Ellie’s Scooter Plus Symposium Sharing

9/14/19 Ellie's Aprilia Scarabeo (with Kate's Prius behind it)

Ellie Doughty rides an adorable Aprilia Scarabeo scooter. When USk Seattle met in the Queen Anne neighborhood today, I didn’t get farther than the meetup point because I wanted to sketch the scooter right there where she had parked it. Bonus: I knew she wasn’t going to move it anytime soon.

Our sketch outing was in a slightly different format than usual. After sketching, we had our throwdown in the Queen Anne branch library conference room. We then stayed on for a brown bag lunch and informal presentations by those who attended the Amsterdam symposium. In addition to sharing information about their workshops and other symposium experiences, several participants passed around their Amsterdam sketchbooks. Since I had very little opportunity to see Seattle sketchers while there, it was especially fun to hear about everyone’s experiences and see their sketches.

Sharing symposium experiences

We all liked this alley!

Welcome to Reema (front) visiting from Minnesota!

cycling in Noord Holland

long time no post! as some of you know, I spent 6 weeks between late June and early August in Europe, and taught workshops at the USK symposium in Amsterdam (absolutely amazing experience, full of good sketching vibes). I hope to share some of that work with you in our review meetup in a couple weeks! In the meantime, here's a few sketches from my adventures post-symposium in Noord-Holland.

 I ended up in this region mostly because I needed to book something last minute and almost everything was already full and/or out of my budget price range. I stayed in a 500 year old B&B above a restaurant in a tiny town called Bovenskarspel, a 10 minute bike ride from canal town Enkhuizen (above). I just spent the four days biking around that small city & the countryside. A lot of it, surprise to me, was all mega-agricultural land owned by Monsanto and Sygenta, etc. so it wasn't cute. But biking down south took me along the Markermeer and farmlands and tiny towns, marked by the church steeples on the horizon, like the below sketch I made at sunset.

One day, I realized I wasn't going to make it to the restaurant I was excited about eating at before they closed (because I spent too long sketching!!!) so I just went to the closest one I could find, in a town called Wijdenes. The burger at their only open restaurant was actually one of the best I've had in my life (caveat: I was extremely hungry). This was the view from my outdoor seat (below). Just to my left, all the tables were taken by this weird motor-bicycle gang that passed me on the road earlier. Literally bicycles with really loud motors, all identical. The waitress said my drawing inspired her to look at her town and "the things she sees everyday" with fresh eyes. That made me really happy.

I finally made it to the small city Hoorn just a couple hours before sunset. It was way cuter than I thought so I was kinda mad I didn't have time to explore as much as I wanted. There was a huge historic harbor and a cool old tower (below) in the center of town with a lively restaurant at its base. Two things I miss constantly about Europe: the church towers chiming the hours, and the outdoor dining/drinking culture. 

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Amsterdam: A Sizzling Symposium

As soon as I arrived, I could see immediately why Amsterdam had been an easy win as a symposium host. Its extraordinary architecture, well-designed urban spaces, geographic compactness and humanely flat terrain all made it an extremely appealing city for sketchers.

Amsterdam skyline sketched from inside NEMO cafe

Arriving a couple of days ahead of the symposium, I awaited the event with excitement and much anticipation (as I’m sure my 600-plus fellow participants were also feeling). In retrospect, I’m very happy that I had the days before and after the event to sketch, because we were all in for unexpectedly harsh conditions.

Sketches made at dusk and dawn to beat the heat.

A record-breaking heatwave broiled the region for four long days – precisely the four days of the 10^th international Urban Sketchers Symposium. When I started hearing reports from locals that the temperature was expected to hit 40 C, it didn’t mean much to me (I couldn’t make the conversion to Fahrenheit in my mind). But when I saw the triple digits in Fahrenheit on my phone’s weather app, I fully comprehended the meaning: Lots of sweat and difficult sketching! To make matters worse, Amsterdam typically does not suffer such high temperatures, so many homes, hotels and businesses are not air conditioned. Relief wasn’t easy to find.

Montelbaanstoren, one of the most-often-sketched towers in Amsterdam

Fortunately, workshops were scheduled for the mornings while temperatures were still in the 80s and lower 90s, and shade made conditions bearable. However, I forfeited most of the afternoon sketchwalks, demos and other outdoor activities and instead retreated to whatever air-conditioned venues I could find. A favorite was the NEMO Science Museum’s large upper-floor café, which offered a nearly 360-degree view of the city. (I explored the sketchwalk neighborhoods on my own after the symposium was over and the heatwave subsided, so at least I was able to sketch in those areas – though it wasn’t the same without other sketchers everywhere.)

I missed the Jordaan and Spui neighborhood sketchwalks, but I caught them later on my own. 

Despite the unexpected hardship of high heat, I enjoyed reuniting with old friends, seeing in person those whom I’ve otherwise known only through social media, and meeting new sketchers from around the world. While I value the inspirational opportunity of workshops, the main reason I attend symposiums is to join the camaraderie of my international tribe. For a few days each year, I am fully immersed in this worldwide community that I cherish. And I’m always grateful to the many volunteers who worked hard for well over a year to make this symposium possible.

Statue of Rembrandt sketched from inside an air-conditioned hotel bar

For a report on the excellent workshops I took from Norberto Dorantes and Nina Johansson, please see my personal blog. My last sketch made in Amsterdam, shown at the top of this post, is one of my favorite sketches from my trip to Holland (which also included Haarlem and Delft). I incorporated compositional ideas and methods that I learned from both Nina and Norberto as I planned this sketch.

A canal street near my apartment.

Westerkerk's spire