Here is a sketch I did when leaving Erbil again. My flight was early but at a tolerable time of day. I was intending to spend more time on this but they called us to board the plane. I think the sketch actually looks better because of this.
Sun-13-Sep-2026
When I did this sketch I had missed a couple of days sketching because I was just too busy with work during the day and very jet lag sleepy afterwards. However here is the chair in the Dedeman hotel where I stayed in Erbil.
Fri-11-Sep-2026
Here are some more sketches I did on the way to Erbil in Iraq, after sleeping fitfully on the plane and arriving for a five hour layover with a headache. The first is of a plane in Dubai airport (not my plane and obscured by many things) – where I feel I made my usual mistake of trying to capture too much instead of focussing on one part. The second was done in Terminal 2 (which you have to get to by bus), where I had run out of steam and was just waiting for my flight to be called.
Tue-8-Sep-2026
Here is my first sketch in a newly made sketchbook using Cass Art Cold Pressed Not Paper. Usually I used hot pressed but this has a fairly smooth surface for drawing on and for this sketch it seemed to take the paint well. I did this sketch at the airport in Metro Manila when I was taking a 3:25 am flight to Erbil via Dubai. At this point in the journey I was just trying to stay awake (by sketching) so I could get on the plane and fall asleep.
Tue-8-Sep-2026
Here is another “pantry sketch” of something we bought in Montenegro. Ajvar domaći is a traditional, homemade roasted red pepper spread and relish from the Balkan region. We saw this for sale in all the supermarkets so decided to try some – it has a delicious smoky, tangy flavour (apparently from slow-roasting the vegetables over a charcoal grill).
Sat-5-Sep-2026
These are one of my wife’s birthday gifts. They seem to be filled with heavy pellets in a squishy base. I couldn’t resist sketching them of course.
Fri-4-Sep-2026
After a long day the simplest thing to sketch I could find on this day, was an apple. I used no ink in this one – using only watercolour pencils and watercolour.
Thu-3-Sep-2026
We have started using our daughters Moka Pot because our bean to cup machine has been leaking into the coffee grounds tray (and needs some new O-rings apparently). I gather people swear by Moka pots – saying that they make the best coffee – it certainly works well and is good to sketch too! I did this one with watercolour pencils and watercolour only – no ink!
Wed-2-Sep-2026
This is the second sketch I did with Urban Sketchers Manila when we joined the car free Sunday sketch-walk event in Makati, in August. After doing my first sketch we went upstairs to have breakfast at 7-Eleven (the only place open in the building) and I decided to sketch this overhead view of the “Spirit of EDSA” sculpture. The text on the plaque says “at his finest hour”…but I was thinking it should really say at “their” finest hour – especially as the main figure in the sculpture is a woman!
Sun-30-Aug-2026