visit, and I drew her sitting in Jakob's old armchair:



Ink pens and a spot of colour pencil in my large sketchbook diary.