Trains, planes and airports

On my way to Canada I traveled in one week from Hannover to Kassel (where I stop for 3 days), from Kassel to Frankfurt, from Frankfurt to Ottawa and from Ottawa to Saint John's. I miss Germany. The train travel was something I really enjoyed. The German trains are really confortable. I got the opportunity to sketch. The first one is from the restaurant car. I had a tea and sketched between Hannover and Kassel. The second one is from Kassel to the Frankfurt airport. I sat in the cabin with 3 guys that were travelling from Hannover to Munich. In the Frankfurt Airport after checking in for my flight to North America I sat in front of the Star Alliance gate. There were some people from Lufthansa doing the boarding for the flight to Edinburgh as I sat there sketching. Then came my flight to Ottawa. It was a long flight and I managed to sketch something. My last sketch in Ottawa airport was while waiting for my connection flight to St. John's, a little kid was watching the planes landing. I was dead tired, but it was such lovely picture that I had to sketch it.

More dancers

I'm getting very late with my post. I still have many drawings from the UAE and Germany that I still have to post.
Here more from the Hannover Stattsoper Ballet. the first one is a viw from th cvafe in fornt of the Opera house.

Sharjah, UAE

I had heard a lot of good things about Sharjah, but it was not untill the Sharjah Art Bienale started that I decided to paid a visit to the city. Not many people know that Sharjah is the Emirate with the most museums. The culture was always in the interest of the rulers from Sharjah.

I was delighted by the collection of arabistic painters in the art museum. It is a great collection, with beautiful watercolors showing scenes from the past in the middle east. I spent a long time watching carefully these watercolors. They woke in me the desire to go to all those places, to see how are they like today and to paint them again.

Before entering the museum I got distracted by this scene of the boys playing cricket. The indian and pakistani population is very high in the UAE and along with their culture they have also contribute with their love for the cricket. You find people playing cricket in the parks everywhere in the UAE.

The old buildings in the background host the art works for Art Sharjah Bienale exhibition. (You can see that I included the red and blue banners that announces the Bienale) All the elements together: Old buildings, heritage, new modern culture and popular culture are what I always look to portrait in my drawings.

PS: The drawing was done in March before leaving the UAE. I still have many unposted sketches and it is a pity to leave them on the sketchbooks. Some times I open my sketchbooks and feel a little nostalgic watching them.

Dancers

I try to do sketches that tell stories, with a minimal use of line. Dancers are wonderful subjects for sketching. They have a way to move that shows beauty, even when they are relaxing. The dancer's uses his body as a canvas, drawing in every movement.

Sketching in Hannover

Well, Here is me in a bar in Hannover, writing some text about a drawing. I try to write more in my sketch books, cause at the end they are journals, but I'm so lazy and I don't do very often.

As you see I still have my beard. Keeping it have become a difficult task since I have to find a barber in every new place. Of course I could do it myself , but i have to buy a maschine to trim the hair and I have already an overweight luggage. On the other hand I love barbershops, they are great places to sketch; and the seek and find game becomes very interesting. In the UAE a barber was very cheap and a great relaxing experience...in Germany it cost more money and I wanted to find a middle east barber, so I start asking people where can I find a turk barber and finally I landed in the red light district of Hannover. The area is interesting for sketching, quite deserted during the day, except for the barber shop that was full with rough guys. I got my doubts about going in but the owner saw me watching through the window and came out and said there is a place free.

The cut was ok, but not even close to the ones in the UAE. It was done as in a chain...next please.. without much interaction with the barber.. when he finished he told me to wash my face....I did it....but he couldn't close the water from the lavatory... he keep trying till it broke the piece and suddenly we had a fountain in the barbershop... with everybody trying to close it without success....I paid quickly and left.

Sketching in Hanover Staatstheater

I am spending a few days in Hanover and sketching the ballet company form the Staatstheater. There is great beauty in the dance and I'm confronted with the limits of sketching being unable to catch the movement. I get frozen moments, fragments of bigger picture. However funny is you see all the sketches together you start feeling what is going on there. I'm experimenting a lot, trying to understand the best way (or ways) to portrait a ballet. Degas of course is a great reference. Here a few of the sketches I did yesterday.

airmalta cat-muc

airmalta cat-muc, originally uploaded by omar.paint.

flying to Munich