Pen | The Daily Norm

Jan 6

My travel sketchbook: Canal View, Venice

It seems like a longtime has passed since the halcyon days of summer were upon us, and indeed it was. For the entire season of autumn has passed since then, and the leaves of the summer’s luscious green branches have all but fallen. And yet that was the last time I opened my travel sketchbook, at least until Venice came.

For Venice is a renowned artist’s paradise, a utopia whose every turn and corner provides a sensational new detail to inspire a creator’s hand. My trip this Christmas past was sadly short (but sweet), and neither the duration nor the temperatures allowed for me to spend much time sitting in one of the city’s many stunning squares or canal sides sketching all of the beauty which was before me. But there was time enough to capture this view, especially since it was the vista we were lucky enough to enjoy from our hotel bedroom. And thus while we rested from the day’s adventures, I sketched. And this is the result.

Canal view, Venice (2015 ©Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2016. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. For more information on the work of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, head to his art website at www.delacybrown.com

Sep 16

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My travel sketchbook: Plaza de Santo Cristo, Marbella

Of the many pages now full of pen-drawings in my sketchbook, a hefty percentage show Mediterranean city squares, usually with a fountain in the middle. Last week I featured my sketch of the Plaza de la Victoria in Marbella, and this week continues the trend with the Plaza de Santo Cristo, which can be found a mere 5 minute stroll away in the same pretty Casco Antiguo (old town) of Marbella. Why I have such an obsession with sketching these squares remains ever clear to me. In the streets you discover a quaint atmosphere, but in these little cobbled plazas, you find all that and more – the trickle of water from a central fountain, the grandeur of bigger buildings reserved for these show-piece plazas, and a panoply of plants and flowers giving shade to the locals who gather there.

All of these features can be found in the Plaza de Santo Cristo, which features one of Marbella’s most iconic little churches, a flamenco club, mountain view, and of course a fountain at its centre. But perhaps what I love most of all in the square is the relationship between the long bendy palms set against the typically Andalucian white-washed walls of the church. Magnificent.

Plaza de Santo Cristo, Marbella (2015 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown 2000-2015. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included on this website without express and written permission from Nicholas de Lacy-Brown is strictly prohibited. For more information on the work of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, head to his art website at www.delacybrown.com

Sep 9

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My travel sketchbook: Plaza de la Victoria, Marbella

The next page of my sketchbook to have its day in the limelight is another sketch from my recent trip to Marbella, this time depicting the Plaza de la Victoria in Marbella’s Casco Antiguo. Nestled besides the famous Plaza de los Naranjos, and filled with trees and foliage, it is a real highlight of Marbella’s quaint Andalucian old town. But it is perhaps the fountain at its centre which gives the square its real character, and sitting at a little cafe serving crispy churros and coffee beside it, I was able to enjoy this perfect vantage point. You can even see the cafe’s popular churros sneaking into the sketch on the left. Ah… the halcyon days of summer.

Plaza de la Victoria, Marbella (2015 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2015. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Aug 26

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My travel sketchbook: One-armed lady

There was an awful lot I could have sketched when I was recently in Malaga. It wasn’t just that I was inspired to paint the landscape interpretation I went on to create shortly after our return, but I also felt the need to flip open my sketchbook and capture the captivating elements of the city. And I didn’t need to look much further than the view from my hotel, the Molina Lario, to find inspiration.

For the rooftop of the hotel is easily its best attraction. With a little pool and poolside bar, the roof allows you to splash around to your heart’s content with the most stunning city view as your backdrop. In fact the view had inspired me before, when last year I created a mixed-technique etching and woodcut print of the view. But not content with that, I decided to return to the same inspiration, focusing in on Malaga’s famously unfinished single-towered cathedral for inspiration. And here is the result. The latest page of my travel sketchbook, all with pen.

Malaga Cathedral, detail (2015 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2015. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. For more information on the work of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, head to his art website at www.delacy-brown.com

May 25

Mallorca Sketchbook: The beach at Banyalbufar

It’s got to be one of the best town names on the island: Banyalbufar, a name which perfectly recalls Mallorca’s rich historical past; the Moorish heritage which laid down the first mountain paths, sophisticated waterways and impressive palaces, and the people who masterfully tamed the inhospitable mountain slopes with agricultural terraces and dry stone walls. It was in the course of exploring and photographing those iconic coastal terraces that my partner and I recently came across Banyalbufar which, owing to its perilous coastal location, more than benefits from its fair share of Moorish terraces. But instead of exploring the town, we decided to head for its far more inaccessible beach instead, taking the countless steps and steep slopes down to the rocky water’s edge.

The terraces around Banyalbufar

The beach was not the most beautiful I have ever seen, but it certainly had its charms, not least in its sloping boat platform loaded with small vessels ready for their launch directly into the crystal clear waters, and it was these charms which inspired me to open up my sketchbook, and start making a little drawing of the beach in my favourite sketching medium: a staedtler liner pen. This is the result.

The beach at Banyalbufar (2015 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen and ink on paper)

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2015. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. For more information on the work of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, head to his art website at www.delacy-brown.com

Apr 24

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My travel sketchbook: Ibiza Town

Ibiza’s charms not only manifested themselves in the photography i featured on The Daily Norm on Wednesday but in a little artwork too. For despite long working hours and a lot of time out and about, I occasionally returned to my hotel before nightfall and one such late afternoon return was accompanied by a precious sunset which sunk over the island’s famous Dalt Vila. This area – the old town of Ibiza’s capital – is the very antithesis of the club scene for which the island is better renowned – a historical citadel clustered around a domineering hill all set within mighty great ancient walls and crowned with a cathedral on top. It was this ancient view that I was lucky enough to enjoy from my hotel, and I could not help but open up my travel sketchbook to capture the old town, in the late afternoon sun, before I got back down to work.

Ibiza Town (2015 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, pen on paper)

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2015 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.