The Early Bird Catches Barcelona

3/25/13 Platinum Sepia ink, watercolor, Stillman & Birn sketchbook

Fully tanked with coffee and my finger twitching on the mouse button, I impatiently waited for my laptop clock to read 6:00 a.m. PDT, when registration for the Fourth International Urban Sketchers Symposium in Barcelona would open worldwide. I knew that at previous symposia, registration filled within hours of opening, and hundreds of disappointed sketchers weren’t able to nab the 150 available seats, so I was ready.

 

After an initial “browser cookie issue” nearly caused panic at the virtual door, I shoved my way in. A few mouse clicks later, I was one of 150 happy symposium registrants who made it in – I’m going to Barcelona! I even got all my first-choice workshops! (Sure enough, about two hours later, the symposium was full.)

 

3/25/13 Diamine Chocolate Brown ink, Stillman & Birn sketchbook

As if that weren’t enough to make my day, the sun came out, and this time it wasn’t preceded by snow flurries. With afternoon temperatures in the 60s, it actually felt like spring! With so many things to celebrate, MiataGrrl took the top down and headed for the zoo.

 

I wasn’t the only one eager to get out in the sunshine. The African Savannah was crowded with zebras, water fowl and two giraffes grazing at a large tree. Wanting to stay in the sun, I almost bypassed the Komodo dragon, but the big guy is hard to resist – he hardly moves. In fact, it had been nearly a year since I last sketched him, so he was worth a quick pen sketch. He was in particularly fine form today, drooling profusely, which caused no end of delight among the kids watching him.

 

3/25/13 Private Reserve Velvet Black ink, Zig markers

Taking a break outside the Rain Forest Food Pavilion, I sketched a family and yet another Chinese windmill palm tree – my third in two months. My last sketch at the zoo was of a man who was happy to catch a few Z’s while waiting for his grandkids to find him.

 

3/25/13 Pilot Iroshizuku Take-Sumi ink

 

Today my sister would have turned 67 years old if she had survived the heart failure that took her life a few weeks after her 65^th birthday. All day, I thought of her and everything I’m grateful for, every day, with every sketch I make. I don’t take any of them for granted.