USk Symposium Manchester


Already a month since Usk Manchester 2016- First day in Manchester, we arrived late and headed straight to the Curry Mile, unable to resist our craving for Indian food. Good thing we did that- we didn´t manage to return in the following days.
The next day we took the architectural city tour- though Phil asked us not too, i couldn´t resist a couple of scribbles. Again, good thing i did that, because i didn´t manage to return to the Imperial war museum or Ancoats in the following days.
This is the view from our flat in the Northern Quarter. Next day, exploring the City center, especially around Albert Square, since this was where i´d do my demo. But first, i got lost near the River Irwell and painted this morning sketch on the bridge.


This corner, of Wakefield street just next to Oxford Road Station, was sketched a lot- apparently one of those beautiful old pubs is going to be demolished.


In the evening, reception night in the town hall- a very impressive setting and afterwards, some busy sketchers on Albert square. Next day, the workshops start.


First workshop was Marina Grechanik´s- it felt like going back to basics, but in a necessary and good way-thinking about how and why we sketch and the stories we want to tell in our sketchbooks. Also first lesson in ignoring the british weather- it was bad.


I was also faculty for the first time, doing a demo near Albert square, which was fun. Here´s the result of the second demo i did.





Another workshop was car sketching with Lapin and Gerard Michel, inetersting to finally figure out that warped perspective when you´re sitting way to close to your subject.



 And Veronica Lawlor´s workshop, where finally the concept of thumbails start to sink in! Only took a couple of years.Love the combo Pentel/Brushpen + rain. Later on i ran out of painting water and took some from the canal- good thing you don´t need pure, brilliant colours when you´re painting in the rain.



This year´s Drink n Draw location was very pretty- the Peveril of the Peak, whatever that means,
these are some non-sketcher enjoying their pints.

Our last day in Manchester was spent in the Northern Quarter, exploring some more and drawing brick & back alleys.





The building above  is on Stephenson Square and houses the Art Store of my dreams. We then went back to the city center for some views and buildings spotted over the past days, for example the Gotham Building below. It merited some dramatic watercolour, i think.

Sinclair´s Oyster Bar was my last drawing in Manchester- this time.

Galicia

Short Trip to northern Spain and Portugal in June, these are a couple from Galicia.
This mother and her toddler were shockingly color coordinated- on a nice evening on Praza da Constitucío in Vigo.
A hórreo gallego, a typical granary found in almost every backyard in rural Galicia, this one was rather atypically by the hotel pool.

Impressive Faro de Vilán on Costa da Morte, which apparently is already in A Coruña.
Slowly making my way to Santiago, where it´s great fun to watch pilgrims arrive at the cathedral and to wander around the old town.



Rüsselsheim


Going through the sketchbooks of the past months and fondly remembering visiting Rüsselsheim. The town is known for the Opel factory, which dates back to 1862 and produced sewing machines and bicycles before switching to cars some years later.
Another interesting trip with Urban Sketchers Rheinmain.

Chicken & Cars


 A curious mix of subjects in my sketchbook lately.

The chicken were sketched at a poultry fair in Ellershausen. We went just to watch, mainly the day old chicks, but somehow we ended up with a car filled with chirping paper boxes. Apparently two Zwergwyandotten could not be left behind, and neither could some day old chicks.


Then  i sketched some cars at PS Speicher in Einbeck, a newly opened transport museum. It has as great collection of european microcars from the 1950s and 1960s i hadn´t seen before.

Robina



I hadn´t done any nude drawing in ages, but enjoyed it lots. It´s always a bit frustrating when the best drawing of a three hour session is thast second six minute pose! But still, i´ll try again soon.

Darmstadt




Like every month, we met up with Urban Sketchers Rheinmain. In February, we gathered at Landesmuseum to draw exhibits. After the museum closed, we sketched a typical Darmstadt backyard wit 1950s architecture. Then we continued on to the Krone, a badly lit pub and finished our sketching day with some astonishisngly cheap beer..

Heidelberg



A day trip to Heidelberg to meet some local sketchers. We explored the Karzer, a prison for misbehaving university students, which existed till the beginning of the 19th century. During its last days, students actually wanted to be imprisoned there- mostly to paint their names, portraits and stories on the walls. Favorite quote: 
Weil wir als ehrliche Leute 5 auf der Strasse gefundene Bausteine auf der Polyzei ablieferten, indem wir sie mit der Bezeichnung Fundobjekt in die Wachstube warfen, sitzen wir hier als Märtyrer unserer Ehrlichkeit!
As honest people who´d found 5 bricks on the street, what else could we do but deliver them as found property to the police by throwing them in the guard room?  So we sit here as martyrs of our honesty!


We continued the day with  frozen fingers on the old bridge, then thawing them in the old university lecture hall. Finished it all off with some mulled wine on the christmas market.

Senckenbergmuseum



 The museum Senckenberg in Frankfurt am Main is one of the largest museum of natural history in Germany. Its popular with visitors, mainly because of its dinosaur fossil collection. It has been in existence for such a long time that it has become an attraction of its own: not for being sciency, but for displaying weird exhibits. Apart from good old T-Rex, you can find a a very dusty, stuffed anaconda eating a pig. There´s the usual stuffed animals, but also the scull of a conjoined twin calf. There are also exhibition cabinets from the 19th century displaying specimens in jars, immersed in formalin- a rather gruesome attraction, but very interesting.

Matera


Matera is a city in southern Italy, in the province Basilicata. It is known as the subterranean city because of its structure of ancient cave dwellings which were inhabited since 7000 BC- and some of them were left only in the 1950s. The so-called  "Sassi" make up the old city center and are famous as film sets.






Ischia



The IV° Naples Urban Sketching Workshop took place on Ischia Island, in and around Castello Aragonese. The tourist season was mostly over by mid October and the setting was superb- picturesque, peaceful but not too smooth. The family owned castle was a treasure, with its own garden, labyrinthic paths and beautiful views. Simo organized the event, did a lovely workshop,as did Caroline Peyron and Kelly Medford.









The castle still houses the studio of Signore Matera, the castle owner/painter. It has been left in its original condition since Matera´s death ten years ago. Caroline Peyron encouraged us to do collage in her workshop and we tried to recreate the shapes and colours in the oil paintings standing in his atelier. I was fascinated by the huge pile of brushes that was left behind.
Nowadays his children continue to manage the Castle, which is a tourist attraction and houses cafés, a restaurant and a hotel.




Our last day was spend in Negombo, a beach/botanical garden/pool plus hot springs that was named after a srilankan beach- no similarity whatsoever, but it has a nice ring to it. The hosts were incredible and accomadated the sketchers in every possible way.

I spent four days at Castello Aragonese but i could have easily stayed and sketched a couple more- like in Cattedrale dell'Annunziata, a cathedral ruin. There were also spectacular views of Ischia and the mainland everywhere you looked.


Two days in Napoli


I spent two days in Naples on my way to the IV° Naples Urban Sketching Workshop (which actually took place in Ischia). Naples was incredibly busy, and it felt quite different from the Italy i knew; i had never been this far south. The narrow streets of Quartieri Spagnoli (supposedly not the best neighbourhood) were much calmer than the city center and were great to sketch. I had various very nice conversations with locals in my non existent italian while i painted the view below.


There where some beautiful places to explore, especially old book and antique stores. The weather wasn´t great, but it´s a chance to draw people with colourful umbrellas. And of course, a panoramic view with the Vesuv in the background was a must.