I was so happy to take part in the most recent Urban Sketchers Symposium in Barcelona as a workshop instructor. I can hardly describe how wonderful it was to meet so many of my fellow sketchers whose work I've followed for years, with a feeling of familiarity--and even better to finally meet face to face, however briefly! Besides teaching 3 sessions of my workshop "Panorama in Light and Shade", I had the great opportunity to take workshops from 2 artists I admire very much, Melanie Reim of New York and Luis Ruiz of Malaga, Spain. So great to see how other artists work and try new ways of seeing...the spirit of experimentation was everywhere!
From Melanie's workshop, "Channeling Picasso"...quick sketching what appeared about to be a police action on busy Las Ramblas with brush and ink...
Some sketches from Luis Ruiz's workshop "Actors and Stage", in a slightly quieter part of the city, lovely Pla dels Angels...
As afternoon turned into evening after my workshop, I took some time to work a bit more on a demo sketch I'd started, and mostly just soak up the fact that I was there in this lovely place, at the harbor of Barcelona. My workshop focused on creating patterns of light and dark values across the page--starting with a monochrome palette, and then making the transition to color by observing warm and cool colors--and the effects of atmosphere in the landscape. Here I'm working with a split complementary palette--blues and warm earth colors...
There were nightly sessions of "drink and draw"...with company in which it was polite to stop talking and just sketch!
...experimenting with some of the
great "giveaways", like brush pens...
...even drawing my food, something I don't usually have the patience to do, but couldn't resist the array of fresh grilled vegetables! This was at a tapas bar in the wonderful marketplace La Boqueria...
...and another sketch at La Boqueria...
...waiting in line at the Picasso Museum, in a narrow street in Barri Gotic, the ancient city center, and sketching fellow sketchers at our "base camp", the Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona...
More of Barcelona later on...
Gorgeous drawings. I love your work.
ReplyDeleteSorry to bother you on your blog post but i just tried to register for your class at Descanso Gardens this saturday. IT'S FULL!! so sad for me. I was hoping you had another class that I could try. And I wanted to know how you felt about me coming to Descanso on Saturday in hopes someone cancelled or didn't show?
Thank you so much Virginia.
danielle
danielle1@me.com
Hi Danielle, thank you very much! I'll email you at the address you gave me.
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