So instead of a sketch at wherever I ate in the evening, here is one where I had my lunch time on my way back from a meeting. I just passed a place with cakes and sandwiches in the window while walking back to my hotel and decided to give it a try. Outside was a nice view of Hoan Kiem lake…where there was a couple sitting together enjoying the scenery.
Wed-11-Oct-2017
Here is another of my ‘just before I eat’ sketches. I had to wander around a bit to find somewhere that has vegetarian food and came across this place. The waitresses thought it very amusing that I was sketching, but I ended up staying quite a while after finishing my meal because it began to pour with rain. While I was sketching I spotted that they have glued bowls and plates into a recess in the ceiling as some sort of weird decoration.
Mon-9-Oct-2017
This is what I get up to if I have a bit more time to sketch…I enjoyed putting in the detail in this one. On the weekend I met for lunch in the old quarter with a friend from my time living in Bhutan. On my way home I passed this little corner of peace and quiet next to the busy Hoan Kiem lake. King Le Thai To is a Vietnamese hero who fought off the Chinese in the north in the 15th Century. Behind the little temple is a stone tablet carved with a poem he wrote (the original of which is somewhere in the mountains). It includes the lines “Sounding gales, clamoring cranes, shake fear amongst the enemy”.
Sun-8-Oct-2017
Here is one of my quick sketches in the evening just before I eat. It’s better than sketching in my room each night (I have no time during the day because of work), plus I am collecting up many sketches of my favourite places to eat! Namaste is an Indian restaurant and always seems popular – I like it when I am a bit tired of Vietnamese noodles all the time and fancy some nice Indian vegetarian food!
Sat-7-Oct-2017
On Friday last week I arrived back in Hanoi after my field trip up north. Here is the view from my new hotel room as the sun was setting. There is so much going on out there I decided to make it simple and quick.
Fri-6-Oct-2017
I didn’t have much time to sketch while making a field trip to northern Vietnam – but here is one I did one evening in my hotel. A while ago my sister had sarcastically comented that as I was travelling again, she’d be seeing endless sketches of lamps in hotel rooms…so here you go!
Fir-6-Oct-2017
I am travelling for work again – this time to the north of Vietnam. After a long ride from Hanoi my colleagues and I stayed at the Bang Giang Hotel in Cao Bang. This was the spectacular view from my hotel room. I had the honour of visiting Hmong villages in the beautiful forested mountains in the following days.
Mon-2-Oct-2017
After being back in the Philippines for only a few days, I had to fly to Hanoi for a day to attend a meeting. It’s pretty exhausting doing all this travel, but what to do. I drew this on the way back at the airport in Hanoi – trying just to use black and white and one colour…easy in an airport!
Mon-21-Aug-2017
Here is my last sketch in Vietnam – done as usual, on my way out, at the airport. Finally getting to like my current sketchbook – but you can see on the left how the surface get’s all bitty when you add more than one wash of colour. I’ve been delayed by a backlog of pictures … I hope soon I can post some more recent ones, including life drawings.
Sat-24-June-2017