Lazy Sunday afternoon on the Mosel bank

For the August sketchcrawl we went to Remich, at the border with Perl, Germany. Or rather, we went to Perl, at the border with Remich.

It was Leen's brilliant idea to sketch on the German side, thus enjoying the beautiful sights on the Mosel river while avoiding the crowds.

Under the shade provided by trees, we had a variety of subjects: the boats, the people, the landscape, the café. I chose to sketch a boat (ship) that had just docked called Iris.

We were quite the novelty there, with many people stopping to observe us. It was after I heard the third Luxembourgian person around us that I realized that forget Remich: this side of the river is actually where all the Luxembourgers go to enjoy the Mosel river.

This sketch is off to greener pastures

One of the skippers of the Iris stopped by to admire our work. He hinted not very subtly at the fact that he would love to keep my sketch, so I obliged. It is always flattering to have an admirer.

We had planned to meet again at 3 pm to share our sketches, but it was so nice to be in the sun and just sketch and talk that when we looked at the time it was almost 4 pm. High time to go for a drink and sketch each other and counter-sketch in retaliation!

It's difficult to capture an Italian woman's natural elegance on paper. Maria Grazia did not approve

It was a fun afternoon and I highly recommend to anyone going to the Mosel to enjoy Remich in Perl.

Sketching London - red boxes, Germans and Mary Poppins

There is so much to do and so much to see in London! On the first few days we walked around to so many places that I don't actually remember in what order...

One would think that when using only one sketchbook, the problem of chronological order would be solved, but I hopped around a bit on this one, so here are my sketches in the order I think they were made.

Stephanie was very keen on sketching St Pancras station and I could easily understand why. The building is gorgeous. Made of red brick, it looks like a castle and was a bit too daunting for me - I was a bit tired of imposing buildings.

Fortunately, the station is as interesting inside as it is outside and I was immediately attracted by this statue called The Meeting Place by Paul Day. The frieze at the base of the statue caught my eye in particular. It features images from the history of the Tube and train: soldiers departing for war, people queuing, even a couple embracing while one of them keeps looking at her phone (very contemporary).

I heard the piece did not get good reviews. Not brainy enough probably. Call me cheesy or naïve, but I liked it.

At first I thought it was a tribute to soldiers who went to war

London being such a big and busy city, I sometimes felt it difficult to find a quiet place. As a tourist you just don't know where to go. Fortunately, Anne knows some good spots and she took me to Berkeley square, where I practiced painting foliage and finally added the iconic red phone booths to my sketchbook. I couldn't leave London without at least one of these lovely red boxes.

 

No trace of the Tardis, though

Covent Garden, another one of those names you hear over and over again but can't really picture if you haven't been there before, is a bustling place with markets and lots of visitors.

While I was sketching, a German guy asked me if I could quickly sketch a reproduction of Van Gogh's Sunflowers. He was participating in a friendly competition over the city and one of the tasks was to copy the painting. He assured me he was no good at drawing at all, so I helped him cheat.

So many tourists!!

At some point, Anne took me to the Court of Justice, another impressive building. We sat on a bench in front of it, and in front of some activists from Anonymous who were protesting about something.  I find it very interesting to see something that I only know from TV or the internet. It makes it much more real.

This is where I lost one of my favourite pens...

In search for another quiet corner, we stopped near Fleet street to sketch these cute buildings. The area seemed to be full of solicitor's offices, there were smart-looking people coming and going.

Chim Chim Cher-ee

The whole afternoon I had songs from Marry Poppins stuck in my head.

Sketching London - Grenich

This year I was unable to go to the USk symposium again, but I still wanted to get a little bit of the symposium vibes and meet up with some sketchers I don't usually see, so I spent one week in London with Stephanie Bower, Anne Percival and Gail Wong.

I haven't been very prolific these last few months and this was just the thing to get me sketching again.

It was my first real visit to London and I couldn't have had better company or better weather (up to over 30 °C!!).

My journey started with the usual plane sketch, nothing out of the ordinary. I gave up trying to make the perspective look accurate when I noticed that the left seat was way too narrow, so I just continued adding watercolour pencil lines and colour.

According to this sketch, the girl sitting next to me had a really long neck

After landing, I immediately went to the area where the apartment I shared with Stephanie, Anne and Gail was located and sat down at a Costa cafe while waiting for the ladies. Plenty of time to sketch the street outside and to realize that we were staying right next to Chinatown. The first "Chinatown" I have ever been to. There is no such thing in Luxembourg.

The lion on the wall should have tipped me off

The next day, Stephanie, Anne and I (Gail arrived a few days later) headed out to sketch the city first thing in the morning. We didn't need to get very far, in fact we walked about 20 metres before we stopped to sketch the pub across the street, the St. James Tavern.

To be honest, I had absolutely no plan with this sketch - but then again, I rarely do - and I just whipped out my watercolours. Then getting a bit frustrated with that, I continued in watercolour pencil and ballpoint pen. 

The buses just wouldn't stand still!

Anne, who knows London quite a bit, guided us through the city and at some point we arrived at Westminster palace. I had an "OMG I'm in London" moment when Big Ben started chiming as we were sketching the palace. Coincidentally, did you know that Big Ben is the name of the bell, not of the tower itself, which is called Elisabeth Tower.

I saw the beautiful Michelle Yeoh here! Got completely starstruck

After lunch, we took the boat to Greenwich (pronounced "Grenich", as I learned), where we stumbled upon a graduation, which I just had to sketch.

It was very interesting to see all the capes and catch glimpses of what the graduates were wearing under them. The women in particular were dressed from proper to fancy to pretty slutty. Interesting mixture of genres.

It was a beautiful day for such an occasion

I caught Stephanie and Anne in action after I finished gawking at the graduates.

Masterpieces being created

Finally, before leaving we walked up the hill to see the Greenwich line. Unfortunately the site was already closed, but we could see the famous time line from afar. The view over London from there was stunning. Stephanie started sketching it, so I tried my hand at it as well. Though for me it was all done in line work - no time or energy for more.

Panoramic views, always challenging

We headed back to Piccadilly after this, with a few sketches and quite a sunburn to show for it.

Workshop in Newbury - round 2

The second round of the Newbury workshops started with Inma Serrano again. We continued focusing on composition, but this time the exercise was reversed: Inma gave each of us
a diagram of the composition she wanted us to use and we had to make our sketch according to that plan.

My first one was fairly easy to use,specially since ...

... my fellow sketchers were seated in a very convenient way that fit the diagram perfectly.

The second diagram I received was a bit trickier, and I don't think I managed to do the exercise as well, but hey, that's how you improve.

I have to say this was one of the best exercises on composition I have had so far. Usually you study composition by analyzing existing works, but the reverse is much more challenging and really makes you think about your work beforehand.

The second round with Isabel Carmona was again focused on watercolour, but not excusively. We were asked to sketch the same view twice, using watercolour in different ways and combined with another medium.

For the first one, I used watercolour in layers and only added a line of ballpoint pen in the foreground later (it seems that I cannot do without line altogether).

For the second sketch, I used mainly line work and and added a bit of watercolour to emphasize a few places.

For the very last workshop with Swasky we went to Marks and Spencer, where he asked us to tell a story of what was going on inside and outside of the building...

... and then we had a portrait exchange. I sketched Brenda and Swasky himself. I discovered that I am much more comfortable making a portrait of someone who is not looking at me directly. Less pressure, I suppose.

All in all, I enjoyed the Newbury workshops immensely. Not only were the teachers very knowledgeable, but you could also feel how their approaches complemented each other in the end.

It was a very enriching experience and I felt like I learned a lot to be used in future sketches.

Workshop in Newbury - round 1

Last month, I spent one week in Newbury, UK, to participate in a USk workshop called "Pushing your sketching boundaries", held by Isabel Carmona, Inma Serrano and Swasky.

I decided to attend this workshop because I won't be able to go to the Symposium in Manchester this year and, more importantly, because I really admire the work of these artists.

The workshop was built up in two rounds consisting of three workshops each, one with each teacher focusing on one specific aspect of sketching.

My group started with Inma Serrano, who focused on composition. Inma started by teaching us a few basic principles of composition (line weight, colour, layout, etc.), which we later had to put into practice at the local cemetery, in black and white.

It is one of the most beautiful and peaceful cemeteries I have visited so far

The second workshop of round 1 was held by Isabel Carmona, who focused more on watercolour techniques and colour in general.

We started with short exercises where we had to sketch a subject in watercolour only, adding layers until we were happy with our sketch.

We then went to the Newbury Corn Exchange where we had to sketch the same subject using 2 different approaches: one where we used only watercolour for the background and another technique for the foreground, and vice-versa for the second sketch.

Watercolour background and pencil foreground

When working with watercolour, I have difficulties using bright colours and always stick too closely to reality. I asked Isabel for some advice on how to detach myself more from my subject and she just said: just pick a random colour. So I did. And I had a lot of fun doing it!

Watercolour foreground and ballpoint background

I have to say I'm still more comfortable using line than watercolour only, but this exercise was a good compromise between both and I will probably do it again on occasion.

The last workshop of the first round was held by Swasky, an illustrator from Barcelona. He focused on storytelling and on how to add text to your sketches to tell a story.

I rarely think about text in my sketches and when I do add some it's usually in hindsight. Plus I usually never know what to write anyway.

It was an interesting exercise to plan ahead, determining in advance where the text will be later. However, I feel I still have to practice it a lot before it becomes something like second nature.

Swasky reassured us saying that it is normal to end up with a result that has little to do with the initial plan. The important thing is to go through the planning process so in time we can leave the result less to chance.

View over Newbury from the top of the church

Newbury is a lovely town, the perfect place to have my first glimpse of the British lifestyle. Exploring it in the framework of a sketching workshop adds another interesting dimension to it. We were even relatively lucky with the weather!

INCAOS - CASINO

The April Sketchcrawl with the USk Luxembourg took place at the Casino - Forum d'Art contemporain in Luxembourg city.

We were curious to see what the Casino looked like after it had been closed for some months for some works.

The whole ground floor was changed and a cafeteria was added, the one thing I always thought was missing at that museum.

A few of us braved the wind and sketched outside. There was just time enough for this sketch before it started raining.

I like how the letters of the Casino were shifted and spell "Incaos", a remnant from an exhibition a few years ago. It feels like an insider joke.

Sadly I had to leave early, so I didn't have time for more than one sketch. It was great to see a few new faces. Hopefully more regulars for our group.

Overlooking the city

Last Sunday, we met with Urban Sketchers Luxembourg at the Observatoire, the bar of hotel Sofitel.

I had heard that it offered an amazing view of the city, but I had never been there before. I was not disappointed.

Everyone was drawn to the windows and tried their best to sketch the cityscape.

Personally, I am not used to that exercise at all and I found it very difficult, getting lost in too many details at some point.

There was a moment when I realized that I would never get to the kind of result I was expecting, so I just started to try out different things, playing with colour, ink and pencil. It was much more fun this way.

We do live in a beautiful city!

After the difficult landscape, I took a "break" and sketched the beautiful tea set in front of me. It really felt like I was breathing easily again. I'm definitely not at ease with big city scapes yet.

Green tea to get in a more zen mood

It's interesting how a change of subject can help me get much more playful with my sketches. I felt much looser to do a quick detail of one of the main bridges, the Pont Viaduc.

I love bridges

As I mentioned, this was a very unusual exercise for me, but one I think I will repeat in the future. Specially at this location.