‘DRINK & DRAW', or rather ‘TASTE & DRAW’

luxemburg riesling tasting

I am blessed with a wine loving husband, but not with delicate taste buds. So when we were invited to join a select club of wine tasters in Luxemburg, I agreed on the condition that I could sketch while tasting.

We meet once every six weeks or so. The host couple chooses a specific wine region, grape or label and every couple brings one bottle in a price range from 5 to 30 euro. It is a ‘horizontal’ and blind tasting, during which all the aspects of the wine are discussed and noted: appearance, aroma, in-mouth-sensations and aftertaste. At the end the one who brought the winning wine receives a little award.

aloxe-corton wine tasting, luxemburg...and the winner is: aloxe-corton premier cru 'les valozières' 2005

I love the terminology: leathery, tar, stewed prunes, chocolate, liquorice, roses, prunes, bramble fruits, earthy, smoky, wet wool, petrol... But I quickly lose track and then I start to observe and try to sketch my fellow tasters. I always spit the wine in a spittoon, but is true that some alcohol can loosen up the sketches!

south american chardonnay wine tasting

south american chardonnay wine tasting: taking notes

saint-joseph (rhone) wine tasting

alentejo white wine tasting: looking, tasting, thinking

alentejo white wine tasting: smelling, tasting and taking notes


Adding some colour to the wine!



malbec wine tasting, luxemburg: the winner is catena alta 2011





vacqueyras wine tasting, luxemburg, and the winner is: les halos de jupiter 2010

Once in a while the wine tasting club goes on a little wine trip to a famous wine region. Last weekend we celebrated the 20th anniversary of the club with a trip to the nearby Alsace wine region, where we visited some remarkable producers:

Bernard Weber tasting





Réné Boehler tasting



Here a link to our Piemonte trip in 2015.

And here  you can see the whole collection of my wine tasting sketches PLUS some useful information about lesser known wines, and even more useful, the winning wines...

February Sketchcrawl

Hello dear sketchers,

Since the cold still bites too much, we will find refuge at the LuxExpo for our meeting of February.

We'll have plenty of choice of subject between the Antiques and Art Fair and the Wine Salon.

Let's meet at the entrance of the LuxExpo (Kirchberg) at 14:00 this Sunday 5 February 2017.

See you on Sunday!

Belated accounts

I have been remiss with publishing my sketches form the last Urban Sketchers' sketchcrawls, so here they are now.

In December we went to the Christmas market, which is slowly becoming a tradition of ours.

The Christmas market in the capital has grown a lot over the years an can now boast three main locations. This time I focused on the small ice skating rink on Place Guillaume II. The day was wonderfully sunny and the rink was full of people.

A mulled wine at a nearby café surrounded by friends were the perfect end to a lovely aftenoon.

In January we went to the Mudam. I was very pleasantly surprised at the big turnout: 17 people came to sketch with us this time!

It was the last day of the Wim Delvoye exhibit, an artist that has already been shown at the Mudam several years ago. Here are a few of his works. Tattooed pigs (I have mixed feelings about them, but they looked so friendly I couldn't resist sketching them).

One of his Cloaca machines.

I'm not sure these metal trees were part of his exhibit but I really liked this view, specially with two of my fellow sketchers in the background.

Sketching at the Mudam

Amazing turnout at our last sketchcrawl in the Mudam museum! 17 sketchers, old friends and new came to start the year on a merry note.

Place Guillaume patinoire de Noel

Ce dimanche 4 décembre 2016 je retrouvais avec plaisir les Urban Sketchers que je n'avais pas pu accompagner le mois dernier. Comme chaque hiver, nous nous retrouvons à la place d'Armes pour croquer le marché de Noël. Mais ces manifestations ne se concentrent plus, depuis quelques années, seulement sur la place d'Armes. Nous nous sommes donc éparpillés entre la place d'Armes avec le marché de Noël traditionnel, la place Guillaume avec sa patinoire éphémère et la place de la Constitution avec la grande roue qui partage le ciel avec la Gëlle Fra.

Comme j'étais tentée de raviver mes souvenirs d'enfance sportive, j'ai plutôt choisi la place Guillaume. Sans difficulté j'ai résisté à la tentation de m'aventurer sur la piste, et me suis bien bravement contentée de saisir du regard, et du pinceau le joyeux brouhaha dérapant sous les yeux mi-réjouis, mi-inquiets des spectateurs. Les exclamations s'échappant des tenues emmitouflantes bigarrées méritaient la couleur. L'aquarelle c'était pour le "sport", histoire d'oser aussi quelque chose devant tant d'audace de la part des patineurs.

Nous n'avons pas fait durer la congélation des doigts trop longtemps et, le Kaale Kaffi étant complet, nous nous sommes retrouvés au Friquet's au rez-de-chaussée de l'Hôtel Beaux-Arts devant des boissons chaudes. Le beau pull de Carlo me rappelait les sports d'hiver en famille. Bavardages feutrés entre compagnons sketchers et la traditionnelle photo groupée de la récolte d'esquisses.

 


Encore un bon dimanche convivial.

January sketchcrawl

Hello dear sketchers,

Happy new Year 2017, full of joy and many sketches!

For the first sketchcrawl of the year, let's meet at the entrance of the Mudam (Kirchberg) at 14:00 this Sunday 8 January 2017.

See you on Sunday!

A sunny, freezing afternoon at the Christmas Market

For the last years the Luxemburg Christmas Market has been the traditional meeting point for our December sketchcrawl. This year it was freezing with a bright blue sky. We were quite a big group this time - welcome to the newcomers!

Warmly dressed with gloves and hats we explored the different places of sketching interest: the colourful stalls at the Place d’Armes and the Place de la Consitiution, and the skating ring at the Place Guillaume. I tried to capture the clumsy movements of some inexperienced skaters:

A band of musicians dressed as Father Christmas braved the cold to keep us company:

When sketching became impossible due to frozen fingers and toes we went for a hot drink. Our favourite bar ‘Kaale Kaffi’ was too crowded for our group, but we went to a bar next door to warm up, take the' family photo', drink + draw, and enjoy the company of fellow-sketchers.

Carlo with a Norwegian patterned sweater

December Sketchcrawl-Luxemburg

Despite cold, I manage to make one drawing!

Thank you so much Beliza for the fun!! It is always such a pleasure to be part of this incredible group!!

Looking forward for the next one!!

A journey through time at the Tramsmusée

When you look at old photos of Luxembourg-City you may be surprised at finding out that there used to be trams all over the city. Unfortunately they were completely removed in the 1960s in favour of buses, which were more fashionable and more economical at that time. I love trams, so I can't help feeling that the city lost part of its character in favour of being more mainstream and modern.

So it was with some curiosity that I participated to latest urban sketching session organised by LUCA at the museum of public transportation, commonly known as "Tramsmusée".

In a small room, you can go through the evolution of public transport in Luxembourg, with one example of electric tram, horse tram, tram coach, bus, etc. on display. There was even a bus just like the old school buses that used to take me to highschool. The common colour to all is a dark, almost indigo, blue with creamy yellow borders.

Nowadays there is not just one colour of bus. Depending on the model, the operating company and even possible advertising they can range from white to red to rainbow-coloured and the occasional old-fashioned dark blue reminiscent of the ancient trams. 

 

At the moment there are construction sites all over the city, the biggest project being... to reintroduce trams to replace a big part of the buses. They say that only idiots don't change their minds, but I find it a pity that we lost the historic trams and their charm, which cannot really be replaced by modern models. 

 

It would be quaint to see a few old rickety trams run through the city, like Lisbon and its yellow trams. Maybe they will use the old carriages on special occasions. I would definitely be in line to take a ride in one of them.

December sketchcrawl

Hello dear sketchers,

For our December sketchcrawl, let's go sketch at the Christmas market in Luxembourg city.

If the weather is too bad, we will find refuge in one of the cafés in the centre.

Let's meet in front of the Cercle Cité (Place d'Armes) at 14:00 this Sunday 4 December 2015.

Don't forget your gloves, scarves and anything that can help to fight the cold ;)

See you on Sunday!

USK + LUCA at the Luxembourg Trammusee

It was a great session last Saterday afternoon at the Tram Museum of Luxembourg with a nice group of fellow sketchers.

November colours

For our November Sketchcrawl we met at the Notre Dame cemetery in Limpertsberg, Luxemburg.

With its beautifully carved tombstones and funerary sculptures it is a place of meditation and calm. And especially in November, after the visits of the families, the chrysanthemums, the autumn colours and the monuments make for an interesting painting palette.

We were happy to welcome two new members, Nico and Manon (our youngest urban sketcher).

We were lucky that it did not rain, but there was a cold wind and you could feel snow in the air even if it was only the beginning of November. But the November light was beautiful, so we were courageous and we sketched for about an hour in the cemetery.

We made the traditional ‘family photo’ of our sketchbooks:

With the cemetery as background it has a special melancholic ring to it:

Here are my own sketches - I focused on the ‘Angel of Grief’, a replica of the Rome sculpture by the American sculptor William Wetmore Story.

Afterwards we went for a hot drink in the Hitch on the Glacis. When our fingers and toes were warm again we could go on sketching in a drink&draw session!

Manon sketching

Maria Grazia

Nico

November sketchcrawl

Hello dear sketchers,

For this November's sketchcrawl, we will explore the Limpertsberg area and its cemetery in particular.

After the visits of families on 1 November, it will be the occasion to discover the location in a different light.

Let's meet in front of cinema Utopia on the avenue de la Faïencerie in Limpertsberg on Sunday 6th November at 14:00.

Don't forget to wear warm clothes and bring mittens or gloves!

See you on Sunday!

Vide-greniers place Guillaume II le 2 octobre 2016

C'était une grande joie de retrouver notre groupe d'Urban Sketchers après la rentrée pour se balader entre les tentes et étals de ce vide-greniers sur la place Guillaume II. Le temps automnal hésitait encore entre un vague rayon de soleil et une petite pluie. Nous ne nous sentions pas très courageux pour braver longtemps les éléments, donc une petite heure pour récolter des impressions et faire le point si on continue en plein air ou à l'abri.
Je me suis confortablement installée en haut des escaliers de la mairie, pour avoir une vue d'ensemble et être à l'abri des courants d'air.  J'avais envie d'exprimer l'ambiance colorée des tables et présentoirs qui défiait l'incertitude du temps…mais je me suis trop attardée sur la mine de plomb, et voilà:

…un peu terne!… mais il y a tout de même un des lions de Trémont et plus loin Guillaume II qui tente  sur son cheval de dominer la place et de concurrencer les grues du chantier en cours.
Finalement, nous avons opté pour un cocooning au Kaale Kaffi autour d'une boisson chaude.
Là, je ne voulais pas rater la couleur et le savant désordre alentour…j'ai peut-être exagéré et étouffé Marianne et Veronica sous les contrastes colorés de cet univers bariolé. 

C'était un beau dimanche de plus.

October sketchcrawl

Hello dear sketchers,

For our October sketchcrawl, let's visit the vide-grenier in Luxembourg city.

Weather permitting, we will be able to sketch visitors and exhibitors on the Guillaume II square. We can always take refuge on one of the surrounding cafés if needed.

Let's meet in front of Cercle Cité on the Place d'Armes on Sunday 2nd October at 14:00.

See you soon and don't forget your pencils! :)