Teinture

 and on a windy, sandy afternoon we dyed cloth with the help of Fatimata.

Markez Le Lehsera

Mariem with fingerless gloves doing the hem of a handmade carpet of natural fibers and leather typical of this region. You can see photos of the carpets at Sinaa as we exhibited the carpets during the month of September.

Matys and the African masks

 Thanks to Matis I went to france on a short holiday.
He had visited the African exhibition at the Musée d'Aquitaine in Bordeaux and he was so impressed he phoned his oncle in Mauritania to tell him about it and asking if he could go over to see it.

Great exhibition made mostly of collector pieces.

Oysters and landscapes of France

 On a short visite to France my partner and I were invited to visit a friend for lunch in the charming fishing village of Port de Barques in the Charente Maritime.

 I was very impressed with the Carrelets,  a square net locals use to fish shrimps from small huts on stilts...beautiful.
And nicer but in a different way was the enormous plate of oysters our friend served us for lunch, délicieux, merci ma copine.

 But the oysters you see above are not the ones from my friend but the ones my sister in law got us the  day after. We all drove to Port de la Guittiére  to buy them. Another small village with superb views.

Unspoiled nature in this region along the Atlantique coast.

Sleeping at airports

Lisbon Portraits

Sketches of Lisbon

 Only the tram is missing from the view from my Hotel Borges window and as someone said we were paying for location not even internet connection was free shame on you.

 An open air free concert seen after having dinner with sketchers from all over the world.

The worse of a city, when the wheels take over the place that should belong to walkers, workshop with João Manuel Ramos during the Symposium.

Card players, old and young

 Jardim Principe Real

 card players in the jardim

card players in the train

The Urbansketchers Symposium at Lisbon came and went in a cloud of excitement and sharing. 

Sharing of drawings, tips and tools, find out more here and here.

I needed a quiet day with no people around me just to try and take in all those days were people that loved drawing were together to share their knowledge and skills with other people that loved drawing and were there to share their knowledge and skills. And that's how it went for three full days, there were no better or worse just different ways of looking and documenting the world around.

For that last day in Lisbon I chose the gardens of Principe Real because of its centenary trees. The card players were a happy discovery even if they were reluctant at the beginning to let me sketch them some finally agreed and I didn't sketch the grumpy ones. But when they saw it finished they loved it and thought it was something out of old times.

The funny thing is that the same day in the train taking me to the south a bunch of young Italians sat in the train's bar and started playing cards, they didn't mind at all that I sketched them and they loved the result even if I had to leave it half way as I had reached my station.

Sketching in Lisbon

 Kolovrat 79  a beautiful shop in Principe Real.

Rua do Século

 Old rubber tree at Principe Real

Old pine tree at Principe Real supported by an iron structure.

Mauritanian music for my exhibition in Lisbon

Today I met Chris from Sahelsounds ( a blog you should visit if you like music). He did a sample of musical field recordings that I will play during my exhibition at the Paula Cabral Art Gallery .
See previews post for more details. Opening night friday 8 of July at 7 pm, all welcome !!!
There will be electric guitar music, bird sounds, road sounds, Koranic recitation and people speaking as the musicians play at a wedding. For us who live in Mauritania this music represents the sounds of the country.