city

by

Senate square, Helsinki

Senate square, Helsinki
I kept being interrupted by heavy downpours that almost washed away this drawing. I opened my umbrella and switched to water-proof markers.

Most of the buildings on the square were designed by Carl Ludvig Engel, all in the neoclassical style.

I love this square because it exemplifies the forces that shape a city. On its four side are:
1) The Church
2) The University
3) The Senate
4) A mixed bag of commerce: Shops, a bank, a café that also shows art movies (one of my favourites, but now closed for renovation). The mayor’s residence is squeezed a bit on the side, and there used to be a police station, but they got bumped.

– And The Czar in the middle of the square.

I’ll get some more sketches done later when the tourist buses leave…

Sketchbook Helsinki August 26, 2010_1

Yes, it’s a huge ferryboat behind the building. It’s bigger than the buildings in the old town.  They cross the Baltic between Helsinki and Stockholm daily.

by

Travel Sketchbook 2010: Tallinn

Drawn from the boat between Helsinki and Tallinn.
Luckily there’s still time for a long weekend away.

Tallinn old town, seen from Toompea ramparts.

Tallinn is just two hours away from Helsinki, but it’s another world. An older and in many ways more cultured city, full of history.  No city in Finland has managed to keep its medieval center intact, and Helsinki is a new town, mostly built in the 19th -20th century.

Alexander Nevsky cathedral (1894-1900).

Done in watercolour from a sidewalk café in Tallinn.

by

Sketchbook Rotterdam 1985



Sketchbook Rotterdam 1985, originally uploaded by Brin d’Acier.

I started taking a sketchbook with me when traveling.
This one was done with aquarelle pencils and gesso from the window of a house we stayed at in Rotterdam. It was my teacher who had recommended adding gesso to my brush to tone down the colours of watercolour pencils.