UK, Part 6: Learnings and Other Thoughts

Making a very fast sketch like this of
Nina Johanssen's workshop students . . . 

In addition to my travel sketch-kit follow-up post, in which I review the items I used most and which could have stayed home, there’s one more post I like to follow every major travel opportunity with, especially when it includes a symposium: Things I learned. After Barcelona I divided my learnings into two posts: things I gleaned from the symposium itself, and insights about how to prep for symposiums in general (I just reread that one for the first time since I wrote it, and I’m pleased that my advice then still holds up). After Paraty I also talked about the symposium activities as well as workshops.

Although it’s been a week since I’ve returned from the UK and had time to think about my experiences there, I still haven’t fully processed what I’ve learned. I’m not sure I can articulate all my thoughts and feelings, but I’ll just begin and see where this post lands me.

Some things I learned were about my own process, tools and materials. While taking workshops at previous symposiums taught me specific techniques and approaches that I could then apply to my sketching practice when I returned home, my experience in Manchester was entirely different, of course. As a correspondent, whatever I learned had to come from myself on the fly. Because speed was so important, I had to abandon all temptation of detail, and the best way I knew to do that was to rely on brush pens. I brought several, and the two I used most were my favorite Kuretake (No. 13) hairy brush pen filled with Platinum Carbon Black ink and a waterproof Deleter Neopiko Line 3 non-hairy brush pen. Both served me well in different ways – the non-hairy Deleter providing a harder, marker-like line, and the hairy Kuretake providing a more freeform, organic line. With these types of brush pens in hand, I can’t really hesitate or waffle, and I finish quickly, whether I’m ready to or not.

. . . added to my agility and confidence in using the
same brush pen to make this sketch in Bath.

I found that using brush pens so often in the course of three-and-a-half days gave me the confidence to use them the rest of my time in the UK, too. I started learning last November in Japan that I enjoy making challenging architectural sketches more when I used a brush pen instead of a fine point. I’m still finding that to be true, and I’m gaining more agility as I use brush pens more frequently.

Other learnings were more about the symposium experience itself. As was the case at previous symposiums, I learned that many attendees did not have a local Urban Sketchers group at home. In many cases, participating in the international symposium was their first experience sketching with other people. Once again, I felt grateful for my own Urban Sketchers Seattle group and how easy it is for me to sketch with like-minded friends whenever I want to; we have outings nearly every week. If I drive a bit further south and include opportunities with USk Tacoma, I can sketch with a group more than weekly! Some attendees I talked to were amazed to hear that, and I don’t take my USk friends and our outings for granted.

I am immensely grateful to Urban Sketchers for having given me the opportunity to be a correspondent this year. While in Barcelona and Paraty I had the benefit of my specific workshop exercises and the instructors’ particular approaches, this year I had a much greater appreciation for the larger symposium experience. Every time I visited a workshop or other activity to report on it, I saw so much energy and commitment – from the instructors as well as the students. That level of passion is inspiring and invigorating to witness. I felt a greater commitment to my own task because I wanted to share what I saw.

The whole Urban Sketchers "tribe," 500+ strong, in Manchester!
Can you find me? 

It was incredibly rewarding to “be among my tribe,” so to speak, in Manchester. There’s something very special about walking down a street and seeing sketchers literally everywhere you turn. In an international setting, even when language might be a barrier in other circumstances, carrying a sketchbook makes language mostly unnecessary. You just open your book and share. Time and time again, I was moved by this experience.

Meeting sketchers whose work I have long admired online is always special. So is becoming reacquainted with people I met at previous symposiums. I can’t say this with enough emphasis: While workshops and activities may be the attraction of symposiums, the real value is the face-to-face experience with people.

In Paraty I participated in the annual silent auction at the closing reception by placing a winning bid for Joao Catarino’s gorgeous watercolor sketch (you can see it in this post). I decided early on that I would give back a little to Urban Sketchers this time by donating a sketch to the auction in Manchester myself.

I was concerned that none of my necessarily hastily made sketches would be worthy of the auction, and ultimately none of my results were the kind of sketches anyone (not even I!) would frame and hang on a wall. But as I flipped through my sketchbook looking for potential donation candidates, I was surprised by how difficult it was to consider giving them away. Even sketches that were not in any way beautiful still meant something to me – and I knew they meant much more to me than they ever would to someone else.

My winning bid bought this fantastic sketch by Suhita
Shirodkar!

Ultimately I decided to donate a sketch I made of President Elizabeth Alley addressing the crowd during the opening reception. But I admit I influenced its purchase before making the commitment! I showed Elizabeth the sketch, still in my sketchbook, and said, “If I donate this to the auction, will you bid on it?” She said of course she would, so I finally tore it out!

What I’m leading up to is that at the silent auction, after some rather competitive bidding, I made the successful bid for a sketch by Suhita Shirodkar. Because of my own experience donating a sketch, I appreciate even more that I was able to take home Suhita’s lively, beautiful work and that she was willing to part with it. Even if I make a sketch with the full intention of selling or giving it away, it’s not easy, because it’s so full of my energy and spirit of the moment.

Finally, this isn’t a learning, but I forgot to include it in my first post about the symposium. It’s a link to Parka’s video in which he interviews me about being a correspondent. (I love having my 90 seconds of fame! ☺) In fact, if you want a glimpse of the symposium experience, Parka’s daily video coverage is a great way to get it!

UK, Part 1: Manchester and the Symposium

7/27/16 opening sketchcrawl

The 7th International Urban Sketchers Symposium in Manchester, England, was my third symposium experience (Barcelona and Paraty were the other two). Each time when I’ve returned and started blogging about it, I’ve had difficulty summarizing the many thoughts and feelings I’ve had around the three-and-a-half-day event (as well as the months of anticipation leading up to each). The intensity and immersion of non-stop urban sketching (and as a correspondent this year, I do literally mean non-stop!) and meeting and becoming reacquainted with hundreds of sketchers worldwide are at times invigorating and at other times overwhelming.

7/25/16 Palace Hotel

All of this was hard enough to keep up with when I was a regular attendee. This year, however, my added responsibilities as a symposium correspondent were challenging, to say the least! To adequately cover the symposium’s 26 workshops, eight activities, four demos and 11 lectures scheduled over the course of three days, my three correspondent colleagues and I made and used a color-coded Excel spreadsheet with coordinated maps! Running from workshop to workshop was complicated by rain, which required many instructors to change their venues at the last moment.

I knew that my typical sketching methods (spending 30 – 60 minutes per sketch) weren’t going to work as a correspondent. Surveying the workshop scene, I had to very quickly assess and convey the essence of what I experienced. As I listened to the instructors, I sometimes found myself (perhaps unconsciously) trying to emulate whatever concepts were being introduced with my own sketches. I gave myself at most 10 or 15 minutes per sketch, one or two per workshop or event, then moved on quickly to the next assignment on my schedule. All told, I made 27 sketches during the three-and-a-half days, then blogged each night (or first thing in the morning) about each day’s events. (I won’t even go into the challenges we faced in uploading sketches and composing text while using the hotel’s slow and sporadic Wi-Fi!)

7/31/16 Manchester Cathedral

Whenever I felt exhausted and overwhelmed, the dedication and commitment of Liz, Kumi and Javier kept me inspired and motivated! They were among the most positive, hard-working people I have ever had the privilege to work with in any context.

Shown here are some of my favorite sketches from the symposium as well as the few sketches I was able to make of Manchester on my own time. You can see the entire collection, as well as photos from the event, in my symposium Flickr album.

If you missed my live coverage during the symposium, you can find the posts on the Urban Sketchers Symposium blog:

Manchester Symposium, Day 1: Castlefield Sketchcrawl and Reception

Symposium Day 2: Rain is Not a Deterrent

Symposium Day 3: More Rain; Prison Inspiration 

Symposium Day 4: Dry at Last, Fond Farewells

7/30/16 final sketchcrawl

7/29/16 Sketchers sketching musicians.

7/28/16 Marc Holmes' students at Manchester Museum.

7/28/16 Ed Harker giving a presentation on urban sketching's roots.

7/28/16 USk President Elizabeth Alley speaks to the
crowd at the opening reception. (I put this sketch
into the auction, and Elizabeth bought it!)

7/27/16 Manchester Town Hall

7/27/16 Symposium opening reception at Town Hall.

Here's the symposium correspondents team looking fresh and lively
the day before the symposium began!

And here we are four days later at the closing party, looking happy, relieved and weary!

Off to the UK and the Manchester Symposium!

7/13/16 ink, colored pencils

We’re off on our first trip to the United Kingdom! Our itinerary includes London, Manchester and Bath, England, and several days in northern Wales. I keep hearing that summer in those parts is not very different from summer in these parts – mostly moderate in temperature but possibly wet and cool – so it’ll be just like home (well, except for the Edwardian castles, ancient Roman baths and warm beer).

The main event on my itinerary is, of course, the 7th International Urban Sketchers Symposium in Manchester, where I’ll be serving as one of four correspondents to report on the event. I’m mostly thrilled and excited, but I’m also a bit anxious and nervous. With two symposiums under my belt, I’m familiar with the intensity of being immersed in urban sketching for three-and-a-half solid days. I already know the fun of becoming reacquainted with worldwide sketchers and meeting ones I’ve known only online. The challenge of reporting on all of that, however, will be a very new experience.

I’ve practiced the mechanics of mobile blogging. My correspondents team and I have set up a Whatsapp group on our phones to facilitate communication. Heck, we even have a spreadsheet color-coded to the workshop map so that we can cover as many activities as possible. I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be! Wish me luck!

I won’t be blogging here while I’m gone, but on July 27 – 30, please check out the daily posts of the correspondents team on the Urban Sketchers Symposium blog. We’ll be sharing links to our posts on the Manchester Symposium Facebook page. You can keep up with the rest of my UK adventures on Instagram and Flickr. And you can also search for the hashtag ‪#‎uskmanchester2016 on social media to find sketches and photos by all participants.

Happy sketching!

Moo and Gloves

Moo cards can be printed with as many images as you want for no additional cost.

My Moo cards are here! At the past Urban Sketchers symposiums I attended (Barcelona in 2013 and Paraty, Brazil, in 2014), I kept seeing other sketchers passing out Moo mini cards – tiny business cards with a variety of their sketches printed on them. I passed out my own DIY cards, which served the same purpose, and I liked the fact that I had made them myself. But although using a standard biz card template and printing them on my inkjet printer was a snap, cutting them all apart with a rotary cutter? Not so much. In fact, it was a pain, literally – in the arm.

Contemplating all that cutting again this year, I decided I would go for Moo cards instead. They actually took longer to produce than printing my own because finding sketches that would fit the tiny template format (half the size of a standard business card) wasn’t easy. But I made up for the time by not having to cut them! In fact, I even sprang for rounded corners (which make all paper things look better). And while I was at it, I got a set of regular-size biz cards, too (my sketches fit the format a little better).

Vista-Glove: a simple plastic sleeve
protecting my sketchbook signature.

In other news: Vista-Gloves

In my post a couple weeks ago about how sad I was that I wasn’t using my beautiful Stefano sketchbook cover anymore, a blog reader mentioned Vista-Gloves – thin, plastic sleeves used by libraries to protect book covers. Although I fill my four-sheet (eight-page) signatures quickly enough that general wear and tear hasn’t been an issue, I have been concerned about inadvertently setting it down on a wet surface or getting splashed by coffee. Plus there’s always the sketchbook “throw down” at the end of each sketch outing, when all our books get spread out on the pavement. Anyway, I’d never thought of using something like Vista-Gloves, but that seemed like a simple preventive solution.

I found them in a pack of 10 for $15.95 on Amazon. Available in many sizes, they are easy to slip on and off, fit snugly without wrinkling, and can be reused many times. (I bet I can reuse the same one for a year or more.) When I’m sketching on only one side of a spread, I can fold back the other side as I usually do without hindrance. Interestingly, that thin layer of plastic adds enough additional body to the signature that it feels just a little more sturdy. It’s a very simple, nearly weightless, non-bulky way to protect the signatures from everyday-carry spills and sidewalk grime. (Thanks for the suggestion, Wendi!)

Green Lake Intersection (Test)

6/7/16 inks, watercolor, colored pencil (scanned using CamScanner and Android phone)

This sketch is none too exciting -- it's just an intersection near the Green Lake Starbucks where I sat this bright, warm morning. But I'm hoping the image and the rest of this post look as "normal" as ever. As part of my gig next month as an Urban Sketchers Symposium correspondent, I have to be able to blog daily using only my mobile devices. So far I've tried three apps that are supposed to enable this seemingly easy task, but none is as straightforward as it should be. (I'm currently using Blogaway.)

In addition, my own process is not as straightforward as I wish it were. First I have to take the image of the sketch with CamScanner on my phone, and upload it to Blogger. Then, to avoid having to type the entire post on my phone, I access the draft post from my tablet, and compose the text. (And I see now that this app has no spellchecker! Argghh.) If I wanted to carry the tablet around, I could make the scan from it instead of the phone, skipping the use of two devices. But I know the phone's camera is better, and I don't want to carry the tablet all over Manchester just to save myself that step. Tedious, I know.

I am pleased, however, about CamScanner, the app that enables my phone's camera to "scan" images almost as nicely as my desktop scanner. I've tried a lot of these so-called scanning apps too, and this one seems to be the easiest to use and creates the best-looking images.

(If you know how to do all of this in an easier way, I'm all ears! But at least I made it through this post.)

Edited: Dana's comments below made me curious about comparing the CamScanner image with my usual desktop scanner image as well as an image shot directly from my phone without an app (as in my typical "trophy" shots). I actually prefer the brighter colors of the CamScanner image above, but I think the one made with the desktop scanner (immediately below) is more accurate to the original. At the very bottom is the image taken as a regular photo without any app.

Scanned as usual with my desktop scanner.

Image taken directly with my phone's camera without an app, unedited.

Beta Testing

5/31/16 ink, watercolor

Are you tired of seeing this library yet? I know I just sketched it a couple of months ago (and once a year before that), but I had two good reasons to sketch it yet again today (aside from the beautiful weather, which is always a good reason to sketch anything).

The first reason is that I’ve begun prepping for my trip to the UK this summer, which includes attending the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Manchester. I’m very excited to have been invited to be one of four sketch correspondents covering the event, but that awesome job comes with some rather daunting responsibilities. To gear up mentally for the task, I want to set apart the sketches I make for the symposium by putting them in a separate book from my usual sketchbook (where all the rest of my UK sketches will go). A major motivation for this is that I want to be able to easily remove any sketches that come out particularly good (I hope I’m not being overly optimistic!) so that I can donate them to the annual sketch auction at the symposium’s end. Donating sketches is not at all a requirement of being a correspondent; I simply decided I wanted to give back to Urban Sketchers in this way for giving me this fantastic opportunity.  

So that’s the long-winded explanation for the new sketchbook, which is a Stillman & Birn wirebound Beta book in the 10-by-7-inch size. Of course, I already know I love the Beta paper – it was my paper of choice before I began binding my own books. But I generally don’t like wirebound books – the wire is always getting caught on things in my bag, and I can’t sketch across the gutter. The size, too, is different for me – the 10-by-7 page is a little larger than my usual 9-by-6 but quite a bit smaller than a 12-by-9 across-the-gutter spread. With both of these new variables, I thought I should give the book a dry run here at home while I still have plenty of time to get a different book if I need to.

The 10-by-7-inch book is small enough to hold
with one hand while snapping the trophy shot
with the other.

I think the S&B wirebound Beta is going to work out fine. The size and weight are comfortable for use while standing (I can easily hold the book up with one hand while taking a trophy shot with the other – certainly a priority for any sketchbook! J), and the format works well for the types of compositions I tend to choose. (Too bad it’s just a little too large to fit well in my Rickshaw bag – I’ll have to carry it in an auxiliary tote bag.)

All of that was the first good reason I had for testing the book today. The second reason – and the reason for choosing this historic Carnegie library as the subject – is that every year Urban Sketchers Seattle partners with the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation to raise funds by donating sketches for auction. I have been wanting to participate for a long time, but whenever I’m near one of the historic buildings, I don’t have with me a separate sketch pad (I refuse to tear a page out of my regular sketchbook). So today I was able to kill two birds with one sketch: Test the S&B book for the symposium and make a sketch that can be removed easily from the book to donate to the WTHP.

Bound for Manchester!

Sketched at the 5th USk Symposium
in Paraty, Brazil

The International Urban Sketchers Symposium will be held in Manchester, UK, this year, and I’m thrilled that I will be there! 

I had an amazing time at the Barcelona symposium in 2013 and in Paraty, Brazil, in 2014 as a participant. But in my heart, ever since my first symposium experience, I’ve always wanted something more than being a workshop student. In Barcelona, nothing impressed me more than the work of Suhita Shirodkar and Lapin, who had served as symposium correspondents that year. Running from workshop to workshop, sketching every activity and then reporting back to the USk community, Lapin and Suhita made the symposium come alive as only sketchers can. “One day . . . someday,” I said to myself then, “I want to be a symposium correspondent.”

You can imagine how excited I am to have my Urban Sketchers dream come true! I’m going to be one of four symposium correspondents sketching by day and blogging by night. It will be a busy and probably exhausting three days, but I’m betting that it will also be an unforgettable experience. Here’s the official announcement!

Sketched at the 4th USk Symposium in Barcelona, Spain