UK, Part 3: London

8/7/16 horse guard

I’m not exactly a big-city virgin. I’ve been to Tokyo, Paris, Barcelona, Rome and L.A., and I took all their urban hustle-bustle with aplomb. London, however, cowed me.

Maybe we chose the wrong parts of town, or maybe it was just the wrong time of year. (Granted, the summer months are always the worst in any tourism-heavy city.) Whatever the reason, I was continually overwhelmed by the incredible noise, crowds and traffic. Our only strategy during our short stay in London was to start out early each day before the throngs arrived and do our best to beat our way through the masses along with the best of them!

At the British Museum, which came highly recommended by everyone I talked to, I chickened out on exhibits altogether. Poking my head into one room, I saw that the artifacts were surrounded by people 10 deep. Instead of fighting my way through, I stayed on the main-floor Great Court all morning. With a sweeping glass ceiling and several sculptures, there was plenty to sketch without going into the main exhibit rooms if I tucked myself into corners away from the masses.

7/25/16 Sculpture by Paul Day inside St. Pancras Station

Trying not to get jostled on the sidewalk, I managed a small, quick sketch of the top of Victoria Tower (often mistakenly called Big Ben, which refers only to the chiming clock housed by the tower, I was told by a local) – my only “big attraction” sketch. My happiest sketching moments in London were the small ones: a bagpipes busker near Westminster Abbey; a horse guard surrounded by selfie snappers; a small church we stumbled into on a side street.

We were actually in London twice – once when we first flew in, but only overnight, and then again after Wales for a few days. Two more favorite sketches were from that initial overnight – a huge sculpture inside St. Pancras Station and the outside of the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel, which was right across the street from our hotel.  

From the photos below, you might conclude that we spent a lot of our time in London shopping. I admit, seeing the Selfridges department store was a bit of a thrill (we’re fans of the PBS series, Mr. Selfridge), and I came out with a bag of chocolates (consumable, so they wouldn’t take up space in our luggage!). In addition, the L. Cornelissen “artists’ colourment” shop was pure fun – it reminded me of Sennelier in Paris, crammed full of paints, brushes and paper. All I bought was a few pencils, but it made me long for that kind of real art supply store experience, which is dying away rapidly at home (our own Daniel Smith is among the last). 

7/25/16 St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel

8/7/16 detail at Westminster Abbey

8/7/16 Victoria Tower

8/7/16 Sculpture outside the National Gallery

8/6/16 Hinde Street Methodist Church

8/7/16 busker near Westminster Abbey

8/6/16 British Museum Great Court

8/6/16 British Museum Great Court

8/5/16 King's Cross Square

8/5/16 King's Cross Station

How can I visit any city without a stop at an art supply store?

Nothing but chocolates purchased at Selfridges!
See below for all the other goodies I could have had!

How did we manage to get the whole upper deck of the bus to ourselves?

UK, Part 2: Northern Wales

8/2/16 Castle Conwy

Sheep, rain, magnificent castles – and lots of all three. That’s what I’ll remember most about northern Wales. It’s also a country of the greenest grass and some of the most beautiful landscapes I’ve ever seen. Ironically, I think I have the fewest number of sketches of gorgeous Wales because of all that rain and because much of that landscape was seen through car windows.

8/4/16 Castle Caernarfon

Although we didn’t have a car of our own in Wales (by choice – driving on the “wrong” side of the street was too fraught with peril!), it turned out that Seattle urban sketcher Julie Wieringa and her husband Doug were also planning to visit Wales after the symposium with some overlap in our schedules. They kindly offered to let us tour the Snowdonia National Park area with them one day, including charming small towns like Porthmadog and Blaenau Ffestniog (Wales is also a country of unpronounceable words!). Frustrated by rain, I was “forced” to sketch things like cake and my tea and scones!

At another rainy time Greg and I toured the Trefriew woolen mill, where wool is processed and tweed is still woven on traditional looms.

8/4/16 Castle Beaumaris

On a couple of days the weather improved for us – still somewhat chilly, but at least the rain changed to drizzle and even sporadic periods of sunshine. We took advantage of the improvement to visit three castles – Conwy (very close to Llandudno, where we were staying in a delightful B&B), Beaumaris and Caernarfon.

Before visiting northern Wales, my image of castles tended toward pointy, glittery structures where Disney princesses live. (I stopped watching Game of Thrones after the second season, so those bloody castles have thankfully faded from my memory.) About as far from Disney as I could imagine, the results of King Edwards’ egomaniacal pursuit of dominance were made of formidable, impenetrable stone. Rounded walls (corners in a structure are the most vulnerable areas, so they were avoided) proved to be as challenging to sketch as they were to scale or penetrate! Despite my complaints of rain, seeing and sketching those spectacular castles made our trip to Wales more than worthwhile.

8/2/16 Castle Conwy

8/2/16 Gloddaeth United Church, Llandudno

8/2/16 Fishing for tiny crabs in Conwy

8/4/14 Trefriew Woolen Mills

8/1/16 Rainy-day Jaffa cake in Blaenau Ffestiniog

8/2/16 Tea (and scones, unsketched because I wanted to eat
them warm!) in Conwy.

How about some llaeth y llan for breakfast?

Tina, Julie, Doug and Greg in Porthmadog

Stone walls and sheep -- we saw lots and lots of both in northern Wales.

Sure was happy to have my waterproof Rickshaw
bag in Wales!

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!

Home Again

8/12/16 Cretacolor water-soluble graphite pencil, colored pencil, ink

No matter how much I love to travel (and I certainly do), I love coming home even more. Being away for nearly three weeks always makes me appreciate the simple things I take for granted otherwise – my pillow, my washcloth, my ordinary routines.

8/12/16 Cretacolor water-soluble graphite pencil

Flying in from London Thursday afternoon, I was so exhausted that I didn’t think I would make it to Friday morning’s Urban Sketchers outing at Lake Union Park, but after a solid night of sleep, I felt almost human again. Massive laundry and heaps of accumulated mail be damned! I decided that nothing would make me feel more at home than joining my friends at Lake Union on that gorgeous, blue-sky morning.

And that blue sky? That’s another thing I won’t take for granted. After mostly cloudy and overcast skies throughout the UK (not to mention plenty of rain in Manchester and Wales), I’m more certain than ever that at this time of year, no place on earth is as beautiful as the Pacific Northwest.

Home, sweet home.

(Full USk Symposium and UK travel report forthcoming! Stay tuned.)

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!

Immanuel Lutheran Church

7/22/16 brush pen, colored pencils, watercolor

Two distinctive and strikingly different churches dominate the South Lake Union area’s historic Cascade neighborhood. The most eye-catching is St. Spiridon Russian Orthodox Cathedral, with its deep blue onion domes. Since I’d sketched St. Spiridon about a year ago (and since I should have been home packing my bag instead of sketching with Urban Sketchers Seattle this morning and was short on time), I decided to focus on the second church: Immanuel Lutheran.

Completed in 1912, the church has been on the historic register since 1982. Although it doesn’t look like anything I’ve sketched in Europe, the round and arched windows evoke the same architectural details I saw on Gothic buildings in Spain and Germany. It’s exactly the kind of building that makes me freeze with the deer-in-the-headlights look if I try to go at it with a fine point pen. But with only an hour to sketch, I immediately pulled out my brush pen to hit it as hard and fast as possible. It’s probably a good strategy even when I can be more leisurely.

The rain earlier in the morning may have kept some sketchers away, but the seven of us who showed up shared sketches afterwards at Espresso Vivace. Those blue onion domes captured a lot of attention!

In back, from left: Marvin, Ching, Kathleen and Sue. In front: Tina, Anne and Natalie
(Thanks to John Pound for taking the photo.)