USk Treffen Darmstadt






This year i had to cancel my participation to the Symposium in Singapore due to work commitments.
I had Simos Ischia Workshop to look forward to, but that´s October, and a summer without some sort of big Sketching event taking place-impossible. So Birgit and me got together and sarted planning our own event.

A month ago, the first big meeting of Urban Sketchers in Germany took place in Darmstadt, a town just 30 min from Frankfurt/Main. Sixty sketchers came together to draw in the  beautiful art déco quarter of Mathildenhöhe, and some of them traveled quite far- from northern Germany, the Netherlands and even Paris- to be with us. The program included workshops by Urban Sketching veterans such as Omar Jaramillo, Arno Hartmann, Birgit Dreesen and me. We also hat demos by Daniel Nies and Catalina Somolinos  and activities like a Portrait Party (inspired by Paraty) and Drink&Draw just like at the Symposium and lots of sketchbook browsing! After a beautiful and intense weekend, we had a little exhibition of sketchbooks.



Phrix




Drawing with the Rheinmainsketchers on the windiest afternoon. Phrix is a former paper factory which has been shut down for decades, only a small part has been rented to an artists collective. In Hattersheim Okriftel, close to Frankfurt airport.

Pettah & Galle Road


Drawing the busy market bazaar of Pettah is not easy, as every inch of space is used by vendors and pedestrian. To say i found a spot between a distribution box and a shop window..that´s already stretching it quite a bit.



Further down south is Galle Road, the main artery of Colombo, changing a lot between the city center and  what used to be the suburbs..

Hill Country




Kandy was best enjoyed from further away, at night when the city lights were reflected in its artificial lake. Instead of visiting the crowded Temple of the Tooth, i looked at the tombstones of the British Garrison Cemetery an learned about strange ways to die in old Ceylon (being trampled to death by an elephant, having one´s house collapse on oneself, falling on a pike while trying to get off a horse).




The badly lit cave temples of Dambulla and the surrounding countryside, then on to the impressive ancient rock palace of Sigiriya. While painting this view, a gardener sat by my side to see what i was up to. Along came a sinhalese, then a muslim school group. When my view was completely blocked by giggling girls in ponytails i decided my painting was finished.

And finally making my way to the hill country with its lush green tea plantations and the town of Nuwara Eliya.



At an altitude of 2000 m, it has a mild climate that appealed to british settlers. Their specific architecture is the trademark of Nuwara Eliya, and only the colourful trucks and Sri Lankans trying to sell fake North Face clothing remind you you´re not in England.



Colombo Fort

කොටුව (කොළඹ)
கோட்டை (கொழும்பு)

Colombo Fort is the oldest part of the srilankan capital and its traditional commercial center.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam bombed the Central Bank of Ceylon in january of 1996, making it one of the deadliest attack during Sri Lankas 30 years of civil war. This event led the government to restrict access to certain parts of the fort, making it a heavily fortified area, leading to its decline as the city center. Only very recently,  the Fort was made accesible again for all, 5 years after the end of the war.


 

Down the southern coast


Travelling down the coast from Colombo is quicker than elsewhere in the country, thanks to the openi ng of a new Expressway. The diasadvantage of this accesibility is the amount of tourists flooding the beaches, it is difficult, but still possible to find some nice and calm spots.

 

 
At a buddhist temple in Mirissa, flower offerings are laid out befora a buddha statue. The head monk gives me a key so i can enter the lavishly decorated vihara, a good, cool spot to esccape the midday heat.



 

Fisherboats at the beach in Mirissa, and a view of the sea whilst consuming fish for dinner.

Galle Fort

ගාලු කොටුව/காலிக் கோட்டை


Galle Fort on Sri Lanka´s southern coast was built by the Portuguese in the 16th century, fortified by the Dutch during the 17th and taken over by the British by the end of the 18th century. Nowadays it attracts lots of tourists, who stroll through the old colonial streets on day trips from nearby beach resorts.


Galle Fort is a bit similar to Paraty in Brasil, but less homogenous with its mix of dutch colonial & art déco houses, srilankan clutter and tourist traps. It´s multi-ethnic and multi-religious: within the confines of the ramparts, you can find mosques, churches and buddhist stupas. Here is Meera Jumma Mosque and Galle Lighthouse on the southern rampart.



My Rough Guide called Galles Maritime Museum "the worst museum in Sri Lanka, possibly all South Asia", so i figured it must be quite a sight. I features random displays in unintelligible english and creepy mannequins depicting rural fishermen, but it had a whale skeleton.



Tembili is the sinhalese word for coconut, but also means the colour orange. Most menus feature it as King Coconut though, and it tastes best for lunch at Galle Fort Hotel´s pretty terrace.



Anuradhapura



Anuradhapura is an ancient town in central Sri Lanka, famous for its many places of worship and ruins of buddhist monasteries, many of them around 2000 years old. Mirisivatya Dagoba is on the outskirts of the sacred city, a white dagoba with little tourists and quiet atmosphere.



Abhayagiri is on the northern edge of the city, furthest from the center. It is my favourite part of the area, with the jungle overgrowing the ruins and a quiet, melancholy atmosphere. 1500 years ago, it was a huge monastery housing 5000 monks, though only the sheer size of the area suggests that now.



Further to the south, the mood changes to lively and vibrant place of pilgrimage, with hundreds of buddhists in white dress offering flowers before buddha statues and praying. The huge Ruvanvalisaya dagoba is particularly popular, as it is believed to hold remains of the Buddha. The white dome is wrapped in a 300 m long orange ribbon. Also dressed in white, a group of volunteers were washing the mildew off the stones, remaining surprisingly clean themselves.


 According to popular belief, this Bo Tree was grown from a cutting of the original indian Bo Tree, under which Buddha attained enlightenment. It is the oldest living human planted tree in the world, dating from 288 BC. Around the terrace on which it grows, many other saplings have been planted, so it feels more like garden than a temple.

end of the year


November sketches on a sunny weekend, the woods in suburb of Mainz and its most important landmark, the Dom as seen from its cloister.


In December, i met up with Birgit to sketch the christmas market, but that failed. Escaped the rain to a café. Then rummaged through Birgits pens and drew the early evening reflections on the cobbles.

After Christmas, Kurze Straße in Göttingen seen from a corner café.

Ambre de Birmanie


It´s too cold for watercolours already so until i fill my waterbrush with vodka, it´s a wash of ink before and after the drawing. This is Würzburg, where they sell mulled wine on the old Bridge over the river main. There are great views towards the Dom and the christmas market as well as the castle in the first sketch.

Wilhelmshöhe


Wilhelmshöhe is a baroque landscape monument in Kassel, Germany. It´s the only thing i ever visit when i´m in Kassel, a city which is not particularly known for being pretty. Is Wilhelmshöhe pretty? It is one of those monumental, slightly ridiculous, neverending projects that european rulers of the 18th century liked to develop in their freetime. In this case, Karl von Hessen- Kassel, and most of his succesors. It is huge, and one can easily spend the entire day walking about, finding cascades, fountains, hidden alcoves, chinese gazebos and artificial ruins.




Paraty


Arriving at Paraty´s Casa de Cultura, some participants were already queuing up for registration. I started drawing the receding tide in the streets, a subject that must have found its way into every sketchbook in Paraty by the end of the symposium.



My first class is by João Catarino on the theme of reflections- we hurry to the river and get started, anxiously glancing towards a darkening sky. The raindrops create an interesting pattern on my painting, but soon the rain drives us to a nearby pousada. It is a lovely, loose approach, and we end the workshop with a lunch of fried maniok by the beach, browsing through sketchbooks.



The next workshop is 180 degrees by Stephanie Bower, on architecture, which i guiltily take because i´m a lazy sketcher who spends little time on preliminary perspective scribbles, just expecting the drawing to work anyway. Sometimes it works, often it doesn´t. Cars are also great for practicing perspective and there are many little gems of old Volkswagen in the streets of Brasil. While i´m painting the beetle by the harbour, the tide comes in and i have to abandon the sketch.



Next is Nina Johansson, teaching us how to influence the mood and impression of a sketch created by simple adjustments to the colour palette and the line character. These exercises result in a gloomy church, and a way more cheerful street scene, though i still tend to ignore the people. Maybe an issue i´ll tackle next year.