Symposium Aftermath

The symposium was the apex of a very busy summer. It's taken until now to scan sketches done during and since the sketchers feast. And I'm definitely still digesting. It was a wonderfully enriching event and I thank all the instructors, correspondents and participants.

We went to the food carts for our urban colors session.

will's barber shop

I arrived in portland the day before the symposium, and once out of the train, we went to china town with tia, her husband albert, liz and borromini. I wanted to warm up with an american classic car, and founded this cool cadillac. after a while sketching on the floor front of it, an old guy came out of the near barber shop. he was the proud owner of it. I asked to sketch him, and we talked a few.
will is 77 years old, a veteran of korean war and get a barber shop on 4th ave 11-1a.
visit him if your around there!


blogged by lapin

Portland sketches

I finally managed to post some of my sketches from Portland! It was such an amazing experience to spend time with other sketchers, meet some of the fellow correspondents in real life, and explore the city. This was also an opportunity to try new materials thanks to our sponsors - I tried my hand at accordion-fold Moleskine: to be honest, I favor the watercolor papers a lot more, and I was struggling with this paper until I discovered that Faber-Castell Pitt pen glides well on its smooth surface. I did a line drawing of panoramic views I've seen from the riverfront, and did small portraits of fellow sketchers at dinner in the space underneath it: I was able to capture glimpses of Gerard, Ronnie, Kumi, Tia, Jason, Gabi, Frank, Matt, Lapin, and Isabel. More of my sketches are collected in my blog here.

Lost and Found

I meant to ask, did others tend to lose things in Portland? In my excitement, I seemed to just walk away from things. First I lost my sunglasses which I bought especially for the trip. I found them safely held at the delicious Pearl Bakery. The employees cheered for my happiness at finding them. Then when leaving the hotel on Sunday, I left my sunhat. The Marc Spencer mailed it at no cost to me in Seattle within a week. Fine customer service, Marc Spencer folk. Happy endings.

Words can't describe..

I'm having a very hard time trying to find words for what I saw, the people I've met, what I learned and experienced during my 3 days stay in Portland.

Everything was so new to me, all I'm thinking now was I wished there was more time to talk with everyone, attend all the presenter's lecture's/ class, and to be able to stay longer in beautiful Portland.

So in the mean time, here are some outcomes from Portland:

Mark Spencer Hotel drawing:

I had lots of comments on this drawing so I decided to post it. Measuring and drawing hotel rooms has become more of an obsession than anything. It's also a great way of remembering what tends to be forgotten the most about any trip.

Water Tank:

Frank Ching's class. Learned to incorporate areas in front of me and the subject (foreground), and I was very happy with the results. Also included Gabi's technique of adding street names.

Pioneer square:

Gabi's class. Learned to capture not only the 'subject' but the overall environment. I think the hardest part about this sketch was the sitting posture (Photo by Gabi)


Farmers market:

Tia's Class. 6 girls buying large bouquets of flowers! I had to capture the moment.

Union station:

Per listening to Gabi and Lapin's lecture's, I had the courage for the first time to ask a stranger if I could sketch them. I was surprised on how easy it was and how pleasant the reaction was.

Portland Airport Restaurant:

Last sketch in Portland. Sat at the bar and sketched. Before the symposium, I would have been discreet and be sketching in the corner of the restaurant. This time I had the courage to sketch in the open and had lots of restaurant workers comment on what I was doing and was even asked if they could frame it and display it in the restaurant.

Thank you for an amazing experience!
I'm very new to the online community so I plan on participating more via flickr and blogs and to be able to connect much more with everyone.

miked

Thanks for a wonderful experience

Thank you to everyone who participated in the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Portland. What a wonderful experience; sitting back home in my studio in New York, it almost seems like a dream.

First of all I want to add to the many sentiments already written here and thank Gabi Campanario for having the vision and the drive to pull this Symposium off and make it look so effortless. It required a ton of work and you really did a wonderful job. I enjoyed your presentation about your work VERY much, like I said then, where do you get the energy? Sincere thanks Gabi, you made something wonderful happen for all of us. And of course thanks go to Patrick and the folks at PNCA.

Also I would like to thank the other presenters: Tia Boon Sim, Lapin, Isabel Fiadeiro, Simonetta Capecchi, Matthew Brehm, Kurt Hollomon, Jason Das, and of course, Frank Ching. You all are so talented and I loved seeing your work in person and listening to your philosophies of drawing and art and education. As Frank Ching mentioned, it is so nice to hear other people's perspectives and get a new look at something we all love so much. It was a pleasure to meet all of you and I am privileged to have had the chance to work with you all. It was fun to tag along with Lapin and Tia's sketching groups as well.

And of course thank you to all the participants without whom there would be no Symposium. Your enthusiasm and drive to learn and create was inspiring to me. 

The Sunday after the Symposium was over I took the opportunity to go back to the GORGEOUS Steel Bridge and make a few drawings; here's another one below. (I have posted some other work from Portland on my blog as well if you want to visit.)

Thank you again everyone, looking forward to next year's Symposium! love, Veronica

I didn't want it to end!

Thanks Gabi and everyone involved in making this so memorable and thanks to all for your friendship. I am going to enjoy these memories for a long time.

Here are some of my photos and drawings.

Jason and Kumi

Virginia and people group.

Frank and architecture group.

Liz drawing her lunch.

Gabi and Kumi

Lapin

Kurt

Orling

Drawing our coffee cups.

Lapin drawing Frank.

Lapins drawing.

I adjusted the levels on these after listening to Jason Das talk, makes the colors bright.

In Jasons group one person did the drawing and another put on the w/c.

My wife and stayed to do some sight seeing, and shopping of course.

Powells has a promo going on, computer magic.