Saturday, 14 April 2018

One Sketch #19) Laisves Aleja and Coelocanth (Friday 13th April)


Yes, I'm sorry but I honestly can't decide which of my two favourite sketches of the day I wanted to include, so there are two on this post. 
Now, I did think about taking the train into Vilnius on this, Friday 13th.  However the options were trains at 9:15 – too early – and 12:35. Bearing in mind that I think it takes a good hour there and another one back, I didn’t think that would leave me enough time to do anything very worthwhile or meaningful in Vilnius, so I scratched the idea. 
This left me the question of what to do for another day in Kaunas. Google maps came in very handy for this. I wish I’d had the sense to look at this on Wednesday to be honest with you. I decided that I hadn’t yet visited any museums, and so that had to be put onto the itinerary. We’ll get to that. Once in Kaunas town centre I headed for a huge, white, art deco church on top of the hill overlooking the town. This is the Church of Christ’s Resurrection. 
Back down the hill then, to do a wee bit more painting in Liesvas Aleja. Here I had my first conversation with a passer-by. He sat down just as I was finishing, and when I replied to what he said with my usual shoulder shrug and “Sorry – I’m English”, he started a conversation . His English wasn’t, it must be said, completely intelligible, whether through a lack of vocabulary, or from the alcoholic fumes wafting from his breath, I couldn’t be sure. I think he said that the UK are crazy, and it’s America for him. You’re welcome, I said. I made my apologies and left. 

I'm just really pleased with this , since it’s the first time I’ve ended up with an urban sketch that looks like the kind of sketches I admire when I see other people do them. Even if I did leave a couple of windows unfinished in my haste to get away from Chatty Von Boozebreath.
Museums, then. Handily placed on the Liesvas Aleja is the Zoological Museum. Now, if you like stuffed animals, this is the place for you. Look, I kind of expect that from a Natural History Museum sort of thing, but I did think the room full of mounted stags heads and antlers was taking the pee. I did make a sketch of a coelacanth. Childhood memories of watching Sir David of Attenborough’s “Life on Earth” demanded no less.


They call you a Living Fossil
From where I stood, you looked
More fossil
Than Living

* To see ALL of my Kaunas Sketches , use the link on the right to visit my sister blog, Sketching Around Europe

No comments:

Post a Comment

Catching Up . . .

Been a while, hasn't it?  Don't worry, I haven't given up sketching. No, I just haven't got round to posting anything. Now, ...