Here is another sketch from the archives done during a trip to Vietnam I made with a friend in 1993. We started in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) and then took a bus to Dalat, where I remember it being relatively cold and drinking lots of really nice coffee. I guess I drew this from the hotel where we stayed.
Tue-31-Aug-1993
Here is a blast from the past. I have gradually been scanning sketches from my old sketchbooks and thought I would post one from a trip I made to Vietnam when I lived in Cambodia. This was done on a trip to Dalat in August 1993, which (if I remember correctly) my friend and I got to by bus from Ho Chi Minh. That’s my friend reading in the foreground on the left. I started numbering these sketches at sketchbook 1, this is from sketchbook No.4.
Tue-31-Aug-1993
My wife unearthed this beautifully made card (believe it or not but this wonderful 3D ship appears as you open the card) when sorting out her desk. None of us can be sure where we got it from, but I think I bought it on one of my work trips to Vietnam. My sketch doesn’t really do it justice!
Fri-16-July-2021
Seeing that on Monday I drew a coffee maker from Vietnam targeted at tourists, the next day I decided to draw one of the more traditional metal ones (I think you can tell we like coffee and have several different bits of kit to make it). It works on the same principle (with a little filter inside) but this one doesn’t come with a cup for it to sit on.
Tue-1-June-2021
This is a little coffee maker I picked up at the duty free in Vietnam on my way back from a work trip there. The traditional ones are metal but this is ceramic…I guess just intended for tourists. I found it at the back of one of our cupboards when doing some spring cleaning.
Mon-31-May-2021
Tired after a long day of eating, meeting and being on my best behaviour, I sketched this to stay awake at the airport in Hanoi, waiting for my homeward flight at 1:20 am. Given how late it was I think I can be forgiven for my spelling (it should say tail end)?
Thu-15-Nov-2018
Taking a moment in my hotel room in Hanoi after work and before I go out to eat, I thought I’d test out a new brush/felt tip pen which I won at life drawing. I thought it was permanent but this shows it runs a bit – though I don’t think it hurts the sketch?
Wed-14-Nov-2018
What can you do to stay awake while waiting for a flight in Ho Chi Minh at 1am – why sketch of course! I had meant to add more to this one, maybe making the colours more intense, but I ran out of time as my flight was finally called. Plus all my “models” got up to leave. Behind the seats are mounds and mounds of knick-knack souvenirs – I always find this commercial avariciousness odd in a communist country.
Thu-25-Oct-2018
After attending a workshop in Da Nang I had to check out (despite asking the hotel if they’d kindly let me stay a few more hours) and wait in the lobby (on a rock hard wooden seat) before going to the airport. This is what I did to make use of my time and help ignore my numb bum. I painted mostly with yellow ochre, mixed with black to make that lovely sludgy colour. Apart from the plants the only thing that catches the eye in a sea of blandness is the little altar with joss sticks and flashing lights.
Thu-25-Oct-2018