Some time ago I found an old wiro notebook in a drawer. A scruffy wiro bound notebook with a photo of 2 men in a kayak with a bear on the front cover. In that notebook I found terrible sketches drawn in pencil made while travelling in 1991. One sketch leapt out at me. It was a rough pencil sketch of Mt Ararat from a backpacking trip to eastern Turkey. The sketch really surprised me – it was a very basic pencil sketch, drawn using a .5mm technical pencil on a cheap notepad. The sketch is just black and white… To my surprise the sounds and smells of the day came flooding back. Meeting some Kurdish goat herders and their flock near the base of Mt Ararat, about 10km from the Iranian border on a bright sunny but cool, alpine day. Along with memories of driving across the mountain steppe in an old Renault 19 and the smells of chai and coffee in a Doğubayazıt pasta solunu. It all came back come flooding back! Why did it evoke such vivid memories? I’m not really sure to be honest. Maybe t...
If you're like me and feeling disconsolate because your budget doesn't stretch to Lisbon for the USk Symposium, don't worry, you can follow it online! Follow the symposium online here, follow the blog to 'Meet the Instructors' who include some of Portugals finest sketch and reportage artists (amongst many others), and follow the daily blog posts during the symposium. The blog will feature daily updates by fellow Urban Sketchers contributor Joao Pinheiro of Brazil.
For some strange reason, the Portugese seem to be particularly good with a pencil, so check out some of my personal favourites, Jaoa Catarhino here and Eduardo Salavisa, here.
The symposium will be taking place in central Lisbon, where history exudes from the very pores of the place - from the winding cobbled alleyways of the Roman and Moorish Alfama, the Rio Tejo (or river Tagus), faded azulejo walled palaces, castles and cathedrals. So be prepared to be treated to some superb sketches!
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