And so (finally) we come to the end of the 2026 Urban Sketching Symposium in Toulouse. I am combining my sketches from the opening and closing ceremonies as a sort of book end. It already seems like such a long time ago, over three months ago, but then again I still have to catch up on the older 2026 posts, so let’s get on with it. Above, a sketch from the closing reception, drawn fast when I left the mingling area and went to find a seat closer to the front of the stage (but far enough to sketch a few rows of sketchers in front of me). In fact I did find it odd that more people weren’t sketching every single moment but that’s just what sketchers like me do. It was sweaty, but exciting, and great to see the organizers on stage after all their hard work. Ok, below are a few sketches drawn at the opening ceremony. There’s Marina Grechanik, it was great to see her again, I have known her since the very early days and met her in Lisbon 2011. There’s Lapin, talking to someone I didn’t recognize, I had to colour in his shirt afterwards. There’s Shiho Nakaza, who first introduced me to my favourite brown pen all those years ago, and she gave me a new brown pen on this trip (many thanks!) and I used it to sketch her talking with Virginia Hein. Finally there’s Jessie Chapman, talking to Peggy Wong, great to see them again.

After talking and sketching and catching up with people (and some unusual food) I left and went to watch the England v Argentina semi-final, which, well nearly went well. The Corrupt World Cup was a long time ago now. So the Symposium happened, then fast forward past the final Saturday sketchwalk, and on to the Closing Ceremony…

I walked over there with Don Colley, it was great to finally catch up after all those years and hear about his art adventures. What an incredible inspiring artist, but a great fun bloke as well. So I did sketch him at the event, he was talking to and sketching someone else so I got the side view there. I also sketched some ladies from Poland and France who were talking nearby. I did mostly mingle and talk, and didn’t even take that many photos.

I did draw this one guy who was working the bar, Julien, he was great and told me about loads of cool places to go in Toulouse, though I have to mentally check them for next time. I was shocked to hear nobody had come and sketched him that whole evening (in a room full of urban sketchers!) and he was happy to be drawn.

Finally I did one more sketch, of a young American sketcher who lives in Korea, Trix Willems. His work was utterly amazing, very graphic with just a few colours, and so we had a quick sketch-off at the end of the evening while talking to some other sketchers from Kuwait and Germany. It was a nice way to end the evening, I did have a chat with Ian Fennelly on the way out too, and then headed back to the hotel for a well-earned rest before the next day’s adventure in Carcassonne. I think a lot of the other sketchers I know went elsewhere to sketch and chat until the early hours as we usually all do, but I was really exhausted and definitely needed to sleep. So, another Symposium ended, and it was a productive one. And of course, the big announcement – where will it be in 2027? The answer was TORONTO! So, hopefully, see you all there!