Few days in Lisbon I Part 1

After the Symposium of Urban sketchers in Porto, we went to spend 5 days in Lisbon with my husband. Full of the creative energy received previously, I kept on drawing Lisbon that I was discovering for the first time. Here also I divided my drawings into two different sketchbooks:  the moleskine for the colorful sketches… and the Leuchtturm1917 for the people. You will discover the second one in a next post.

First place you go when you arrive after 5 days of traveling ? The public laundry !

Second place you go ? To rent a motocycle and sketch while your husband is closing the deal !

Gracia neighborhood, The lady of the hill square : an amazing view on Lisbon

We staid between Bairro alto and Principe real. Very funny trendy bars to sketch at night…

… and more classy streets of Principe Real during the day !

Few sketches of LX Factory block, cool place to hang out !

Fancy restaurant in LX Factory

A shop in LX Factory 

 LX Factory again

Window shopping at night in Principe Real… Super sad but very unexpected model to draw.

The entry of our street

Our courtyard

Urban Sketchers Symposium 2018 in Porto I Part 2

Porto became one of the favorite destination for tourism in Europe.

The city definitely deserves this attention for its beauty but also for the kindness of its locals !

I kept the sketchbook offered during the symposium by the sponsor LEUCHTTURM1917 to draw the people I met there. To remind me of the atmosphere between the sketchers during the symposium, portraiting people from all around the world, so happy to meet again in Porto…

Openning reception in Alfândega do Porto

Openning reception in Alfândega do Porto

Openning reception in Alfândega do Porto

Openning reception in Alfândega do Porto

Drink and draw meeting in Ribeira square

Drink and draw meeting in Ribeira square

Drink and draw meeting in Ribeira square

Final sketchcrawl in Praça da Liberdade

Final sketchcrawl in Praça da Liberdade

Closing reception in Alfândega do Porto

Closing reception in Alfândega do Porto

Closing reception in Alfândega do Porto • The 3 great correspondants

Closing reception in Alfândega do Porto

… Then I sketched also people in the streets, locals taking care of their guests or having a nice meal in a small restaurant.

Near Alfândega do Porto • Refugio 112

Near Alfândega do Porto • Refugio 112

Refugio 112 • 112 rua Armenia (Near Alfândega do Porto)
Nina, the daughter of the owner, watched me sketching the 2 previous drawings so I asked her to stand in front of me to do her portrait

Dona Arepa, Venezuelian food • 221 rua de Cedofeita

Churrasqueira • 136 Campo Martires da Patria

Thanks to all the organizers, the volunters

My last and next post about Porto will be about the workshops I attended… 

Urban Sketchers Symposium 2018 in Porto I Part 1

In July took place in Porto, Portugal the 9th Symposium of Urban sketchers. I was lucky enough to be there and enjoy the beauty of the city and the kindness of the locals ! The city offers many angles to sketch, it's very colorfull, light and shades are very contrasted due to the sun but also because of the narrow small streets. It always takes time for me to figure out what techniques to use to describe and be truthfull towards what I have in front of my eyes… Here are my sketches, trying different approaches in my Moleskine sketchbook.

Lamy fountain pen ink and watercolor

Lamy fountain pen ink and watercolor

Lamy fountain pen ink and watercolor

Watercolor and watercolor pencils

Watercolor and watercolor pencils

Here is a funny story… I did this following drawing from the window of my guesthouse the first day I arrived. The building on the other side of the street was a ruin and the roof full of holes. The windows were broken but still, but you could still see the beauty of the windows… 

Watercolor and watercolor pencils

… Workers started to come the next morning and demolish the roof… 5 days later, I did another drawing:  the roof totally disappeared and I could discover the iron work of the staircase inside. 

Does this building still exist today ?

Lamy fountain pen ink and watercolor

I tryed here to work in direct watercolor, which is not my habit…

Watercolor

Watercolor

Watercolor

And to finish this post, I want to show you a playfull attempt with ink and collage, stealing my son's (used) origami papers to evokes the azulejos of Porto, the colorful ceramics on the buildings…

Pentel brush pen and collage

Japanese brush pen and collage

Collage with origami paper

I guess that you will wonder where is the huge amount of people I could meet in Porto… In a next post, I will show the sketches I did of the funny faces of tourists, sketchers and locals I drew in the LEUCHTTURM1917 sketchbook offered by the sponsor during the symposium !

A trip to London

This summer, after the symposium of Urban sketchers in Manchester that I attended for the first time, I stayed 4 days in London. To visit museums and sketch the city was the main program of this journey!

Here is what came up in London, after 4 intensive days of workshops and being confronted to many techniques, savoir-faire and talented people…

To sketch artists working on a big surface is a real challenge because they move a lot, quickly,
and I felt that I should respect their work in my own sketch by trying to make a minimum of resemblance…

To eat cold is a part of urban sketcher's life… !!!

A bit hard to draw after having seen so many interesting masterpieces in the Tate gallery

Funny place to have a drink in Hoxton, I added the wall paper afterwards on photoshop

The best restaurants in London are asian in my opinion…
This young asian woman was actually blond… she was coming straight from a manga graphic novel !

I went to David Hockney's exhibition in the Royal Academy of Arts:  82 portraits of people sat on a yellow chair!
Here is my homage:  2 women sat on purple armchairs…

A very good corean restaurant in the China town of London. This is the same woman cooking from front and from behind.

Trafalgar square after having visited the National Gallery

People on Trafalgar square by night

Having a rest in the Soho Theater cafe

I had to sketch the funny furnitures of the apartment in Hoxton before I give back the kees !

I had some time to sketch before I take my Eurostar to France… The St Pancras Hotel was a good challenge

Then I tried to catch "the jungle of the city" before I leave London…

In the train station waiting for my train…

A japonese family in the Eurostar