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| La Sagrada Familia, ©Sue Pownall |
Several of us wanted to see the
Sketching Barcelona exhibition (by
Miguel Herranz, Lapin, Sagar Fornies, Òscar Julve, and others) and to sketch in Bari Gòtic or El Born and so met up the next morning. After the exhibition, which was amazing and inspiring, we went to
Granja Dulcinea a xocolateria. Shantele and her partner ordered churros with their chocolate. Kindly they didn't eat them whilst I drew them. I couldn't draw my chocolate as I drank it. I was very impressed as Shantele didn't have her sketchbook with her but soon adopted the suggestion of drawing on a serviette.
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| Churros. A5 sketchbook ink & watercolour |
The above photo was taken by Chris, the only non-sketcher whilst he was waiting to eat the churros. It shows
Alissa,
Chris H,
Shantele with napkin, myself, Dave Black, & Yvonne sketching.
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| Reflections. Watercolour moleskin ©Sue Pownall |
Afterwards, Chris,
Alissa & I walked into El Born district looking for subjects. I left Alissa sketching a door and Chris found an alley she wanted to do. I wandered around a while longer before I saw a distinctive window in a plaza. Luckily, there was a bench across the way and I took out my new watercolour moleskin (given on Virginia Hein's workshop) and tried to capture it. I'm quite pleased with the results and it is not as wonky as the scan implies - my bad photoshop stitching is partially to blame. I can't believe I tackled something so challenging; I think it's partially due to confidence gained from the symposium and a big improvement on how I felt at La Sagrada at the beginning of the trip. Unfortunately, intimidation reset-in later in the day when a lot of us met at CCCB'd cafe and everyone was drawing everyone else. It did make me smile when I asked to see the amazing
Luis Ruiz's sketchbook and he said "it's only workshop drawings", just like I had done moments earlier to someone else.
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| Tapas. A5 sketchbook. Ink & watercolour |
When I finished the window it was lunchtime, so I went to a tapas bar I have visited before. It's slightly expensive but very tasty. I sat at the counter and ate a tapas whilst drawing another. Not liking stuffed peppers, I was able to draw that from the plate near me.
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| La Sagrada Familia moleskin sketchbook. |
The next day, before checking out of my hotel, I went back to La Sagrada Familia. As it was only 9am, there were very few people about and I found a bench with a great view.
There's a very heavy influence from Norberto Dorantes as I experimented more with non-waterproof ink. It's also inspired by the work of others on the symposium. I am very pleased with this sketch, so it was a good way to end. All too soon, it was time to head to the airport for a week in UK, and to start planning my return to Barcelona.
