From the heart

Thanks a lot to Swasky and his team for the organisation, bravo! It's been just wonderful. 

Actually a symposium like a Christmas eve, when you're a child and you can't wait to see your cousins again and you feel so so happy ! Urban sketchers is not only drawing, it's about friendship...

Meeting people, and testing techniques. 

Helping as a translator for Veronica Lawlor's workshop, I got 3 opportunities to be able to go out of the confort zone. Instructors and sketchers give you so much confidence, you close your eyes and jump in the testing spirit, wow wow wow ! 

Workshops are also a great moment to meet sketchers and speak about styles. For example Celia Burgos plays with black ink and bleach. Awesome !

There are workshops during three days. In the morning I stroll about Barcelona's labyrinths to join the sketchers. Every morning the same scene : and the best part is "Good night darling, you'd like a beer ?" when it's 8 am. "Well, no thanks, not tonight !"

Vamos, let's go ! 2 more workshops to do, astonishing (and also splashing !)

First one with Shari Blaukopf from Canada (and Vincent Desplanche, 2 great aquarellists). Big constraint : only 3 primary colours, from tubes, making first thumbnail value drawings. You've got 3 hours. Well, I'll change for tubes soon, colours are full of pigments, miam miam !

Second one with Paul and Tia from Singapour : pour coffee in your sketchbook, spread it out with your credit card, do your sketch's hair done (let's grab the hotel's comb). A bit of salt, some chinese ink lines with the chinese stick, splash watercolour with a teethbrush (let's grab it too !)... It's like a trip to childhood, without thinking (too much)... 

During the symposium you meet so many people, it's easy to be eating with a Londonian, a Texan, a Thai, an Australian... So many countries, so many drawing styles... Usk is all around the world, so guess what ! You can draw everywhere with sketchers, makes me dizzy dizzy !

Wow awesome ! Tia gives to Swasky an asiatic stamp, it's written Barcelona in chinese on it, magical ! You read it from top to bottom. What I prefer is Swasky's syllabic etymology :

BAR bar, 

CEL sky, 

ONA wave.

Ok guys, let's go : it's time to experiment... A bit of markers, only 6 colours available so stop thinking, just draw... 

Inspiration 

(and expiration, don't forget to breathe!)

Tazab, Julie, Judith (the grown-up)

 

Tazab's come with family, and Judith, his daughter, she draws so well ! Her brother Thomas is also a great sketcher, and together they inspire such a good idea to Marc and Chris from Belgium : "We should do something for mini sketchers, say here !" ("say here" is part of verbal punctuation in Belgium, I just love it !) As they're coming to the sketchers fair next november in Clermont, they'll bring their machine to make badges "I'm a mini sketcher" and "I love my Usk". Awesome !

Marc also asks "Why not a mini sketchers sketchbook? A mini sketchers blog ?" Something's going on here, to be continued !

Let's catch Suhita drawing Lapin, and Lapin drawing Suhita, the 2 correspondants of the blog !

Before the curtain goes down, a souvenir portrait of Ursula, maybe the youngest one of the Urban Sketchers.

Well that's it : it's over. That's what I thought while sketching at the airport. But guess who's flying on the same flight ? Emdé ! Sketchers recognize each other quickly, material and sketchbooks, and the head going up and down just like the plastic dogs on a car parcel shelf !

It's time to close the symposium's chapter, just a last express portraits gallery. Ultimate supper together, and also july the 14th : national day in France. French stand up and sing the Marseillaise ! Belge will sure laugh at us, yes they will, quoi ! (pronounce with the Liégeois accent) 

It's a bit sad to go away. Veronica Lawlor cheers us up "à la prochaine" (see you next one) with her nice New Yorker accent, and this is the perfect cuote to end this. Back to France, each time I hear "à la prochaine", it brings me back to Barcelona... We'll surf on this great energy !

More drawings here and here