Georg Fischer

Unfinished sketch from this morning.

Georg Fischer (abbreviated +GF+) is a Swiss manufacturer of piping systems for water treatment and corrosion fluids, as well as oil and gas markets. +GF+ is a multinational corporation with 120 facilities around the world, 12,500 employees and US$ 4 billion in sales per year. The company's origins go back to 1802 when Johann Conrad Fischer (1773–1854) bought a mill in the Mühlental valley near Schaffhausen, Switzerland and developed a copper smelting works.

Cooling off in the Rhine

After a very long and very hot day R and I went to cool off at the Rhine today. It felt like the hottest day yet and the Rhine must have reached a steady temperature of 24°C by now.

I had a wonderful time sketching and hanging my feet into the water.

Niklausenplatz

I have just returned from the 4th International Urban Sketching Symposium, which was fantastic but did not quite go the way I would have liked it to. 

Early on, I just did not feel well, sleep well, and eventually I needed to stay in bed because of a fever. So, I might devote a blog post to the Symposium, but if I dont - that is the reason and I hope you understand. I attended the workshops I wanted to take (except two), and I am incredibly grateful in spite of all that didn't go according to plan. 

With all that new knowledge and understanding that I could gain over those three days, I ventured out  in my neighbourhood today to do a sketch and apply some of what I learned.

It was a lovely sunny evening and I thought I had picked a really nice spot to settle down for a while to sketch, but soon all sorts of bugs were crawling on my arms and legs, and there was no way I could avoid them.

Thankfully I was distracted enough by the "Words" episode from Radiolab, a podcast that James Gurney recently shared as one of the things he listens to during work. I have listened to a couple of episodes from that podcast, and it's highly informative and entertaining at the same time. "Words" was especially interesting from a linguistic point of view, which is what I studied at unversity. 

So there, go and listen to it! :-)

I used 3 Daniel Smith watercolor tube colors: Ultramarine Blue, Alizarin Crimson and Aureolin Yellow and a A4 Moleskine watercolor sketchbook.

In other news, I am starting a new job tomorrow, so it's bedtime for me now. Fingers crossed!

Reichenbach Fall

Yesterday was devoted to all things Sherlock and the Reichenbach Fall.

I hoped to be joined by Stjepan and Birgit, but Birgit could not make it due to other travel commitments. Bon voyage Birgit!

It was worth the one way 3 hour train ride. I got to be all nerdy and fangirly about Sherlock and even got my very own deerstalker hat!

I could not resist!

A few more photos:

Just before the Reichenbach Fall (which you can see in the background), there is a private clinic.
For all of those who could not deal with the end of season 2 of the BBC Sherlock series?
In any case, I thought it was rather fitting.

The actual Reichenbach

Click to enlarge this photo and see where Sherlock and Moriarty "officially" fell (marked by a white star).
If you ask me, they would have found Moriarty's body quite quickly.
No way he would have just disappeared forever and without a trace. 

A rainbow!

Holmes final note.

I cannot wait for season 3 of the BBC Sherlock series!

Qin - The eternal emperor and his terracotta warriors

I went to the Historical Museum of Bern today to see the Qin exhibition.
Somehow, it felt like a bigger (and much more foreign) version of the Celtic Glauberg exhibition I went to in May.

The exhibition lasts until November 17th of this year. If you want to go and see it, buy the tickets online and show it at the SBB counter when buying your train ticket. You will get 10% off.

Also, download the official audio guide app from either iTunes or the Android app store.
The app runs in German, English, French and Italian.
You may save only 1 CHF, but if you go there to sketch, you will be thankful you only need to put in your earplugs and not have one hand occupied with the museum's audio guide device.

With each audio segment a related picture of one of the exhibits is shown on the screen. I can revisit what I have seen and heard today, which I think is really nice.

✎

When I got on the train in Zurich, an elderly couple with visitors from Sweden sat on the remaining free seats around me. There was one very blonde little girl with them as well.
I was already sketching at that point, just finishing up a few brush strokes before moving on to a light pencil sketch of the items on the little table in front of me.
I am not good at guessing the age of little kids, I only know that girl was past the three word sentence stage (yes, this is the linguist talking here) and she wanted something from the lady opposite her.
She was at first misunderstood, in the end it turned out she wanted to swap seats with that lady so she could watch me sketch.
After a couple minutes that girl got out her own sketchpad and coloured pencils.
I loved it.
The two of us sitting there sketching away, no words needed!

 Qin Dynasty (Wikipedia)

At the Qin exhibition there were a lot of items with very intricate and detailed patterns carved on them, which I quite enjoyed drawing.

I did give the armor made out of small stone plates a try, but soon gave up.

This armor was made to be a burial object, not an actual defense against swords or arrows. It weights over 18 kilos and would have broken apart quickly if someone did actually wanted to have a stab at it.

One of the museum employees walked over and asked if I was comfortable and had all I need. He was looking at my sketches and seemed happy. I saw him again later on and we nodded at each other, smiling. I'd like to think that my sketching made at least two people happy today.

After two hours of wandering around I felt quite hungry and thirsty, and got something Asian to eat at the museum restaurant. They had these nice little cups as decoration on the tables:

My museum ticket was also valid for the other permanent exhibitions. I did go to have a peek, but decided I could not take in any other cultures for today and left. I would love to come back though and sketch my way through the American Indian and Ancient Egypt sections.

I also tried to do a couple of thumbnail sketches from the train window as a memory exercise on the way back. Not satisfied with it though.

And then, that was it! I filled my A5 Moleskine Watercolor sketchbook, and it took me much longer than I want to admit.