DRAWING
Attention
The official zine of Urban Sketchers FEBRUARY 2019
Drawing Attention Mandate Drawing Attention, the official monthly zine of the Urban Sketchers organization, communicates and promotes official USk workshops, symposiums, sketchcrawls, news and events; shares news about USk chapters; and educates readers about the practice of on-location sketching. Thanks to this month’s Drawing Attention contributors: Managing Editor: Patricia Chow Editorial Assistant: Pedro Loureiro Mailchimp layout: Jane Wingfield Issuu layout: Anne Taylor Social Media Designer: Carrie Alyson Hirsch Writers: Mark Anderson; Meagan Burns; Pedro Loureiro; Susan Schaffhausen, Jane Wingfield. Proofreaders: Leslie Akchurin; Ann Schwartzwald. Contributors: Parka; Amber Sausen cover image: Omar Jaramillo Subscribe to Drawing Attention. Read the January edition of Drawing Attention. Circulation: 11,001 Readership: 16k+ Web: urbansketchers.org Urban Sketchers is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering the art of on-location drawing. Click here to make your tax-deductible contribution via Paypal. © 2019 Urban Sketchers.
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Dear Urban Sketchers, Lately, it seems that anywhere you follow Urban Sketchers – here in Drawing Attention, at urbansketchers.org, or on USk social media – you’re likely to have seen promotions for the 10th Urban Sketchers Symposium in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It’s hard to believe that we’re getting ready to open registration for our 10th Symposium – 10! Registration opens Saturday 2 February at 15:00 hrs CET. Be sure to check out the FAQs for this exciting event. Don’t worry if you’re unable to get a pass to the Symposium on 2 February. Why? Because this year, to celebrate 10 years of the Urban Sketchers
Symposium, we are making sketch walks a free and openly accessible public event! It will be a great way to share the joy of sketching with even more people during the Symposium. For those unable to participate in the Symposium this year, don’t forget that we have a great selection of workshops on offer around the world throughout the year. And as always, we have over 250 chapters full of urban sketchers willing to meet and sketch together wherever you may find yourself. Don’t be shy about reaching out to meet your fellow sketchers. Happy Sketching, Amber Sausen, USk President
MANAGING EDITOR’S MESSAGE It’s almost Symposium registration time! Did you know there are nine new symposium instructors this year? We profile them this month, and also catch up with veteran instructors Róisín Curé, Omar Jaramillo and Renato Palmuti. We also visit with USk Stuttgart, and USk Orlando admin Noga Grosman and the social media team. A big thank you to our incredible writers, proofreaders, Issuu, MailChimp and social media designers, and the awesome social media and tech teams for all of the work you do to make this publication possible each month. Enjoy our latest issue! Patricia Chow, Drawing Attention Managing Editor drawingattention@urbansketchers.org
CONTENTS
4 USK SYMPOSIUM NEWS
6
NEW INSTRUCTORS
8
NOGA GROSMAN
10
16
OMAR JARAMILLO
22
RENATO PALMUTI
30
RÓISÍN CURÉ
USK STUTTGART
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40 ENDNOTES | REVIEW
A PDF VERSION IS AVAILABLE ON OUR WEBSITE.
FEBRUARY 2019 3
USk Symposium News
PLACE YOUR AD HERE
SYMPOSIUM PASS REGISTRATION STARTS 2 FEB 2019
and reach
16,000+
artists & art lovers For more information about ad placement, sizes and costs for corporate sponsors, email Raylie at raylie@verizon.net
4 DRAWING ATTENTION
All set to get your Symposium Pass? Here is some important information to remember: Symposium Pass Registration starts 2 February 2019 at 15:00hrs CET. You can check your local time here. Please take a thorough look at the FAQ to guide you through registration and any questions you may have regarding the Symposium. Take your pick from 36 top-notch workshops and instructors! Flip through here. For more information, click here. 10X10 WORKSHOPS USk 10x10 Workshops are an excellent opportunity to learn new sketching skills from a top USk instructor and to meet a new community of sketchers in a location near you. To see the list of 10x10 classes around the world click HERE.
USk News & Events
USK SAN DIEGO GETS SOME MEDIA LOVE Urban Sketchers are making headlines. A San Diego Urban Sketchers event at the Coronado Ferry Landing was featured in the San Diego Sun. Read the article here. Share your chapter news with us! Contact us at drawingattention@ urbansketchers.org.
WELCOME NEW SPONSORSHIP TEAM MEMBERS Urban Sketchers would like to welcome new Sponsorship Coordinator Mohan Banerji (right) who is also an admin for USk Reading, UK, and new Sponsorship Administrators, Rachyl Elliott (right) and Rama Ramachandra. Rachyl is from Ottawa, Canada, and is new to the USk family. Rama is from Bangalore, India. SUBSCRIBE TO DRAWING ATTENTION – IT’S FREE
FOLLOW USK ON TWITTER FEBRUARY 2019 5
USk Symposium News
MEET OUR NEW WORKSHOPS INSTRUCTORS FOR THE AMSTERDAM SYMPOSIUM
KAREN JIYUN SUNG WILL BE TEACHING GROWING A DRAWING: MAKING SKETCHES BEYOND THE DIMENSIONS OF THE PAPER. SHE IS KOREAN, CURRENTLY LIVES IN THE UK, AND HAS ALSO LIVED IN NEW ZEALAND, THE UNITED STATES, AND CANADA.
JÖRG ASSELBORN IS A MEMBER OF THE USK RHEIN MAIN CHAPTER AND CORRESPONDENT FOR THE USK GERMANY BLOG. HE HAS BEEN AN URBAN SKETCHER SINCE 2010 AND IS TEACHING CATCHING WINDMILLS IN AMSTERDAM.
DONALD SALULING HAS BEEN AN URBAN SKETCHER SINCE 2009 AND IS THE ADMIN FOR USK INDONESIA, ALSO HANDLING PUBLIC RELATIONS FOR THE CHAPTER. HE IS TEACHING THUMBNAILING YOUR SLICE OF LIFE.
ANNE ROSE OOSTERBAAN IS FROM HAARLEM IN THE NETHERLANDS, AND IS THE FOUNDER AND ORGANISER OF THE HAARLEM URBAN SKETCHERS. SHE IS TEACHING COLOR FIRST, THEN LINE. ANNE ROSE DESIGNED ADAM, THE AMSTERDAM SYMPOSIUM MASCOT, WHO WAS STUBBORN AND BOTHERSOME AT FIRST, BUT THEY HAVE SINCE BECOME GOOD FRIENDS.
MONIKA WOLK GREW UP IN A SMALL TOWN IN POLAND AND HAS BEEN LIVING IN MANCHESTER, UK, WHERE SHE DISCOVERED URBAN SKETCHING, SINCE 2013. MONIKA IS TEACHING THE GREEN FACADES OF AMSTERDAM: CAPTURING AND CONTRASTING GREENERY WITH SURROUNDED BUILDINGS IN WATERCOLOUR.
ELEANOR DOUGHTY IS A CORRESPONDENT FOR THE SEATTLE CHAPTER OF URBAN SKETCHERS, AND HAS BEEN DOING URBAN SKETCHING SINCE SHE ENTERED HER UNIVERSITY ART PROGRAM IN 2009. SHE IS TEACHING DRY AIR: DRAWING ATMOSPHERIC PERSPECTIVE IN MIXED MEDIA.
6 DRAWING ATTENTION
USk Symposium News
RITA SABLER IS FROM PORTLAND, OREGON, USA. SHE HAS BEEN INVOLVED WITH URBAN SKETCHING FOR AT LEAST 10 YEARS AND WORKED AS A CORRESPONDENT IN PORTO. RITA IS TEACHING UNFOLDING STORIES: RECIPES AND INGREDIENTS FOR VISUAL STORYTELLING.
HUGO COSTA WAS BORN IN PORTO AND VOLUNTEERED AT THE PORTO SYMPOSIUM, BUT HE NOW LIVES IN VALENCIA, SPAIN, WHERE HE TEACHES DRAWING. SINCE 2010, HE HAS BEEN DRAWING EVERY DAY AND CHALLENGING HIS STUDENTS TO DO THE SAME. HE WILL BE TEACHING AMSTERDAM ROOFTOPS.
SANTI SALLÉS IS AN ILLUSTRATOR, GRAPHIC DESIGNER AND URBAN SKETCHER IN BARCELONA AND CATALONIA. HE WILL BE TEACHING AMSTERDAM GREEN MICROSKETCHING.
SHARE YOUR CHAPTER’S NEWS WITH OUR READERS Contact us to share your chapter’s news, special events, joint meetups, and exhibitions with our readers. You don’t need to write the story yourself. We will assign a Drawing Attention writer to cover your story! Contact us at: drawingattention@ urbansketchers.org. FEBRUARY 2019 7
USk News & Events
MEET NOGA GROSMAN, USK SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR, AND THE USK SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM. BY MEAGAN BURNS
W
e are a worldwide community of urban sketchers, scattered around the globe, united in a common goal to sketch our world, one drawing at a time. There is one very important element to the growth we’ve achieved and the communities we’ve fostered, and that element is the power of social media. Through the use of social media, we connect with sketchers near and far, and we share in our personal evolution, as well as our travels of the world.
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Noga Grosman of Orlando, Florida is our Social Media Coordinator, and also the founding member of the USk Orlando chapter. Noga is originally from Israel, where she had a successful career as an architect and designer before she moved with her family midcareer to Central Florida. When her husband received his cancer diagnosis, Noga’s family decided to pursue indigenous treatment methods discovered during their travels in the Amazon region and South America. The family’s journey became a social media cause that attracted people from around the world to support Mickey Grosman’s efforts to heal from cancer. It was called “Amazon 5000 - The Impossible Possible,” and followed Mickey’s journey as he walked from the Pacific side of the Amazon jungle to the Atlantic side. Noga’s kitchen table became their headquarters, and she managed all of the social media for this personal quest, learning the intricate ins and outs of running several social media campaigns.
Thankfully, Mickey Grosman is now enjoying a full recovery and has returned to work – and Noga has, too! After learning about Urban Sketchers while traveling in Tel Aviv, she returned home to create the local Orlando chapter, and begin her foray into sketching. When a volunteer Social Media Coordinator position was posted in late 2017, Noga applied and was selected. “We have some exciting social media initiatives to roll out in the coming year, so please follow along so we can continue to grow our world, one sketch at a time!” Look for Noga in Amsterdam this July, as she and our local Symposium reporters will be updating our social media channels live from the Symposium. “It takes two to tango, and we want to tango with our sketchers all over the world. Dance with us and we will dance with you!”
VoUSk News & Events
MEET THE SOCIAL MEDIA TEAM INSTAGRAM
INSTAGRAM: DOMINIQUE EICHI FROM SAN DIEGO, USA
TWITTER: CHRISTINA WALD FROM CINCINNATI, USA
INSTAGRAM: ERIC NGAN FROM AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND
TWITTER: JEAN EDWARDS FROM NORTH HAMPTON, UK
INSTAGRAM MANAGER: MEG GIBSON FROM ORLANDO, FL
FACEBOOK PAGE & GROUP: STEF THELWEL, CAMBRIDGESHIRE, UK
FACEBOOK MAIN PAGE: MAJOR ORGANIZATION ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EVENT INFORMATION. FACEBOOK COMMUNITY GROUP PAGE: EVERY SKETCHER IS WELCOME TO SHARE THEIR DRAWINGS HERE AS LONG AS THEY FOLLOW THE USK MANIFESTO. TWITTER: ORGANIZATION ANNOUNCEMENTS AND RETWEETING OF MEMBER SKETCHES. INSTAGRAM: SHARE AND HIGHLIGHT MEMBER SKETCHES, ORGANIZATION ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EVENT INFORMATION. USE HASHTAGS TO CONNECT WITH THE COMMUNITY. IN THE COMING MONTHS, NEW HASHTAG SUGGESTIONS WILL BE REVEALED – STAY TUNED FOR UPDATES FROM YOUR CHAPTER ADMINS. FOR NOW, PLEASE USE THE FOLLOWING HASHTAGS ON YOUR INSTAGRAM POSTS: #URBANSKETCHERS, #USK, #URBANSKETCHERS__ (YOUR CITY)
SOCIAL MEDIA DESIGNER: CARRIE ALYSON FEBRUARY 2019 9
Featured Chapter
USK STUTTGART: SKETCHING AS SOFT POWER BY SUSAN SCHAFFHAUSEN
10 DRAWING ATTENTION
SKETCH BY KARIN SCHLIEHE
USk Stuttgart
S
ketching in the picturesque surroundings of Stuttgart, Germany, reveals a city made up of several small villages that grew into a metropolitan area while retaining lovely green forests in between. Yet USk Stuttgart Chapter Administrator Catherine François admits she will often bypass the obvious beauty and head to places
she finds “ugly or faceless, like construction sites, or busy metro stations where changes to the city are in sharper focus,” and she can sketch people in motion. Catherine describes sketching as “a political act, to document important changes in the city.” Love of the city, its political life, and history
FEBRUARY 2019 11
Featured Chapter
was a driving force behind the 2014 founding of the Stuttgart chapter. The initial aim of founders, Heiko Fischer, Martin Zentner, and Sonja Schubert, was to create reportage during the demonstrations in the city arising from the demolition of the historic main transit station and the building of a new station underground. In 2016, they became an official USk chapter following an organized exchange with the Urban Sketchers from Tbilisi, Georgia. The group is very active, with 20 to 30 regular sketchers who have
participated in several independent exhibitions to showcase their collective artistic response to the changes in the city. “We’ve had several articles in the local newspaper and the exchange with Tbilisi garnered TV news coverage.” Through the eyes of visiting artists, Catherine says she rediscovers her own city. “Being strangers, they show us the city in a different way. I discover a place with a lot of potential.”
In November, USk Stuttgart was invited by artists from Barcelona to participate in the independent art exhibition ‘Soft Power Palace’. Drawings made during a sketch crawl at Oesterreichischer Platz in downtown Stuttgart were showcased during the exhibition, whose title refers to Joseph Nye’s concept of soft power: the possibility to gain political influence through cultural actions. Catherine found that the formalized global reach of the USk organization made it easier to get sponsors for their group’s participation.
SKETCH BY URSULA HARTL 12 DRAWING ATTENTION
USk Stuttgart
‘SOFT POWER’
: THE POSSIBILITY OF GAINING POLITICAL INFLUENCE THROUGH CULTURAL ACTIONS
FEBRUARY 2019 13
Featured Chapter
f
CONNECT WITH USK STUTTGART
f
SEE USK STUTTGART ON FLICKR
w
READ MORE ABOUT SOFT POWER PALACE
SKETCH OF OESTERREICHISCHERPLATZ BY CATHERINE FRANCOIS
14 DRAWING ATTENTION
USk Stuttgart
“S
KETCHING IS A POLITICAL ACT, TO DOCUMENT IMPORTANT CHANGES IN THE CITY” – CATHERINE FRANÇOIS
SKETCH BY THOMAS BICKELHAUPT OF PAULINENBRÜCKE
SKETCH BY UTA-OSTERTAG
FEBRUARY 2019 15
USk Instructor
BERLIN 16 DRAWING ATTENTION
YOUR STYLE
IS THE WAY YOU COPE IF YOU’VE EVER BEEN TO A USK SYMPOSIUM AND RECEIVED A GOODIE BAG, BOUGHT A NEW SKETCHBOOK FROM A VENDOR, OR WATCHED A VENDOR DEMO, YOU CAN THANK OMAR JARAMILLO. BUT WORKING AS A SPONSORSHIP COORDINATOR IS ONLY ONE WAY OMAR HAS BEEN INVOLVED WITH URBAN SKETCHERS. BY JANE WINGFIELD
FEBRUARY 2019 17
USk Instructor
O
riginally from Ecuador, Omar was working as an architect in Sicily in 2009 when he discovered Urban Sketchers. “I was so excited…I found my tribe,” Omar told me. He dove in with both feet, becoming a correspondent, attending the Symposium in Lisbon in 2011 and then teaching in atthe Barcelona Symposium in 2013. “In some ways, Urban Sketchers changed my life.” Omar had been working around the world and keeping a sketchbook, but once he began interacting with other urban sketchers through social media, he became “almost addicted to the
18 DRAWING ATTENTION
group.” He then started getting commissions and media attention. His Barcelona workshop, ‘Negative Forms as First Structures and Minimal Storytelling’, co-taught with João Catarino, focused on negative space as a tool. He is still teaching a variation of that theme in two-day weekend workshops, as well as illustration, travel sketching and watercolor workshops. Recently he did a workshop/demo on drawing portraits on an iPad at an Apple Store. “Event sketching is my favorite these days.” Omar sketches for weddings, birthdays, and other events. You can read his suggestions for wedding sketching in his post, Confessions of a Wedding Sketcher. “Your style is the way you cope with your own limitations. It grows out of the way you avoid a problem.” He is currently challenging himself to draw fewer lines, an approach that works well with negative space. Omar overcame a big challenge when he started out. “In the
Your style is the way you cope
FEBRUARY 2019 19
USk Instructor
beginning, it was about being fast. Then I realized…it’s about seeing things. The moment you start really seeing things, you can draw anything.”
A SKETCH IN BERLIN
A SKETCH FROM ZANZIBAR 20 DRAWING ATTENTION
OMAR’S TIPS: GET A SMALL BAG. IF YOU GET A BIG ONE YOU ARE TEMPTED TO CARRY TOO MUCH.” I CARRY A SMALL BACKPACK, ONE SKETCHBOOK, A WATERCOLOR SET, WATER AND A SMALL POUCH FOR BRUSHES AND PENS. AND, OF COURSE, A TENNIS WRISTBAND TO CLEAN MY BRUSHES, AS SUGGESTED YEARS AGO BY MY FELLOW SKETCHER LIZ STEEL.
Your style is the way you cope
SCHLESISCHES TOR
SCHLESISCHES TOR FEBRUARY 2019 21
USk Instructor
PINHEIROS: WITH MY WATERCOLOR FRIENDS IN A GASTRONOMIC NEIGHBORHOOD IN SÃO PAULO. WHILE WE WERE PAINTING THIS SCENE THERE WAS SOMEBODY WASHING THE GROUND UNDER US.... THE RESTAURANTS WERE BEING PREPARED TO BE OPEN. 22 DRAWING ATTENTION
Taking it to the streets BRAZILIAN ILLUSTRATOR RENATO PALMUTI LEFT THE STUDIO TO SKETCH THE CITY. BY MARK ALAN ANDERSON
S
tudying Renato Palmuti’s illustrations, one can’t help but be impressed by an overall simplicity. There’s a real sense of economy: wasteful brushstrokes are not at all evident, forms are implied rather than explicitly detailed. And no attempt has been made to erase or disguise the few loose pencil marks that were used to define the broadest of compositional marks. FEBRUARY 2019 23
USk Instructor
Palmuti has been drawing his entire life. Having worked in Sao Paulo ad agencies he has developed a chameleon-like talent for working in a variety of styles. Contrasting his professional life with urban sketching, he says, “In advertising everything has a briefing that guides your work. Limits it. Urban sketching is where you get to develop your own criteria.” Asked to describe his early professional work, Palmuti shares that he began very realistically. Today he works less and less with advertising, and his interests have shifted toward things like watercolor and perspective and the fundamentals of drawing. “In the last year, watercolor has enchanted me.” It’s a media, he says where “the fewer the brush strokes the better; the less you work it the better it becomes… just a few brush strokes does the job.” He feels that watercolor is very easy to carry around and set up, as well as being a very expressive medium. Only a few years ago, 100% of his work was done in the studio. Palmuti realized that the painters he most admired were “telling” him to go to the streets. Five years ago he was beginning to do just that when he got involved with Urban Sketchers. Since then he’s been out there on the street, fusing two distinct passions: cityscapes and the human figure. “Figures in an urban sketch give a sense of scale. They also intimidate many sketchers – you know? Drawing people? People are moving, changing places, talking… so you have to establish a vision. The light changes all the time. The elements move. You must establish a vision before starting work, wait for people to appear while you are sketching, because people are part of the moving landscape.” Palmuti’s enthusiasm about sketching on the streets is heartfelt. “I think that when you leave to draw, you are in a public place and you have to draw for yourself. It’s a meditational experience. I say to my students that when you draw on location you are living that moment. When you are drawing something that is really there you are living that subject in that time.” 24 DRAWING ATTENTION
PRAÇA DO PATRIARCA: IT WAS A VERY SPECIAL MOMENT WHEN I FIRST MET PERSONALLY MY FRIEND EUDES CORREIA AND WE SPENT A MORNING DRAWING IN SÃO PAULO DOWNTOWN.
Taking it to the streets
FEBRUARY 2019 25
USk Instructor
PRACA CORNÉLIA: A RECENT ONE ON THE LAST DAY OF 2018. I MET WITH TWO SKETCHERS, ONE FROM SÃO PAULO AND ANOTHER FROM PARANÁ TO SPEND THIS MORNING IN A SQUARE AND SHARE SOME SKETCHES AND IDEAS... 26 DRAWING ATTENTION
Taking it to the streets
PARANAPIACABA: THIS IS A SMALL HISTORIC CITY IN THE MOUNTAINS OF SÃO PAULO. I HAD A DAY OFF WITH TWO ARTISTS AND FRIENDS TO PAINT AND WE TRIED TO BE VERY CLOSE TO THE TRAINS IN THE OLD STATION... IN FACT THIS WAS THE NEAREST WE COULD GET...THERE WAS A BIG GATE BETWEEN US AND THIS VIEW (I TOOK IT OUT OF THE DRAWING) – THE RAIL OFFICERS SAID IT WAS NOT SAFE TO GO AHEAD BECAUSE OF THE SNAKES... FEBRUARY 2019 27
USk Instructor
LAKE SHRINE: THIS WAS A VERY SPECIAL MOMENT FOR I WENT TO LOS ANGELES AND VISITED THIS SHRINE BUILT YOGANANDA IN A LAKE NEAR SANTA MONICA. IN THIS WANT TO BE FAST...I WANTED THIS SKETCH TO LAST A LO
28 DRAWING ATTENTION
Taking it to the streets
ME. SOME TIME AGO LT BY PARAMAHANSA SPECIAL PLACE I DIDN’T ONG TIME...
PORTO: THIS ONE IS FROM THE SYMPOSIUM IN PORTO, DURING THE BIG SKETCHCRAWL AT PRAÇA DA LIBERDADE. I SAT DOWN ON THE SIDEWALK AND THERE WAS A GROUP OF SINGERS/DANCERS PERFORMING A TYPICAL SHOW BESIDE ME. FEBRUARY 2019 29
USk Instructor
PORTO 30 DRAWING ATTENTION
Storytelling for the Soul “I’VE ALWAYS BEEN INTO DRAWING IN A WAY, EVER SINCE I CAN REMEMBER,” RÓISÍN CURÉ DECLARES. THE ENERGETIC SKETCHER FROM GALWAY, IRELAND IS A SCIENTIST BY EDUCATION, A STORYTELLER BY TRADITION, AN EDUCATOR BY VOCATION, AND AN ARTIST BY HEART. BY PEDRO LOUREIRO
FEBRUARY 2019 31
USk Instructor
R
óisín found the perfect way to match her passions in urban sketching, back in 2012, when she and her family were spending six months in Mauritius. “I was given a birthday present: Danny Gregory’s Everyday Matters. It was like a light switch.” Before Róisín was done reading it, she asked herself “why am I not sketching?!” That was the eureka moment when Róisín discovered sketching was a valid means of expression. After that, her world became a bit more beautiful. Whenever she sketched, everything and everyone around her felt happier. “People are so lovely when you’re drawing,” Róisín exclaims. Later that year, she received another critical book: Gabi Campanario’s The Art of Urban Sketching, which, on the very last page, prompted her to join the USk community. “The welcoming feeling of the urban sketchers was lovely,” Róisín admits. Also passionate about writing, she found that it was usual to write up a story to go along with the sketches, and for her it was “a match made in heaven,
32 DRAWING ATTENTION
Storytelling for the Soul
OLIO
PORTO FEBRUARY 2019 33
USk Instructor
using your hands for em f o r e w o p otional w he t n i e v e ell-being, “I beli and
34 DRAWING ATTENTION
PORTO – SAO BENTO
. e f i l d o o g y d for having a reall
Storytelling for the Soul
as I had discovered storytelling and urban sketching at the same time.” That passion is passed onto her readers, who compliment her stories as well as her sketches. Róisín attended the top art college in Ireland, but felt underwhelmed by it. “There was no place at that time for someone like me, who just drew,” she laments. Afterwards she finished a Master’s degree in Geology. Looking at a microscope and drawing the polarized slices of rock in mineralogy, Róisín was in her element. “You’re looking at a microscopic world, and it was like sketching a world that no one could see,” she giggles. But she really honed her skills as an artist while doing illustrations for custom wedding invitations. “I liked to draw the stories of the brides, so I just drew so much to get the stories right for the girls. That’s when my own style became visible to me,” Róisín recalls. Being adept at the Portuguese language (among many others), Róisín named her Porto Symposium workshop ‘A page of Porto petiscos!’ By that, she meant to get her participants to “do complicated things in a really simple way,” by sketching small bites of their surroundings, assembling them on the same page. As a way to have them let go their constraints, Róisín also got them to “splash away with the brush, before they could fiddle with the pen.” The feedback was very positive, with some participants saying that was the best sketch they did during the Symposium. Roisin’s biggest challenge in urban sketching is drawing people sideways while walking past, and painting still sea. Nevertheless, she honestly feels that she is on top of what she is doing right now. FEBRUARY 2019 35
USk Instructor
l ife and I really want to b y m d e g n a ring this ch s a h g n to people i h c t e k .” “S SISSINGHURST, KENT
“I believe in the power of using your hands for emotional well-being, and for having a really good life. Sketching has changed my life and I really want to bring this to people.” She is now resolved to bring free classes to people interested in starting to sketch.
w RÓISÍN’S WEBSITE
36 DRAWING ATTENTION
CHATHAM LANDROVER
Storytelling for the Soul
RÓISÍN’S TIP: ANOTHER ARTIST RECENTLY ADVISED ME TO STOP USING THE PEN AND TO TRY TO MAKE A BAD DRAWING. SHE REALIZED THAT “IF YOU’RE CONSCIOUSLY TRYING TO MAKE A MESS, THAT PROCESS MAKES YOU FREER.”
KILCOLGAN BUS STOP
FEBRUARY 2019 37
USk Instructor
GALWAY CHRISTMAS MARKET 38 DRAWING ATTENTION
CEDRO FEBRUARY 2019 39
Endnotes
COOL GEAR BY MARK LEIBOWITZ Where do great ideas come from? In a group of creative people fantastic new ideas are always bubbling up. Introducing the Black Tennis Sweatband: Cathy Johnson was using an old sock she wore around her wrist to clean her brushes. Liz Steel (right), remembering this idea, found a tennis sweatband (with a kangaroo logo – she is Australian!) and started using it. I saw Liz wearing that black sweatband at the Santo Domingo Symposium in 2012. I got one as soon as I got home. The Benefits: A rag is always handy and you can use the band to hold your extra brushes in place. The black color hides the paint. It’s also a great conversation starter when you’re with other sketchers. If you have some Cool Gear you’d like to share, email me: markleibowitz810@gmail.com. FOLLOW USK ON FACEBOOK 40 DRAWING ATTENTION
SUBSCRIBE TO THE USK YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Endnotes
Urban Sketchers is currently seeking volunteers to fill the following position: • Volunteer Fundraising Director For more information click HERE.
FEBRUARY 2019 41
Endnotes | Review
PARKA REVIEWS BY TEOH YI CHIE
Teoh Yi Chie is an infographics journalist who joined Urban Sketchers Singapore in 2009. He is better known as Parka from Parkablogs.com a website that reviews art books and art products. This month Parka video reviews the Platinum Carbon ink. Check it out!
BRING A WORKSHOP TO YOUR CHAPTER Urban Sketchers organizes workshops taught by our top instructors in collaboration with USk chapters around the world. If you would like to bring an official USk workshop to your chapter, start the conversation with our Education Director, Mรกrio Linhares at education@urbansketchers.org.
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Endnotes
FEBRUARY 2019 43
Our Manifesto • We draw on location, indoors or out, capturing what we see from direct observation • Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live and where we travel • Our drawings are a record of time and place • We are truthful to the scenes we witness • We use any kind of media and cherish our individual styles • We support each other and draw together • We share our drawings online • We show the world, one drawing at a time.
© 2019 Urban Sketchers www.urbansketchers.org