This is the third article sharing the highlights from my first week in Germany! It was such an amazing but jam-packed week!

If you missed it….The first article was a report from two one-day workshops in Ladenburg and Heidelberg, and the second contained a summary of the other days I sketched in those two towns.

Today I want to share with you my adventures in Speyer, Mannheim and Schwetzingen Palace.

Speyer

We had a day in Speyer before the workshops, and as well as exploring the town and cathedral, we also had a Sketchwalk with USK Mannheim and a welcome dinner for workshop participants. Once again I was hanging out with Kerstin and Vivien – so much fun!

Speyer is a lovely town which is dominated by a magnificent Romanesque cathedral founded in 1030!

The inside of the cathedral was impressive but we preferred the crypt for sketching!

I found the most complicated spot in which to stand and sketch – looking diagonally at rows of arches. Super challenging but I enjoyed it!

I then joined the others inside the chapel for a simpler view (but still positioned myself off axis so that I had overlapping arches.

We wandered through the town – so beautiful!
And ended up at a cafe. I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to sketch the church (on the left) or the cathedral )on the right) so I drew both!We also enjoyed some cake but we were terrorised by wasps!

Here is the full spread from our cafe plus my sketch from a relaxed time at a beach bar by the river.

Sketchwalk with USK Mannheim.

A lovey group turned up for an afternoon sketching session. Before we all started sketching I did a few quick demos (30 second and 1 minute 30 second version of the cathedral showing how to look for the main structure.) I teach this approach inside my Buildings course using the example of Notre Dame – this cathedral front was a bit harder! (BTW I’m hosting a Live Version of Buildings starting 8 October 2025 – find out more here!)

Great collection of sketches!

And a great collection of sketchers! So lovely to meet you all!

We ended the day with a welcome dinner for participants of my two workshops. It was really lovely to meet so many of you beforehand! Such a fun evening!

Mannheim

On the Saturday after the two workshops we headed into Mannheim for another Sketchwalk. This time at the iconic water tower.

It was a super hot and humid day and I was talking a lot to other sketchers but still managed a few sketches…

As usual for this trip I was trying lots of different techniques: ink and watercolour, Tempera sticks, Neocolor II and Neoart

Another lovely group of sketchers.

After lunch and a little roaming of the streets we ended up doing a quick sketch of a very complex church. Lovely to hang out with Tanja, Tiney and Esther (she arrived towards the end of the morning sketch walk!)

Schwetzingen Palace

We spent our last afternoon together in the gorgeous grounds of Schwetzingen Palace. 

I filled 3 double-page spreads with sketches – each using different media. Here is one of those spreads with a Neoart sketch and a simple line drawing.

Huge thanks to Kerstin and Vivian for looking after me so well during my stay in the Mannheim/Heidelberg region of Germany. It was very sad to have our wonderful time come to an end!

Next up Dresden with Esther.