Storefronts

Posted: May 2, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | 6 Comments

One of the most welcoming places we visited in Hoi An was An Nhàn, a beautiful traditional home on stilts that now houses a cafe and gallery that showcases art from Vietnam’s ethnic minorities. The owners, Kiet and Giang gave us a tour of the gallery and then provided big tables for us to draw on. There was plenty to draw because the cafe is filled with handicrafts too, but I loved the multiple views out into the surrounding gardens. And I wish I could have brought home a suitcase full of the traditional black pottery they sell there.

We also had a chance to draw the shophouses in Hoi An’s Ancient Town. This is something that’s only really possible in the early morning before the intense heat of the day, and before the crowds arrive to stroll through the lantern-lined streets. If you’ve been there you know how crowded it can get with tourists AND with influencers posing for selfies in front of the yellow walls. In the afternoons, it’s a pedestrian-only zone but in the morning, if you’re lucky, a few motorbikes will be parked on the street and I have to admit that I became a fan of adding them in.

Plaid and flowers

Posted: April 29, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | 15 Comments

I have such great memories of this quiet morning in Hoi An, sitting at my favourite café with some of the sketchers in my group.We had an ideal view of a spot in the central market where the vendors were just beginning to set up. I loved the interesting mix of patterns that many of the women were wearing: plaid shirts with flowered pants.

To paint the section of the sketch that’s under the awning, I laid in a wash of pale lavender. The purpose of that is to take away all the white bits in that dark area. The lavender is light enough that I can paint over it with brighter or darker colours, and it works to push back that whole section into the shadows.

When I was almost done sketching, I was surprised to look up and see that I was surrounded by police. I think that our very hospitable café lady had moved her tables a little too far out onto the sidewalk, and the police were doing a market sweep. Fortunately they let me grab my sketching gear before they pitched a few of her tables and chairs into a flatbed truck.

Tra Que Herb Village

Posted: April 28, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | 7 Comments

One of the things I loved best about the food in Hoi An was that with almost any dish that you ordered, there was an accompanying plate of fresh herbs that you could add to soups and noodles or roll into Bánh xèo. The herbs often included basil, mint and coriander, but on the plate there were also greens that I had never seen and that made every dish so tasty.

One of our first bus outings was to Tra Que Herb Village. I was really looking forward to learning more about (and drawing!) the mysterious and delicious herbs. From our shaded spot we looked out into the gardens to draw the fields, the farmers and the surrounding houses. I hope I conveyed the steamy heat that we felt as we drew.

I asked for and was really hoping that someone would give us a tour of the garden or pick a selection of herbs that we could draw for our sketchbook pages, but that didn’t work out as expected. Later in the week I filled the space on that spread with a sketch (using Inktense pencils) of a utility pole that echoed the poles in the field. It’s not the herbs I was hoping for but those poles and wires are so much fun to draw!

Inside outside

Posted: April 24, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , | 11 Comments

We arrived in Vietnam late at night, so it wasn’t until the next day that I could really see what Hoi An looked like. When I threw open the blackout curtains on our first morning I saw two things. The first view of the manicured hotel grounds was directly below our balcony: a turquoise swimming pool surrounded by lounge chairs, lush greenery, silk lanterns and a poolside bar. The second view — beyond the hotel — was the Vietnam that I had been looking forward to seeing (and sketching): a bustling street with noisy scooters flying by, an outdoor restaurant with tiny red stools, construction workers wearing Nón Lá (the conical Vietnamese bamboo hats), all of it lit by a hazy orange sun coming up in the sky. In preparation for my first day of teaching, I sat in the shade of our hotel entrance to draw this busy scene.

On the first morning of the tour, my group and I drew this view together. For this one I used ink instead of pencil for the initial drawing, and I also simplified the composition.

Note: I do not recommend the tour company that hosted my group. If you are thinking of going to Vietnam on a sketching trip, please email me privately for more details.

Scooters

Posted: April 23, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | 17 Comments

There’s a very welcoming café facing the east side of the central market in Hoi An. You can sit there for hours, undisturbed, drawing and enjoying a Vietnamese coffee or fresh coconut water. It was one of my favourite spots in the city. From there I watched the vendors selling yellow flowers and the ladies shredding fresh coconuts.

I realized quite quickly that there was a constant stream of shoppers parking their scooters in front of me. Instead of ignoring them, I added the scooters in as foreground shapes. In a scene like this where the middle section is full of colour and detail, I decided that it would be best to leave the scooters as near-silhouetted shapes. They are not the focus here. I drew them quickly, knowing that they would be gone very soon, and added a few simple washes of shadow colour on them. Like the yellow walls and the silk lanterns, they are everywhere in Hoi An and a street scene would not be complete without them.

I also did a quick sketch of the coconut ladies on another visit.