lisbon symposium, day 2: lisbon perspectives

August 9, 2011August 8, 2011Leave a comment

Day Two of the Lisbon Symposium started with the eagerly awaited Lisbon Perspectives workshop, led by Gerard Michel from Liege, Belgium, and Florian Afflerbach of Cottbus, Germany. I met Gerard last year and talked about curvilinear and other forms of (very difficult) perspective with him; he is the master of the art form! I have wanted to practise it for a while (did a couple of drawings last year, but none since) so the tips Gerard gave me were very useful. The drawing I did, which took me a lot longer than a drawing normally does, was a lot of fun but I didn’t stretch my curves anywhere near as much as perhaps I should; I was a little reticent I think. It gave the impression that I was sat a lot further back than I actually was. Still, I’m pleased enough with the overall effect, but I really want to practise more now! Gerard gave me a couple of his large and amazing prints; they’ll serve as inspiration.

Below, Gerard shows some of his examples of 360-degree perspective, and Florian does an impression of Tower Bridge…

Above: some very quick impressions of Gerard speaking about six-point perspective (in French), while below, Jason Das looks at the world through a grid.

And here are the sketchbooks! More symposium sketches to come…

In the meatime, you may like to check out everybody’s sketches and photos in the Lisbon 2011 Flickr pool…

sketching the urban sketchers (part 1)

August 8, 2011August 8, 20111 Comment

I sketched a lot of people in Lisbon, more than I usually would. It’s nice sketching other urban sketchers, especially those you have followed for a while, as you’re capturing them in the flesh in your own little sketchbook. Some were done out at dinner, or lunch, or while sketching, or in the lecture hall. Here are some…

(Above left): Gabi Campanario, founder of Urban Sketchers and USk correspondent from Seattle. (Above right): Jason Das, USk correspondent from Brooklyn, New York, sketched while eating dinner in the Bairro Alto district.

(Above left): Pedro Cabral, USk correspondent from Lisbon. I hadn’t met Pedro before, he is a really nice guy. (Above right): Tia Boon Sim, USK correspondent from Singapore. Both sketched during the correspondent’s dinner. I met Tia last year, she’s an absolute inspiration.

(Above left): Alvaro Carnicero, USk correspondent from Cordoba, Spain. (Above right): Cristina Urdiales, USk Spain correspondent from Malaga. Both sketched during the correspondent’s dinner. Great to finally meet these two as I’ve enjoyed their work for ages.

(Above left): Alanna Randall, USk Portland correspondent from Portland, sketched at the morning meet-up. I met Alanna last year in Portland, so it was nice to see her in Lisbon. (Above right): Omar Jaramillo, USk correspondent originally from Ecuador, sketches all over (most recently Newfoundland, previously UAE and Sicily), sketched at dinner at Kaffeehaus on rua Anchietta. Really enjoy his watercolour style!

More to come!!!

from the lecture hall in lisbon

August 8, 2011August 8, 2011Leave a comment

At this year’s Urban Sketching Symposium in Lisbon the lectures were not small intimate affairs as they were last year, but larger ones to which all workshop attendees could attend, so nobody would miss out on one they might like. They were in the large lecture hall at FBAUL. Unfortunately I was only able to attend a few of them, partly due to long lunches going over on Lisbon time, partly due to the need to call home at those particular times, and from the sketchers I saw dotted around the streets at those times I got the impression many would much rather be out on the sunny streets sketching than inside a big lecture hall. However I was glad to have been able to make the ones I did get to. I particularly enjoyed Matthew Brehm’s lecture on the second day, “Sketching on Location: Teaching and Learning”, as he gave many very interesting tips on how we learn and how we can learn from the work of others. He made some very good and very positive and encouraging points; I enjoyed his talk in last year’s symposium on the history of urban sketching, and he was much quoted afterwards (notably by Lapin) that it was the ‘Woodstock of Sketching’ (and it really was; Portland was definitely an important starting point for greater sketching networks and events, the larger Lisbon symposium being the biggest example).

As were most other non-stop sketchers in attendance, I found I just had to draw and draw and draw while listening. I did make a lot of notes from Matt’s lecture, but still got some sketching in. I don’t know the man I sketched listening to the lecture but I’ve been experimenting with the way I draw people, and I drew a LOT of people in Lisbon, other sketchers mostly. I’m starting to enjoy sketching people more these days.

lisbon symposium, day 1: unfinished business

August 8, 20112 Comments

The second workshop of the first day was “Unfinished Business”, led by Nina Johansson from Stockholm and Jose Louro from Lisbon. The theme was drawing sketches that are not finished, that by showing only part you tell a larger story, what is not said says more than what is said. Grabbing bits and pieces to show a larger impressio rather than finished drawings, that sort of thing. I’ve explained it well, I see. This took place up at Praça Camoẽs, one square over from the morning’s session. Among other great sketchers who were there (such as the amazing Liz Steel from Sydney, who I had sketched with in Portland) was Luis Ruiz from Malaga in Spain, whose work I’ve been a big fan of for ages; it was great to watch him work. There he is below, in fact, sketching away, between the tram stop and the statue.

My last sketch of the session, below, was perhaps always going to be unfinished, but I hadn’t meant to leave it quite so unfinished! Still, as Alan Partridge might say, you get the idea.

One of the features of the workshops this year was a more formalized meet-up at the start at a location in FBAUL (the art school in Lisbon that hosted the Symposium) where the instructors would explain the workshop and perhaps talk a little about their own technique. Nina and Jose produced a very useful little booklet full of colour illustrations which they handed out at the start, and it provided the sketchers with tips that can help them out as they go. At the end of the workshop, we all met up in the middle of the square and laid our sketchbooks together. This is one of the best moments, seeing how diverse everybody’s ‘sketching voices’ are.

lisbon symposium, day 1: exploring chiado

August 5, 2011August 4, 20113 Comments

The 2nd International Urban Sketching Symposium began on the morning of July 21 at FBAUL in the hilly but central Chiado district of Lisbon, and after meeting lots of familiar faces and new people at the morning meet-up, and getting our bag of goodies (free sketchbooks, including a gorgeous one by new company Stillman and Birn), it was time for the first workshop. The last workshop that I took in Portland was that of Frank Ching, the famed architecture professor emeritus from the University of Washington in Seattle, and so it was that my first workshop was also led by him, alongside Lisbon Urban Sketcher Pedro Cabral (great sketcher, and a nice guy). It was a very exciting workshop to be part of; also in attendance were Eduaro Bajzek from Brazil, whose work I’ve loved for ages, Melanie Reim from New York, who is an inspiration, and Joao Pinheiro, also from Brazil, who was the winner of the Urban Sketchers fellowship to come to Lisbon as the official symposium correspondent. Frank came around to everyone offering good solid advice, pointing out what could be improved, and same as last time you come away really remembering what he has said. Above, a yellow tram pulls itself up to the Largo Chiado, as an urban sketcher busily sketches away on the street corner.

Above is the famous cafe “A Brasileira” on Rua Garrett. Below, the statue of ‘O Chiado’ himself, the poet António Ribeiro. while sketching this, a very loud street shouter stood next to me and announced to the world in several languages, via the medium of a plastic glass, that he was the emperor of the world or something. We were being filmed by Portuguese TV at the time, and so perhaps he felt that it was an opportunity to spread his message of global overlordship, though I’m sure he is there every day. Well I had to sketch him. If it turns out he does rule the world, I can say I did a drawing of him when he was just a simple street shouter.

Exploring chiado with frank Ching and Pedro cabral

the sketchbooks, 'exploring chiado'

been around the world…

August 4, 2011August 4, 2011Leave a comment

More sketches from Belem, on the day before the Symposium. This is the Padrao dos Descobrimentos, or Monument to the Discoveries. Portugal was a big big player in the Age of Discovery, paving the way for other European nation states to sail across the sea and stake their claims, trade or otherwise, across the world. This huge monument juts out into the Tagus, looking towards the Atlantic, headed by a statue of Prince Henry the Navigator. Sure, the monument was built by the dicator Salazar but, you know. It’s still pretty impressive.

Portugal’s maritime past is celebrated everywhere in Belem, and in front of the Padrao dos Descobrimentos is a large mosaic map, decorated with images of Portuguese ships (such as the one drawn to the left). It’s quite an incredible story, how this very small nation managed to somehow span itself across the globe, and ultimately gave birth to the large and politically important nation of Brazil.

As Portuguese interests expanded and riches brought back, cities such as Lisbon grew in global importance and buildings were constructed to consolidate this. The Torre Belem, seen below with my sketch of it, is one of the most famous symbols of this time. A fortification built on a small island in the Tagus River, it was completed in 1519 and served to protect Lisbon and act as a gateway to the city.

And so, with the sketches of ‘day zero’ over, now to talk about the Symposium…

in this quiet little place

August 4, 2011August 4, 2011Leave a comment

After arriving in Lisbon, I bumped into fellow Urban Sketcher Jason Das at the hostel, and we took the bus down to the historic district of Belem. First stop was the massive Mosteiro dos Jeronimos, a huge UNESCO-listed monastery built in the highly decorative Manueline fashion. Above, a surprise, the tomb of Vasco da Gama, the real Vasco da Gama! The one they named that Brazilian football club after! The Mosteiro is pretty epic, and if I’d had time I would have attempted a larger all-encompassing drawing from the outside, but I liked to draw smaller snapshots, capturing some of the details.

I haven’t done much drawing inside large religious buildings, with their epic grandeur and special light. We don’t have any cathedrals here in Davis. It’s something I would like to practise though; I’ve seen some other people’s sketches inside such buildings and it’s an inspiration.

squeezy jet

August 3, 2011August 3, 20112 Comments

And so, I went to Portugal. After days of rain and crowds in London, it was nice to see some clear blue sky upon landing at Lisbon’s nice and modern airport. I had to first go through the mess that is Luton airport though, which seems to run on the ‘people will put up with anything’ theory (such as making people pay just to drop people off). Eventually though I was on my very orange Easyjet and flying away from England, excited about all the sketching yet to come. As ever I had to draw the view on the plane, but I had no window seat so couldn’t draw what was outside. I used my orange micron and I like the results. As I drew, attendants went up and down the aisle over and over again trying to sell goods and nonsense. Easyjet flights seem to be run by Del Boy Trotter, and it’s not as if they’re all that cheap like they used to be. Still, it got me to the actual Lisbon rather than a hundred miles away, so I’m happy.

When I arrived in Lisbon I got myself a Lisbon Card (useful if you have time to visit all those museums and sights, a bit of a big waste of money if ultimately you don’t get to do that), and hopped on the very convenient AeroBus straight downtown. As I was sketching on the bus (below), I met a woman who teaches at a London art school and is also an art critic for various national papers, in Lisbon to cover another big art exhibition. I told her about the Symposium, and she popped by a couple of days later to meet with the organizers and the sketchers. for me, this was my first sketch in Lisbon, so I had to make it colourful! I’m getting used to whipping out the waterbrush and paints on public transport now, it’s pretty compact!

my thoughts are far away

July 29, 2011July 29, 20112 Comments

I am finally back from the 2nd International Urban Sketching Symposium in Lisbon, and the accompanying trip home to London, with a massive amount of sketches to scan and post. Where to begin? Well the obvious answer would be at the beginning, but I don’t know if I can be as linear as that, though I will try. So I’m starting in the middle somewhere. This sketch, drawn on “Day Zero” in Lisbon (the day before the Symposium, but halfway through the actual trip) is of the famous Torre Belem, one of the most recognisable landmarks in Lisbon, sat amidst the waters of the Tagus River. It dates back to the early 1500s. In the background is the 25 de Abril Bridge, which resembles a cross between the San Francisco Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge (the same people built the Bay Bridge as it happens). I had arrived in Lisbon that day after five rainy days in London, and the blue sky immediately made me feel more at home (I’m a Californian now, aren’t I).

I have so much scanning yet to do from this trip, it may take me a while! I completed a whole small red moleskine sketchbook, largely with people sketches and journal notes from the trip, and filled the majority of my watercolour moleskine. I met a lot of very cool people from countries all over the world, many of whom I had been following and admiring for several years. It was a busy schedule, for sure, and having twice the number of participants of last year’s symposium in Portland it felt a little overwhelming, but Lisbon blew me away – what an amazing city. Beautiful, colourful, historic, vibrant, yet relaxed, not overcrowded and hectic like London was. I want to go there again!

For now, here’s a photo of me sketching in Belem. This is a pose, as the drawing was just finished. I’m telling you it was a pose because I have since seen many photos and many drawings by other urban sketchers in Lisbon that show how I really look when I sketch – if you think I hold my pen in a funny way, you should see how I contort myself when I sit and sketch! I never noticed before. I’ll get around to posting everything very soon. In the meantime, please check out everyone else’s drawings and photos on the Urban Sketchers Lisbon Symposium Flickr Group.