One Sketch #153) Madrid 'Titchy ' Bus

First time I saw it
I questioned my eyes
- It's still a great bus
Never mind the size

This is based on a photo I took in Madrid. I was bowled over by these little buses. They're like a ormal bus where they've cut out the middle section of it, and welded the two ends back together. In my head I christened them - El Titchibus. Great for crowded city streets, though.

One Sketch #151) Wednesday 22nd August Alicante Airport Departure Lounge

A metaphor for life,
If you like
We all wait and wait
Hoping to fly.

I did actually make a sketch of Alicante airport when I flew home from Spain last year, and I'm a lot happier with this one. In particular I got really interested in he lady on the left of the foreground, who was desperately searching through her luggage for something. From my vantage point the guy sitting next to her didn't look like a lot of help.

Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

One Sketch #150) Tuesday 21st August El Mixto Restaurant

Chinese, Japanese
Or Espanol?
Ah, the agony
Of Choice

Yes, we were faced with the agony of choice in a restaurant with three separate printed menus - Chinese, Japanese and Spanish. It was literally in the shadow of the hospital. The occasion? John was allowed out of hospital. Hooray!

One Sketch #148) Monday 20th August - Ambulance

Carry me to safety
Carry me from strife
Carry me to hospital
Carry me to life.

The burden of visiting John, and trying to find out what was happening, and when he would be allowed to come home was telling again today. A long story, but basically through a mistake they failed to carry out a long standing procedure - not dangerous but very frustrating. This was parked outside the front of the hospital.

One Sketch #147) Sunday 19th August - San Isidro after Matuesz Urbanowicz

This is not a jokio
When I tell you folkio
That downtown San Isidro
Just doesn't look like Tokyo

I think that I've mentioned the Facebook group Sketching Every Day before now. Well, their prompt for this particular Sunday was to make a sketch in the style of artist and illustrator Mateusz Urbanowicz. He's an artist and illustrator who works and lives in Tokyo, and I really like his work. However, I was staying in San Isidro when I made this sketch, and however you look at it, San Isidro is never going to look like Tokyo. So I said the Japanese characters which - I think - say San Isidro and my name.

One Sketch #146) Saturday 18th August - Catral

A bleak memorial
Somehow it seems so fitting
For a bleak past.

Three sketches all made on Saturday. The middle sketch is the only one done in San Isidro. The right and left hand sketches were made in Catral, a larger town than San Isidro, where we made a quick visit to the market. The middle sketch though shows a rather neglected memorial which is just behind San Isidro railway station. What does it commemorate? Well, the town wasn't originally built until the 1950s. Prior to that the area was the site of a concentration campo where Franco put , well, anyone he felt like. It's a shame to say that the memorial used to have more chains than this - but has been vandalised and some of the chains have been taken.

One Sketch #145) Friday 17th August - House in San Isidro

It is a sleepy little town
But everyone needs sleep.

I didn't want to go on any more excursions while John was still in hospital, so I sketched this house, in the same road as the old chemist. Before he went into hospital John told me that someone in this street had won El Gordo - the big Spanish National Lottery. I don't know whether it was the people in this one, but it's for me by far the nicest house in the street.

One Sketch #144) Thursday 16th August - Elche

Once again
I drink in beauty
While threatening storm clouds
Gather disapprovingly.

Jen wanted to go the hospital by herself on this morning, so I nipped off to the local railway station and took the train into the nearest city, Elche. Elche is actually a world heritage city - not incidentally for the basilica in the sketch above. This, believe it or not, is actually the back of the church. The front is even more impressive, but you just can't get far enough away while in the shade to sketch it.

One Sketch #141) (Monday 13th August) Murcia

I'm never unhappy
And never afraid
Sketching in public
And in the shade

It's the sketch on the right, my friends. This was the day that I took a trip to Murcia, Spain's 7th largest city. This was just a street corner I liked, but it had the inestimable advantage that I was able to sit in the shade and make this sketch.

One Sketch #140) Old Renault Four

I can't say that I've felt before
Much feeling for a Renault Four
And yet this Renault seems quite fun
While baking in the Spanish Sun
A feeling that it's hard to foster
Even on this Spanish Costa
But to this aging Renault car, though
I say my Costa Blanca Bravo!

I actually first saw this car yesterday. I made a mental note, and popped back today. Yes, it was there, hence the sketch. I can't say that I've ever given much thought to the Renault Four previously, but I have to have respect for a car that must be between 40 - 50 years old which is still on the road.

Saturday 11th August One Sketch #139) San Isidro

The town bakes in the morning sun
Time slows to a gentle crawl
As we creep towards siesta.

I ventured out on my own by about 11:30 on Saturday morning, knowing that I had a relatively short window of time before it would become too hot to do absolutely anything at all. I made the quick line and wash sketch of the town , and then went and sat in my favourite public space in San Isidro. Again, it's a place that I've sketched before.
The local train station here is very new, and was only built within the last few years. Now, when they demolished the older station which stood there, they re-erected the platform canopy, and the wall of the station building which faced onto the platform, in a street in the town. I’ve never been there for a performance but I understand that they do have music there sometimes. There are a couple of benches though, and it was pleasant to sit in the shade of the canopy and sketch a couple of the houses opposite. It would have been very pleasant if not for the flies. Both elbows and my right calf copped it from them, and are itching like hell this morning.

Friday 10th August One Sketch #138) The Casa Me Duck

Wherever one wanders
Wherever one roams
Be it ever so humble
There's no place like
Somebody else's home.

This is my in-laws' house in San Isidro, which is a small town in the Alicante area. So called because John is from Leicestershire originally, where I believe 'me duck' is a term of endearment. I sketched the casa last year as well, although that was a watercolour and ink sketch and prominently featured my mother-in-law's Smart Car somewhat to the detriment of the house.