iran part i

Some sketches from my trip to Iran (by far favourite country I've visited to date). I cannot quite explain why it was such a lovely place to visit and my sketches don't really capture that either, but I guess it must have something to do with the most welcoming people I've ever met.

A few quick sketches made while waiting in the airport. Lots of bored people staring at their smartphones...

 ...or into the distance.

 And there is always a group of children running around and being difficult to draw. I love sketching in airports!

 After a 7 hour flight we landed in Dubai where we had a few hours to spare so we set off to explore the city. After a few minutes outside we figured that it is better to find shelted somewhere airconditioned so we spend the rest of our visit in a shopping mall watching fish in a giant aquarium. It was fun.

 The fish were definitely my favourite thing in Dubai.

 After some more waiting and sketching in the airport and a 2 hour flight we landed in Teheran.

 Teheran is not a kind of city you fall in love with at first sight. Petrol is cheap in Iran which means that there is far too many cars and motocycles so the city is noisy and polluted. There is no such a thing as a driving code so walking through the city was rather challenging. People driving motocycles on the pavement is a common thing.
We met with two lovely and very talented illustrators in Teheran - Narges and Nooshin. (check out their artwork - it's awesome!) We waked round nicer parts of the city, went to see an illustration exhibition and had the best kebabs ever.

The phone in our hotel room made me feel very nostalgic. One of the things I loved most in Iran were the samovars and the tea.

I very much enjoyed visiting the Teheran National Museum - a lot of ancient animals to draw!

And this! The relief with the audience scene at Xerxes I from Persepolis. This is just a quick sketch but the real thing was absolutely stunning.

More animals...

And even more animals in the Museum of Islamic Art.

On the train from Teheran to Yazd I drew a self portrait in hijab.

The Jameh Mosque in Yazd was really stunning with all the mosaics and patterns. I tried to draw it but I quickly gave up.

And this is how we would spend our evenings in Yazd - laying on persian carpets, drinking cardamom tea, smoking water pipe and looking at the skyline of this 3000 year old city.

We also visited a zoroastrian temple.

The building wasn't very exciting but it was a good spot for people watching. Here are some tourists taking pictures in front of the temple

Another cup of tea...

...and lunch in one of the traditional restaurants.

A quick sketch while waiting for a bus that would take us to a small oasis in the middle of the Dasht-e Kavir desert. I will blog about it and post more sketches soon.