Saigon Street Scene

by Bill Bradley
(Darwin Australia)

Pen And Ink Sketch, Saigon Street Scene

Hi Kerry,
I have just spent a few weeks wandering around Vietnam and of course I took a sketch book with me.

I guess that I got a few curious looks from time to time, because rather than pick a sidewalk cafe on the basis of how popular it was, or how good the service or the food, my criteria had to be that I could get a good view. Many times I changed seats or moved my chair to a different position to get a glimpse of the action.

Needless to say there is no shortage of action in Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon as we like to call the central district.

My position at the junction of the two streets shown in my sketch was perfect allowing me to get a good view of the main street without actually getting run over.

I had problems with my fountain pen on the trip, so I used 0.1 Staedtler pigment liner which was nice and easy to draw with but the ink was more permanent than I normally use, so it was hard to create much of a wash effect when I hit it with a wet brush.

There was a really large power pole with masses of wires and other stuff hanging off it which could have spoiled a photograph of the scene for sure, but as we all know, drawing is special and we can include or delete what we want. I just sketched in the wires where they happened to be in a patch of clear sky.

Incidentally, the service was awful, the food was bland and the beer was warm! Ah well, you can't win em all!

Cheers Bill.

***Note from Kerry:
Hi Bill, it's great to hear from you again! Thanks for giving us a glimpse of Saigon through your eyes, I just love your sketches.

Shame about the warm beer - erk. Anyway, welcome home!