Excitement excitement!
The whole Urban Sketching world is counting the hours left to the subscription time op this Saturday at 15:00 GMT for the next international symposium : The 9th International Urban Sketchers Symposium will be held in Porto, Portugal, July 18-21, 2018. Sketchers of all levels, experience, and backgrounds are welcome.
In my quest for creativity stimulation I can’t leave out this event!
What is the Symposium? It is the “Creativity-Mecca of the Universe” !!!
“The International Urban Sketching Symposium is an annual educational event organized by Urban Sketchers (USk), a nonprofit dedicated to fostering the practice of on-location observational sketching. The goal of the Symposium is to celebrate and practice the art of on-location sketching in the host city. The event offers valuable field-sketching instruction and opportunities for participants to network and socialize. Following our spirit of “sharing the world, one drawing at a time,” we aim to bring the Symposium to new cities and countries every year. Portland, Lisbon, Santo Domingo, Barcelona, Paraty, Singapore, Manchester and Chicago have hosted previous editions of the Symposium.”
A quick information for those who don’t know the Urban Sketchers yet: “We are an all-volunteer nonprofit dedicated to fostering a global community of artists who practice on-location drawing.
Our mission is to raise the artistic, storytelling and educational value of on-location drawing, promoting its practice and connecting people around the world who draw on location where they live and travel.”
The manifesto of the Urban Sketchers tells it all:
- 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.
I think these events are the “Creativity-Mecca of the Universe” so get your art supply tools polished and go over there if you have the possibility.
Why? Because:
- you’ll get out of your comfort zone many time, which is necessary to progress in your drawing skills
- you’ll meet hundreds of people from all over the world, which is heaven for your creativity stimulation (in Manchester were about 500 people from about 80 different countries if I remember well)
- you’ll be able to choose among 36 different workshops from teachers who all have their own drawing style! I strongly advise to choose a drawing style that is as different as possible from your own so you’ll be able to stretch your comfort zone in a maximum way (Aww! This is a strange sentence… :))
- Try new ways of seeing and try new ways of putting it on paper!
- Porto is a magnificent city with great food and great people! I love Portugal…
- and last but not least: the urban sketching community is one of the most loving and most generously encouraging communities I know (compared to other artistic communities where jealousy and competition are often prevailing…)
Here’s the link to read more: Porto
Hope to see you there!
Love,
Barbara
A sketch from Veronica Lawlor’s workshop in Manchester
Manchester July 2016