Idyll Sketching

Beautiful Landscapes, Idly Painted

USK Symposium in Toulouse, Day Two

Hanna

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Morning Briefing

Still no coffee, and no extra goodies. Just some housekeeping announcements. Sleepiness level high, for most attendees.

Lecture: A Practical Guide to Reportage, by Rita Sabler

This talk was a little different from the one she gave at the previous symposium, as it was less of an intro to her work but more of what she called a bridge talk, a guide on how to go from urban sketching to visual journalism (which she defines as the practice of drawing with the intention of telling a story, rooted in the desire to inform, document, and explain.) She gave the example of turning a pretty view of an old house into a story about gentrification.

Anyway, Rita’s guide has five steps:

  • Find a story. (Ask yourself: why this story, why now, why should anyone care?)
  • Gain access. (Most stories are about people. You will have to talk to people, maybe draw them, and definitely get their permission to tell the story. Rita has experienced some of what she describes as “spectacular failures” here, where she did not make her plans clear to her subjects and they backed out when she was almost done.)
  • Illustrate the story, trying think like a reporter. (“What am I trying to say?”) Identify the unique elements of the place, the characters, the actions or key gestures.
  • Shape the narrative. Remember that clarity of message is more important than aesthetics.
  • Share your work!

The talk was very inspiring, although I do not see myself going in that direction (too much talking to people).
In unrelated, selfish news, I found a goodie taped to my chair: a two-sided alcoholic market. Just the thing to sniff in the morning!

Sketchwalk #3

This is the last sketchwalk I will be attending for a bit, as my tutorials are coming up. Luckily, it went very smoothly: I walked, I sketched, I even made it to the throwdown.

This sketch went well, until it didn’t. Augh, the dome! My hand decided to disobey my mind on some of those lines. This is something that happens to me quite frequently in dexterity-based endeavours. I am sure some people will be able to relate. Also, Leuchtturm paper is lovely but not really great for layering. But hey, at least I put in a living creature!

One blessing and curse of the day was the greyish overcast sky, which kept us marginally cooler but which blurred all the shadows, so I could not rely on them for cheap drama like I usually do. But this was Good For Me as I have found myself skipping sketching when the shadows are weak, and this is clearly another instance of cowardice.

My favourite thing about this sketch is the stamp of the symposium mascot, who fits right in! In my mind, she is rushing past Taco Avenue as she is late for the throwdown. Oh, and I made sure to photograph the sketchbook here, as it was the (fun) gift from Artemiranda, and they are running a contest for pictures made in their sketchbook.

Art Market #2

I visited most of the stalls again (the market has great AC) and got a lot of paper samples. Then I tested the Hahnemühle papers AND Roman Szmal’s July at the same time.

My favourite paper of these was the watercolour one, by a mile, even if paint dries less vibrant on it than on the sustainable options. I also liked the Agave, but they were out of these official big samples and gave me only a tiny rectangle, which I later lost. As for July itself, I am not buying it as I do not know what I would use it for.

I also got myself a red sable blend brush (a round eight) from Rosemary and Co, because I love their travel brushes, and do not have that specific one.

Watercolor Sketching: Thinking in Shapes and Lines by Marina Abramova

I chose this tutorial because I really like Marina’s abstract watercolours, and I would like to go in that direction, instead of staying in my comfortable line-and-wash zone.

She began by giving us some freebies (Hahlemuhle paper and Schmincke supergranulators) and then had us do a couple of exercises.

First, she asked us to look around, identify the big shapes we could see (she suggested removing our glasses and/or squinting), and then paint some quick value thumbnails of chosen scenes showing only those big shapes. I struggled with this on a technical level as the lack of drying time meant that my dark values and the adjacent mid-values kept blending in horrible, backrun-filled ways. (I know this is a skill issue, but I find it very tricky to have good water control outside where I am always panicking. ) Anyway, when I looked at Marina’s thumbnails again, I realized that she was focusing mostly on the darks and just indicating the mid-values, some just with outlines.

Then, we did a colour picking exercise by mixing a handful of colours wet-in-wet.

I used my cotton paper samples and went overboard on the granulating pigments which was, actually, a mistake, as Marina’s style relies on layers of transparents.

We finished by picking a thumbnail and completing a picture by painting along with Marina. She used a four-stage approach: a pencil sketch indicating the main shapes (and lines), a colourful wet-in-wet underlayer, a main layer painted, well, kind of normally, just filling in the shapes from the thumbnail, and a final layer where she uses a rigger to add a few details.

I used the same approach, but the third stage went horribly wrong for me, mostly in the sense that it did not look loose and abstract, but static and overdone. I think the granulating paints I chose did not help, as it is so easy to overwork them. I will have to practice at home!

The Aftermath

Afterwards, I collapsed. I did attend the drink and draw, but mostly just to chat.

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