Dolphins leaping, long, white sands, rusty rivers, waterfalls, salmon, guiness, sunbathers – hang on a minute – SUNBATHERS! Yes, that’s right, Donegal was hotter than the Costas last week and 10 times more beautiful! It isn’t often that I don’t have to pray, cross fingers and toes and do a fair amount of cosmic ordering for good weather on my Donegal sketching breaks but this time it was a piece of cake.
Seven painters (and one spouse) met up at my place on Sunday evening for three days of sketching on location. I like to choose some of my favourite spots where there is plenty of subject matter to suit all tastes.
Below are a few images from our day at the Glen river

Before they started I asked them to do some quick line drawings showing the flow and direction of the water’s movement and to be aware of how dark the river and river bank actually is despite the bright sunshine.


Pastel sketch – Harry Foy
Pencil and watercolour – Aileen Hull

Charcoal sketch – Kay Cullen

Black pen – Lillian Weatherup

Pastels – Lillian Weatherup



Black pen

Soft pastels – Georgie Lilley

Black pen Joan Hull
At the end of the day we took a trip up to Sliabh Liag to the highest sea cliffs in Europe

and what do you think we found there?

Nothing like a delicious cool ice-cream after a hard day’s sketching in the sun!
Another blog will follow with more of the week’s sketches