Barcelona Day 4 Photo Catch-Up!

I realized that I forgot to post pictures from the trip! And day four is a good day to post them, because for some strange reason I didn't sketch one thing on day four.

So here we are back at the beginning at the Memphis Airport, where we found my painting! I made this for the 2007 Memphis in May Fine Art Poster honoring...

That's right, Spain! How fitting.

On the first day we were there I made a sketch from our balcony, then sat in bed and admired it. I'll admit it: I do that.

The next day we walked down to the waterfront, and passed by the Columbus memorial, where I stood in the only shade to be found and took an artsy picture.

Then the Sagrada Familia! These pictures don't do it any justice whatsoever, but they prove I was there.

And so was Picasso!

Here I am in the light of some amazing stained glass.

We went up in a tower and saw all of Barcelona!

Also the crazy inside of the tower.

And the outside of the church.

And whoa!

And then a wonderful dinner in the hotel room.

Studio Night Last Night: Painting!

post-symposium painting = building as "big monster"

Barcelona Day 3: Perfect Day at Sagrada Familia

This was a big day! We went to Sagrada Familia, which is just an amazing building/place/idea.

We accidentally did it exactly right, too. The line was way too long when we got there, so we went to the park behind it and I sketched and we sat and people-watched.

Then we went to a café and ate and I sketched some more. And we ate delicious bocadillas and croquettas.

< bocadillas and croquettas!

Then we went to the park on the other side and took a bunch of pictures, and by then the line was very manageable. So we stood in the line as the group behind us WHISTLED the whole time. The. Whole. Time. As a group. Takes all kinds, I suppose.

Turns out the place was open way later than we thought, so we got to spend a lot of time there.

This is me sitting ON La Sagrada Familia - there are bench-like spots built into the front of it.

We went in the museum and got a close-up look at models and things. We sat in the basilica and sketched together. Then we took the Tower Tour! An elevator took us all the way up one of the towers, and we took the stairs down. It was Amazing. We stopped at every opening and looked out at all of Barcelona, and at closer views of all of the crazy spires and sculptures all over the church.

After that we went back to our neighborhood and bought all of the supplies we needed for a Spanish feast: tortilla de española, ham, more ham, cheese, more cheese, bread and wine, and we ate in our hotel room.

Perfect day!

(click images for more detail)

Memphis Monday: Sketching Lessons from Barcelona

Saturday I taught a workshop at Flicker Street Studio called Sketching Lessons from Barcelona. I brought the trip back with me and shared it!

It was so much fun - I told them all about my trip and about what I learned from each workshop, and then we sketched.

Revisiting the whole symposium was  so fun for me, and I really enjoyed sharing it with others. I even included  the "drowning man in sunglasses" story.

How about we make this a series - where can I go next?

Supply Sunday: Symposium Stuff

We got so much free stuff at the Symposium! It was kind of ridiculous. We actually left a pair of Toby's shoes there so I could fit all my new sketchbooks in the suitcase. (That sounds overly dramatic - he had already said that this was the last trip for that pair of shoes, and he offered to leave them, and if he hadn't I had a back-up bag to carry them in.)

Still, it was a lot of stuff, plus pens and pencils and markers and erasers and watercolors and notebooks and an iPad cover that the lovely people at Moleskine gave me.

Barcelona Day... 2?

I think these are from Saturday night and Sunday, but I'm not sure. Jet lag hit me harder this trip than it has since the first time I went to San Francisco and slept for the first 15-or-so hours we were there.

This first sketch is from our balcony overlooking Plaza Catalunya. Well, overlooking the trees that overlook the plaza. It was a nice place to stay!

Hey look it's Toby! This was our first meal at Woki Organic Market, right around the corner from our hotel. It was a GREAT place. We went a little nuts there that first night and I think we ordered one of everything.

Typical trip sketch! Toby at breakfast, a note to myself, and a landmark. This is the Columbus memorial near the waterfront. We walked down La Rambla - because you've got to, just like you've got to walk through Times Square - and to the waterfront. That was almost all that we did on Sunday, because we were so tired.

We did go to the grocery store, too - there's one on La Rambla! It was crazy-busy, like the Mapco on Central and Cooper.

After a really long nap, we went to dinner at 11:00 PM (because Spain) at La Ginesta. I had seen on Facebook that some other folks who were in Barcelona for the Symposium had been there earlier in the evening. It was a great place that we would visit about 3 more times over the course of the trip :)

(click images for more detail)

Follow Friday: Suhita Shirodkar

Who better to be the first Follow Friday after the Urban Sketching Symposium but the fellow sketcher I was most inspired by: Suhita Shirodkar. She was one of the Symposium Correspondents, which means she spent all day every day sketching everything that was going on and everyone who was there, and then posted it all every night! So that alone is impressive.

But also her work itself is so fresh and descriptive without being busy or uptight. Watching her working with watercolor inspired me to give it another go. In addition to all of that, she was also consistently upbeat and energetic!

So please check out her blog Sketch Away: Travels with my Sketchbook, and visit the Symposium blog to see her sketches from the Symposium here, here and here!

Day 1 Barcelona

I did a couple of small sketches on the way to Barcelona. Then I did a couple while waiting for our hotel room and eating the first of many excellent jamon y queso bocadillos.

The flight over was fine, but the food on planes keeps getting worse. Luckily, as I said, there were jamon y queso bocadillos waiting to be consumed in Barcelona.

Flying in over the mountains was really amazing.

More to come - click images for more details.

Studio Night Last Night: Processing Barcelona

I spent last night's Studio Night prepping for my workshop at Flicker Street Studio this Saturday. The workshop is called "Sketching Lessons from Barcelona," so to prepare for it I have to process my whole trip. It's been great! But also gotten under my skin to the point where I'm having dreams about not being able to find my workshop supplies right as the workshop is starting.

I said I'd start posting about my trip, so here are the first pages of my Barcelona trip sketchbook - a map that I drew and a list of possible things to do and see.

Have I mentioned that I love drawing maps? It's something that I started doing when I went to Santo Domingo last year, and now I'm hooked.

Did you miss me?

I've been in Barcelona for 10 days sketching and eating and sketching. Give me a minute to scan everything and I'll tell you all about it soon.

(click the image for details)

Sketch Portraits from the Family Reunion

Sketching kids is so fun. When they sit still, which actually they do better than a lot of adults. Here are a bunch of sketches I did of cousins and nieces and nephews.

Charlotte is my 2nd cousin.
Harper is my niece.

Josh is my nephew.
Aldo is my 1st cousin.

Mason is my 2nd cousin, and Charlotte's brother.
Somerset is my niece, and Joshua's sister.

Day Three of Family Reunion

Warm-up sketch of stuffed animals and stuff.

We found the Sliding Rock! Some of us slid on it! I sketched it instead.

More nature

(click images for more details)