"My Favorite Place" sketchbook - finally finished!

So, it took a while... But finally, it is done! And it's really beautiful to see the complete sketchbook, full of different favorite places, different styles, but common vibe :)
Here are Nathan's and my entries, we sketch together a lot, mostly in Tel Aviv, so our sketches have something in common :)

One of my favorite places is... yes, how not? the beach! This on the border between Tel Aviv and Jaffa, you can see the Tel Aviv high buildings on the background, and just beside it is the Old City of Jaffa.

The second one is my favorite ice cream - Anita. There is always a line. But it moves fast. And it is delicious!

These days Nathan is busy by watching Fifa world cup. So he sketched while watching ;)

 But the beach is our common love - so here is one of Nathan's views on the beach.

My favorite places • Aurore

To fill up the sketchbook of Detlef with the subject "My favorite places" I choose first to draw the southern entry of the old city of Yafo (or Jaffa in arabic). My gallery is located just behind this line of buildings and this is the view I see whenever I go to do my shift in the studio. Each time, it reminds me of the chance I have to be in such a beautiful environment, so inspiring for a urban sketcher !

This old city was first buid by the Ottoman empire and the stairs we see on the sketch divide in 2 parts the old city. It seems to me to be a bit large and "royal" path for the small amount of streets that are around. Each street has the name of an astrological sign, it means that there are more or less only 12 streets in the historical part of Tel Aviv.

For the second sketch, I went in a fancy bar restaurant called the Kandinof House, on the other side of the old city, still in Jaffa. This place seems to be a patio that had been covered with glass and a sort of metal design that makes a contrast with the original arabic architecture. I like this place very much, we eat well, we can drink at the bar… But they also created different spaces and corners inside rooms and whatever it is where they exhibit art, host lectures or artistic events. A place to be in contact with maybe for a future exhibition of our common project !

Detlef's sketchbook is now in the hand of Marina, who will pass it on to Nathan. Again, I am sorry for the delay ! Aurore

Bon appetit - Mustafa´s Gemüse Kebab • Detlef

Mustafa´s Gemüse Kebab seems to be recommended in every Berlin tourist guide.
People are queing almost around the block.
Wheater the kebab is really that extraordinary? I can´t say. I have to admit I never tried it.

Bon appétit! - Tempelburger • Detlef

TempelBurger beergarden at "Tempelhofer Feld" park (former Tempelhof Airport).
Well, burgers are not necessarily one of my favorite dishes - but people seem to like it...
Bon Appétit!

Beach - Urbanhafen Berlin • Detlef

In summer hundreds of people come to the green banks of the Landwehrkanal in Kreuzberg to enjoy the sun and the sunset on the wide basin of the canal, having a picknick, playing music , or just relax.
it might not be literally a beach, but it meets the atmosphere... and sometime people even go for a swim...

People on the way • Aurore

It's been a long time I wanted to sketch the Eritrean community coming to celebrate its weddings in the park of the old city and on Jaffa beach !

Every week end almost, a new group appears, always dressed in white with architectural hair style.
They are all dressed in white in the same costume with a pattern that define them as a group, only the groom and the bride has a different color of pattern.

They are simply beautiful…

People on the way • Aurore

It's been a long time I wanted to sketch the Eritrean community coming to celebrate its weddings in the park of the old city and on Jaffa beach !

Every week end almost, a new group appears, always dressed in white with architectural hair style.
They are all dressed in white in the same costume with a pattern that define them as a group, only the groom and the bride has a different color of pattern.

They are simply beautiful…

Beaches, parks and people

Well we don;t have a see in Berlin, but we have many lakes. Here is my drawing for Nathan Sketchbook.

A friend who lives at Halensee lake invited a bunch of friends to a bbq and bath, the villa had direct access to the lake.

This is my last drawing on my sketchbook. Saturday and Sunday there is a Thai pick-nick in Preussenpark in Berlin, Normally is not possible to put a kiosk to sell food on a park, but you can have a pick nick So many Asian people sit on blankets under an umbrella offering the food they prepare there. A huge crowd of people gathers around to eat, sit and enjoy the good weather.

"Beach" in Berlin

No, Berlin is not a city by the sea. But yes, we have some beaches and a lot of water (the Spree-river and many lakes). The biggest lakes are Wannsee, Müggelsee and Tegeler See. Today I made a bike tour with my family around the Tegeler See and in the end I sketched the beach in Saatwinkel in the late afternoon sun. It's 20 minutes from my home by bike. We live near the lake.

"Your city - your story" from Marina and Nathan

Katrin's book is full!

Last week I invited my friend Nathan to meet in Tel Aviv and to try to fill our entries.

As we do some sketching projects together, Nathan and I meet very often, almost always in Tel Aviv, so my story of Tel Aviv naturally includes... Nathan ;)

We started our meeting with a good plate of humus, sitting at on of the corners of the HaCarmel Market in Tel Aviv.

 Here I captured one of the streets near the market, were you can still meet old professions, like this shoemaker, repairing shoes and bags on the street:

 Here are Nathan's entries, he sketched... me! eating the humus ;)

 and another character from the same street - the barber taking a rest and drinking some coffee.

The sketchbook is coming with me to Manchester, where I'm going to give it to Omar.

Flea market in Berlin

Yesterday I visited the flea market in Straße des 17. Juni in Berlin-Tiergarten. It was a hot sunday and I was glad to find a place in the shadow. The flea market is the largest and oldest one in Berlin and well known by tourists. So it's more expensive than the small markets. You can find some beautiful antiques here. When I was a child, here I have bought a small peacock of glass. I loved small animals of porcelain and glass.

"Your city - your story" Aurore in Jaffa

Here is my participation for Katrin Merle's sketchbook !

About specificity of city furnitures, one is the street lamps which design change according to the area of Tel Aviv… In North Tel Aviv street lamps look like snakes overlooking the people passing by…But I live in south Tel Aviv, in Jaffa : you may see different one in the port (first sketch) and in the old city… (second one). Here you'll find the old white stones they used to build with, coming from the Judea mountains around Jerusalem. Of course they don't use them anymore, but they try to respect the color when they renovate old building.

A bit of history about Jaffa (arabic) or Yafo (hebrew), meaning "The beauty" !
Jaffa was one of the main and oldest port in the history, more or less 3500 years old. This old lady was one of the main passage for business between the west and the East and Egyptian mentioned her in their papyrus. It's also present in the Old Testament telling the story of Jonas that takes place in Jaffa…

Many people passed by such as egyptians, vespasian, crusaders, ottoman empire, Napoleon's army, arabs, british… etc. and conquered Jaffa that has a long and bloody story that I'm not going to developp here more… The old city was destroyed few times (… earthquake, second world war) and rebuilt in the sixties, while the city hall of Tel Aviv planned to erase everything and came with buldozers (!) they just in time changed their mind and renovated this place that was the perfect location for dealers and all kind of "small business". Tel Aviv started being a neighboorhood of Jaffa and finally grew, grew grew… until Jaffa became the ancient part of Tel Aviv !!!

It's now beautiful again and tourists love this place almost as much as I do… I have my studio / gallery in the middle, I live nearby and this is one a the few places in Israel where Muslims arabs, Christian arabs and Jewish are living together, so it not rare to hear the calls for prayers at same time from churches, mosques and temples !

The port of Jaffa (sea behind my back)

Entry of the Old Jaffa part from the city, going in the direction of the port…
Behind my back the area of the flea market, you have discovered in my own sketchbook

People on the way

Here is my drawing for my book people on the way.. in German: "Menschen unterwegs"... I am trying to find out a translation to Hebrew.. and asked some Israeli friends.. and ended having strong discussions about it but no answer...you know what they say: two Israelis discuss and they ended with 3 different opinions..but in the other hand every language has expressions that are difficult to translate.

Urban Furniture

My last drawing for Katrin Merle's Sketchbook with the subject: Your city your story
Urban Furniture you would find around Schlesisches Tor, Kreuzberg, Berlin. I had a lot of trouble finding something to draw, then I realized that there where many interesting things around me that are quite unique to this neighbourhood. It made me wonder what would I find in Tel Aviv if I go around?

 
Do you have public waterfountains? or fire alarms in the streets?(this one does not work anymore) candy maschines? Advertising columns? or Taxi columns? (there is a phone inside, I didn't know that!) or how does your mailboxes look like?

Berlinale

For Katrin Merle's sketchbook I have to tell something about my city. It could be something personal or something historical or just an anecdote about my city. I have been a little late for my drawings.. But I managed to do some this weekend, because there is the Berlinale, what a great opportunity to tell something about Berlin. So I went to Potsdamer Platz (as a Berliner you never go there, is something for tourists) and catched some reporters doing some piece with the Theater in the background.

As you see I extended a little on the top right and left bottom, but leave some space on the right top, encouraging you to interact with my drawing.

"My favorite place" Baretto in Wrangel Kiez

Baretto is a nice cafe  in my street. People know each other here,
Watercolor on site. a watercolor for Detlef Surrey Sketchbook "my favorite place"

A walk in the flea market - Hallentrödelmarkt Berlin Treptow • Detlef

My first sketch in Aurore´s book.
Unfortunately, January is not the most pleasant month to draw flea markets in Berlin. :-(
So I chose the covered hall of the Hallentrödelmarkt in Berlin Treptow for my sketching.

People in Motion - Potsdamer Platz • Detlef

Berlin, Potsdamer Platz. Rush hour.

People hurrying across the huge place past the Café Caran, where I sit drawing in the warmth close to the window.






















The green street lights tower in the center is a replica of Europe's first traffic lights, erected in 1924 in an attempt to control the traffic passing through.

Bon Appétit! - Birthday cakes

To the "Kaffeetrinken" (coffee drinking) the family meets relatives in birthdays or holidays like easter sunday, or in the afternoon friends meet in the café or at home. Besides, it plays no role whether coffee, tea or cocoa is drunk, however, cakes or biscuits are always present.

My sister celebrated her birthday and had baked these wonderful cakes.

Blueberry-Tarte, cranberry-cheesecake and chocolate muffins

Bon appetit! - German food on cold days

A yummy, a tasty, a delicious sketchbook! I like the drawings very much which I've seen in that book.
Today it's a snowy winter day in Berlin, so we like to have a solid stew. This one is with Wirsingkohl (savoy), Kartoffeln (potatoes), Möhren (carrots), Zwiebel (onion) and Wiener Würstchen (sausages). A bit of cayenne pepper, Muskatnuss (nutmeg), herbs and cream - and you're getting warmer.