#onthedraw in La Palma - Canary Islands
*Winner of a Silver Bell for 'Illustration' at ICAD2015
*Winner - 3x3mag Awards 2015
I was one of 7 illustrators invited by the Canaries tourism board to fly to Teneriffe. At a press conference we were each given an Island, a local guide (who was also an illustrator), a sketchbook and a hash tag, #onthedraw. The mission: to raise awakens of our islands through social media by sketching and tweeting our way across the island over 6 days - then return home to create 6 illustrated posters - the posters and sketchbooks formed part of a traveling group exhibition.
For each of the 6 days I was driven around the island meeting locals and visiting some of the main tourism attractions and some of the secret places only the locals know about. I met producers of salt, goats cheese and wine. I visited the World's largest optical telescope on top of a vocano, a cigar factory turned in to a museum, I was taken on tours of churches, vin yards and a medieval holy spring. We went to beaches, ancient forests and walked on solidified lava flows and everywhere we went we tasted incredible local food. All through this I was sketching and tweeting both drawings and photos using the hash tag #onthedraw. When I returned to Ireland I selected what I beleived were the 5 most interesting places to illustrate plus I had to create one poster that would represent the Island as a whole.
My guide was a very talented local illustrator, Victor Jaubert and Kevin was our translator.
My guide was a very talented local illustrator, Victor Jaubert and Kevin was our translator.
You can find out more about the project at www.onthedraw.travel
Press Launch in Teneriffe
Mads Berg, Steve Simpson, Jens Magnusson, Ben Heine, Malika Favre, Ekaterina Koroleva, Paula Bonet
Mine and Victor's tool box:))
La Palma - La Isla Bonita / The beautiful Island
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Santa Cruz de la Plama
I love nothing more than sitting outside a cafe in the sun (more often the shade) with my sketchbook and a good coffee (or sometimes a beer). The capital of La Palma, Santa Cruz, was full of such opportunities.
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Fuente Santa - Holy Spring
It was a fortuitous time to visit La Palma, The Holy Spring at Fuente Santa was being opened to the public for the first time since it was covered by lava and volcanic eruptions over 300 years ago. On a guided tour, and wearing hard hats, we were taken along passageways excavated through the rock to see the rediscovered thermal springs. Although we weren't able to bathe in them, I did manage to give my left foot a dip:)
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Gran TeCan
We took a 1 hour drive up the steepest roads to vist the The Gran Telescopio Canarias 'Canaries Great Telescope', sited on a volcanic peak 2,267 metres (7,438 ft) above sea level. As night fell on a moonless sky we could clearly see the Milky Way and shooting stars. Around midnight we were given a tour of the massive 10m telescope, truly a once in a life time experience.
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San Pedro
Cigar Museum in San Pedro
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Porís de Candelaria
We spent a whole day at PorIs de Candelaria, a old fishing village situated under an enormous overhanging cliff used by locals as a weekend get away. Berto, our host, prepared the best Paella ever over a BBQ, washed down with some incredible home made red wine - an amazing day :))
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Veintiochoymedio presented an old suitcase with 35 illustrations, 7 posters, 13 sketchbooks (and my hat:)
to the Promotur who will organise the exhibition in Novemeber 2014
November 3 - 9 ‘Canvas Studios’ in Shoreditch
Victor and myself also decorated this hat as we travelled :)))
