Recent sketches...channeling bcn

G-Mex approach, Manchester

I'm having a few technical issues posting on the main Urban Sketchers homepage (which I'm hoping will soon be resolved) but thought in the meantime I would post here, as my recent work has definitely been inspired by Barcelona. I had a drawing expedition Thursday afternoon into Manchester city centre. Firstly a quick warm up sketch and then a couple of more ambitious cityscapes. Anyone who did James Richard's excellent workshop at bcn will probably recognise I'm channeling Placa Catalunya with the G-Mex drawing...I drew the foreground first then added the buildings behind. The square was crowded with Manchester City fans as G-Mex was hosting a pre-season launch event. Very gloomy dark Manchester skies and a lot of rather sombre Victorian buildings in brick and sandstone meant I found myself using a very limited colour palette throughout, what turned out to be, a very productive afternoon of sketching.

St Peter Square, Manchester

Here's a sketch from another miserable afternoon (weather-wise!), sketching with the Manchester group at the Whitworth Art Gallery. At the end of the session there was just time for a quick sketch and seemed a great opportunity to use non waterproof ink...thanks again to Norberto Dorrantes for a fabulous workshop!

Oxford Road, Manchester

Such a brilliant time in Barcelona, and I'm aware I only scratched the surface, so many people to meet, so much to inspire....so many new sketching friends. Until next time I wish you all well.

Memories from BCN - part1

All good things eventually come to an end... After months of preparations and expectations, it took only three days of an explosion of senses and now we have all come back to different parts of the world. We back to our jobs and our families, our routines. But nothing can stop us from taking out our sketchbooks every day, and for one tiny moment we all feel connected through simple magic of sharing the same passion of sketching which bonds us together again and again.

I'll try to upload here little by little my impressions from the Symposium.

First of all I want to say a big THANK YOU to all the organizers and volunteers for their amazing work and sleepless nights preparing this event!

Being this time one of the instructors, I felt very excited and a bit anxious. I was lucky to be instructing together with my friend Ea Ejersbo, she calmed me down and our energies were well balanced.

It was a really great experience!

I'm so happy that participants took risks and moved out of their "security zones", freed themselves and weren't afraid to make "bad" sketches. They  successfully "hunted' the "heroes' of their stories, composed them in their sketchbooks, using well the spread and white spaces, and went wild with watercolors and watercolor pencils putting it all together!  At the end their sketchbooks were full of great stories from colorful La Boqueria! 

Here are some of the sketches from La Boqueria I managed to make:

Indeed, teaching is the best way of learning. When you're trying to describe your approaches and methods, you can finally understand yourself a bit :-)

Stay tuned, it will be continued!

Day 1: Usk Barcelona

8:00 am and participants start to collect at CCCB Barcelona. The volunteers handing out goodie bags and schedules to everyone are so patient with questions. Swasky gives the opening speech welcoming everyone to Barcelona.

10 am, time for the morning session of workshops. I follow Marina and Ea's class to their workshop in Marcat Boqueria which is already teeming with life. The group loosens up with quick gestural sketches from around the market. I do a couple of pages of sketches, take in their talk on negative space and then sketch my 2 favorite stalls in the market. One is a mass of colored juices, and somehow, sipping a glass of juice while sketching the scene makes for a better sketch! My other favorite shop is adorned with hanging legs of ham.

I stroll out of the Mercato to see Melanie Reim's class out on the Rambla for her session entitled 'Channeling Picasso'. They're talking about expressive mark making and are creating wonderful pieces inspired my the teeming crowds on the Rambla.

A quick lunch break and it's afternoon demo time. I attend Ch'ng Kiah Kiean 'Dry Twig and Ink' demo where he talks about his tools and technique. He uses really unusual tools: a peeled and sharpened twig and chinese waterproof ink. He and his dad carefully peeled and sharpened a twig as a little gift for everyone in the demo. The sketchers give sketching with the twig a try. Just when they think they're producing pretty decent results, KK gives a demo...



Rain surprises everyone in the afternoon and Shari takes her Triad Symphony session indoors, into the inner courtyard of a church. They discuss building paintings on a base of just 3 primaries. Shari demonstrates how a 3 color palette can give you an endless range of exciting shades to work with. It's a fascinating coversation that I could learn so much from and it's is one of those times when I wish I could just stay through the entire workshop. Shari, don't be surprised if I pop back in tomorrow to catch the rest of that session!

It's time to go catch Inma and her class as they capture the Rhythm of the City. Inma's unique perspective on drawing architecture and using color makes for an interesting workshop. The group sketches Roman pillars and the view from the History Museum.

Heading back to the evening Drink and Draw session, I get totally lost in the labyrinth of the city, so I stop and sketch the beautiful Miro mural in the middle of the Rambla. So many people walk down the Rambla right over it everyday. Rarely do they notice the piece beneath their feet.

Tapas for dinner, and my day is done. And what a day it was...Looking forward to day 2 and 3!
ps: Paul, the Roasted Peppers and Cod salad were excellent suggestions.

bcn2013usk - day 1

finally, after so many month waiting for it, yesterday at 9:00am, started the 4th urban sketching symposium in barcelona.
the opening was both in catalan and english. big up victor, elisabeth, jason and all the volunteers for the good job!
at 10:00am was time for the first workshop. I join the workshop "C", designing barcelona, with veronica lawlor, and sketched the "illa de la discòrdia" like I never done before:
than I join sagar in the university for his workshop "A" lighting the city:

and after a quick lunch, started the lecture at 02:30pm of the great moustache owner lluïsot, human landscape:
at 4:00pm was time for the afternoon workshop cession. I followed paul wang and tia to their workshop "P" drawing from the heart and over color splashes. I enjoyed a lot sketching with any kind of material, from candle, wood stick, salt or credit card:
and no matter the rain, I spent the last hour sketching the negative forms (workshop "S") with joao catarino and omar jaramillo at plaça sant felip néri:
at 7:30pm, and because we were close from the city hall, we had a quick visit to the exhibition "sketching barcelona" in sala ciutat, before going to the presentation of the new books of swasky and nina johansson (z sketch guides) at the fnac of plaça catalunya:
we arrived late for the drink & draw at the cccb café, so after one beer we lived with omar, stew, jason, pete, choni, ruben and césar for a burger nearby.
I can't wait the 2nd day to start for more fun!
and don't forget that if you're in barcelona and are not registered to the symposium, you are welcome to the public events here and there!

by lapin

One day to go...

The Symposium only opens tomorrow, July 11th,  but the city is already teeming with sketchers. It's exciting enough to be in Barcelona, but to be in Barcelona AND meet sketchers everywhere you look is wonderful. I came in late and missed part 1 of the 3 park sketchcrawl this morning, but still caught the rest of it.

Jumping right into drawing La Sagrada Familia as my first sketch in Barcelona was hard. That might be when I drew so many of them.. just have to keep at it till you get it right!

  

Walking down some more, we sketched the La Pedrera building, one of the most gooey buildings I have ever seen.

And, inspired by Lapin, I've been sketching Urban Sketchers everywhere I can.

 

Follow us as we sketch our way through the rest of this week, and remember, you can see ALL the Barcelona sketches here on flickr.