Sketches from Porto, USk Symposium

I thought it was too late to be posting sketches from the Symposium in Porto. But, encouraged by Jane's recent post with her post-symposium sketches, I decided better late than never. So here are some of the drawings I did during the Symposium sketchcrawls and the classes I took. It was the first time I have attended a Symposium, but I hope it's not the last. It was amazing to be so immersed in sketching and surrounded so continuously by sketchers! I am posting just a few sketches here, but more are on Instagram. I am Sue.Heston on Instagram.



This is one of the drawings I did in Jose Louro's workshop. I also took a workshop with Joao Catarino, and both of these guys stretched the way I think of urban sketching.



What? A watercolor? Charline Moreau demoed a monochrome watercolor underpainting technique that was all about values and it really resonated with me!



This was the scene at the Final Sketchcrawl - sketchers as far as the eye could see (over 500!).



And one of my personal favs from a sketchcrawl in the "upper city" to wrap up a picture-heavy post.

2016 Manchester Symposium Registration starts January 30!!

Once a year, the Urban Sketchers community convenes in one place for its annual symposium.  This is a fabulous, impressively well-organized 3-day event that brings together hundreds of sketchers from all over the world to sketch, learn, and share!  The energy and inspiration are amazing, and the opportunity to take workshops, learn from, and yes, sketch next to people I admire, is just incredible. You can arrive knowing no one and leave with friends you'll keep the rest of your life.

End of 2015 symposium photo in Singapore, photo by Azzam Bre Mahputra, USk.

This year's USk Symposium will be in Manchester, England, July 27-30, 2016.

Now, the reason for this post...
early bird registration starts THIS SATURDAY, January 30 online.
If you are interested in attending, I strongly suggest you set your alarm and sign up as soon as registration is open, as this is going to be a popular and well-attended event--it may sell out very quickly!!

For more information on how to register and the different passes that are available, go to 
the newly updated Urban Sketchers website www.urbansketchers.org and click on the 
"Symposium" tab...

Hope to see you in Manchester!!

Urban Sketchers Symposium

Singapore 2015

Registration is still open for the International Urban Sketchers Symposium in Singapore July 22-25.

Join the amazing faculty for top-notch programming open to sketchers of all levels, experience, and backgrounds!

Workshop passes and Sketching passes are still available – standard registration is open through May 31.

For more information about the Symposium including schedule and registration information, please visit http://singapore2015.urbansketchers.org/    The link is also found on the right hand margin here... just click there on this logo.  

Portal to another summer adventure...

Wow...two weeks from this moment, I'll be wedged into a coach seat on a plane...heading to Rome.

With the Civita Institute's Astra Zarina fellowship, I'll be spending 2 months in the teeny Etruscan/Roman/Medieval/Renaissance (and it pretty much stops there) hill town of Civita di Bagnoregio ITALY, literally following the footsteps of other Seattle sketchers like Anita Lehmann and Dave Boyd who were there last summer.  The project:  to create an illustrated walking guide to the town, as tons of tourists show up and quickly walk from one end to the other, never knowing that they are in a really amazing, historic place.

I'll also be teaching the second annual DRAW CIVITA-- 5 day sketching workshop in July (and yes, there will be a DRAW CIVITA 2015)...
 http://www.stephaniebower.com/DRAW_CIVITA_2014Info.pdf  as well as joining the Urban Sketchers in Rome for sketchcrawls.  It will be great to see the Good Bones 2 sketchers Ben and Francesca who work for Rick Steves and are based in Rome--they are really good, brand new sketchers!  The plan is to also visit a few of the gardens that predate those I studied in France last year, the Villa Lante and Villa d'Este...lots of perspective there...

Then in late August, I'll board a plane again to join the Urban Sketchers community at the symposium in Brazil to teach a workshop called "180 Degrees", which will include lots of how-to information on basic perspective. I love these wide angle views, as they really put you in the space!  And if Paraty is anything like Barcelona last year, it will be amazing--so very, very well organized, an incredibly fun opportunity for any and all sketchers.

Look for a few posts to the Seattle Urban Sketchers blog, but if you are interested in following the daily posts, go to:
blog: www.stephaniebower.blogspot.com
flickr:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/83075812@N07/
or through Google+ (and I have no idea how to post a link to that site...)

It appears that lightening can strike the same place twice, I am so very, very grateful for these utterly amazing opportunities and adventures. My gosh, it honestly seems too good to be true.

180 degree view of Civita's Piazza in front of the Chiesa San Donato 2013

180 degree view of the Interior of Civita's Chiesa San Donato 2013

Walking through this portal into Civita is like entering a time machine,
as it throws you back many hundreds of years...and a
spell comes over you. It is such an amazing ancient place, perched
like an island high above the valley below.

Home from Portland

Whew! The Symposium was exciting, intense, tiring and very inspiring. Many talented people who were thrilled to be with so many others who also understand the joy of sketching. When we looked at the work displayed on the last day, there was that delightful recognition that we all had been in similar settings but expressed them in so many different ways. 

Many thanks to Gabi for organizing it all and the amazing instructors and correspondents, some of whom came many, many miles to be there.

Here are a few of my sketches.  Portland was a perfect setting with endless possibilities.

 

Yes, indeed, Susan and I did sneak off for  a visit to the Lu San Chinese Garden and it was exquisite. I settled for trying to capture the mood.

And this from a session on urban line drawing with Lapin in China Town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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My lesson from the urban architecture session with Frank -"Think about foreground."