Inktober 2017: day twenty two
Just a short sketching opportunity this morning before I fly back to the UK.
Excalibur from the Luxor pyramid
A peaceful Sunday morning at the Luxor tram stop
Inktober 2017: Day nineteen
I’m at Horseshoe Bend, Arizona and it’s raining, which makes it feel like Symonds Yat in the UK.
Whilst I sketch, a Chinese woman asks my partner to take her picture. She gradually edges towards me, until eventually, she squats down right next to me, puts her arm around my shoulder, and grins for the camera. She doesn’t look at me, or talk to me. Now that never would have happened in the Forest of Dean.
Another trippy ink moment
Look no vertigo!
A quick stop at the Glen Canyon Dam. 15 feet shy of the Hoover dam.
Then just before Zion National Park, the Buffalo came.
Inktober 2017: day fifteen
It’s Sunday, so it must be time for the Arches omnibus.
I begin with Delicate Arch.
I am Boba Fett perched at the Great Pit of Carcoon, and the Sarlacc is belching below me. At least it feels that way as I sit clinging to my rucksack and ink pots, terrified my sketchbook, or me, will slide down the 45 degree slope and into the sheer drop below.
It may be the altitude, or the heat, or the prospect of death, but when I stand, I have a major attack of the vertigos.
Can’t believe I stood under the arch for the money shot and an hour later I’m clinging to the rock with my head spinning!
Next up, a touch of sedate pen work down in the valley.
That’s Delicate Arch again from down below
One arch isn’t enough for me, so next up, Double Arch.
Yesterday was all chipmunks and vultures. Today lizards, deer and a skunk in the middle of the road!
Inktober 2017: day 12
Good morning Las Vegas!
The high roller at the Linq
Slowly baking as the sun gets higher.
Looking north towards the Stratosphere Tower and the Wynn
Totally toasted by 3pm!
Flamingoes and Daquiris are all you need
Inktober 2017: day eight part 2
One of the first things you see when you hit the tarmac at McCarran airport is the sheer, golden sheen of the Mandalay Bay hotel, looming over the jet black pyramid of the Luxor.
Normally I would have my sketchbook out, desperately putting down some lines, but right then, it’s too sobering. It would be impossible to be here without mentioning and feeling for the people involved in, and impacted by the recent mass shooting.
Over the next week, I’ll try to capture Vegas as I see it.
I circle through sprawling, dim lit Casinos and out into the blinding sunshine, face to two face with two women in leather hot pants, brandishing whips. It’s pretty clear that life in Sin City, goes on.
I start with Paris, which I last sketched in the flesh in 2014. Midway, a couple ask me to take their picture. I do.
Then on to the Bellagio fountains, where Fleetwood Mac and Phil Collins pound out to a techno beat.
The fountains spring into action to the tune of ‘Gad bless Amer-i-caw’ and I have 15 minutes to sketch them.
Midway, a man asks if he can take a picture. Now this is not unusual. I stood sketching at the top of Gornergrat mountain in Switzerland, whilst literally, a train load of tourists shoved long lensed cameras between me and my page, some ruthlessly diving in, others smiling and gesticulating thanks. I don’t usually mind and if someone asks, I usually let them, but my body thinks it’s 1:30am, I’m tired, and I don’t fancy it. ‘I’d rather you didn’t’ I say politely, he tries again, I say the same. He walks around the other side of me and tries again (bear in mind I have only 15 minutes) ‘no’ I say, ‘but it’s for me’ he says. I raise an eyebrow and carry on sketching.
It’s 7pm in Vegas, but my body thinks it’s 3am. I’m standing alone on the strip in Las Vegas, sketching the iconic Flamingo. Midway, a man asks me if I might have any idea where the Uber pick up point is. It’s time to sleep.
Inktober 2017: day seven
I always find sketching inspiration at Caffé Nero in the Brighton Lanes. It’s a great people watching spot, so it was an obvious choice for today’s Inktober, urban sketch.
Tomorrow…the road to Las Vegas.
Caffe Nero today
Here’s a little Nero montage from the archives.
Black Lion Street from Nero 2012
Nero 2013
Nero 2016
Nero 2017
Black Lion Street from Nero 2017
Black Lion Steet from Nero 2017
© Claire Moore and cmoorelife, 2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Claire Moore and cmoorelife with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Inktober 2017: day five
Hanover is an area of Brighton and Hove known for it’s colourful houses and hilly streets. Short of time again today, I did the pen work for my Inktober sketch in a few minutes, whilst I waited for my fish and chips at the Cod Father.
The colour was added at home in about 10 minutes, shortly followed by an ink-saster all over the carpet! I’ll never leave the lid off an ink pot again. Still it was great to do a bit of brush work and it is a lovely shade of green!
© Claire Moore and cmoorelife, 2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Claire Moore and cmoorelife with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Inktober 2017: day four
Two quick urban sketches of the leaning tower of Patcham as sunset loomed.
© Claire Moore and cmoorelife, 2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Claire Moore and cmoorelife with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Inktober 2017: day three
The University of Brighton Cockcroft and Watts buildings
I carry my sketching kit with me everywhere, so I usually keep things minimal. For Inktober I’ve gone deluxe and invested in a sack of Faber-Castell Pitt pens, they are a dream to use on a Moleskine sketchbook, super smooth!
Today I lugged my kit up the hill behind Moulsecoomb station, where there is a great view over Brighton and Hove. I managed to just squeeze in the i360 viewing tower on the far right.
A sample of the Inktober kit
My usual kit
© Claire Moore and cmoorelife, 2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Claire Moore and cmoorelife with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Memories, Massacres and Muggles
Vintage 2006
I last visited Coire Gabhail (The Lost Valley) on a tranquil day in May 2006. Following directions my brother had scribbled on a scrap of paper, we arrived at a deserted car park as the mist silently lifted from the Glen.
Looking towards A’Chailleach
Up to that point, drawing was just something I did to pass time when I visited my parents at Christmas. I had a small, slightly weird collection of pencil ‘still lives’ – odd shoes, misshapen candles, a Swedish Christmas gnome etc. Sometimes I’d bring a sketch pad and pencil on holiday, but it generally stayed unused in my bag. However, this time, it was so quiet that I plucked up courage, pulled out my pad and captured the view.
Eleven years later, I’ve overcome my shyness of sketching in public and discovered the joy of pen, watercolour and properly bound sketchbooks. So, armed with Google maps, I was desperate to recreate this special moment.
Sadly, the first attempt had to be aborted, as all the car parks were full of tour buses, tripods and people flying drones. The Lost Valley, it appeared, was no longer quite so lost. Not a wasted journey though, we parked further up the pass and walked the path to Buachaille Etive Beag. Time for a quick sketch looking towards A’Chailleach, shrouded in shadow, whilst we basked in the sunshine.
Castle Campbell, previously know as Castle Gloom
Oban
That evening, seduced by fish and chips in Oban, I persuaded my ever patient partner that it would be worth making a second attempt the next day. With an early start from Dollar, a belly full of coffee and gorgeous weather, the mission was accomplished before lunch, I even managed a bracing dip in the icy stream below the valley.
The Lost Valley
Glenfinnan Viaduct
I found out later, that there is a grim irony in setting out from the shadows of Castle Campbell in Dollar to The Lost Valley. In February 1692, this idyllic place provided one of the escape routes for the MacDonald clan during the brutal massacre of Glencoe by the Campbell soldiers, under the orders of William of Orange.
Finally (and slightly inappropriately after that serious note) in a blatant attempt to get more hits on my blog, the evening ended at the Glennfinnan viaduct, made famous in the Harry Potter films and now featured on the Scottish £10 note.
The Wallace Monument
To make up for that, I also sketched the Wallace monument.
cmoorelife 