November colours

For our November Sketchcrawl we met at the Notre Dame cemetery in Limpertsberg, Luxemburg.

With its beautifully carved tombstones and funerary sculptures it is a place of meditation and calm. And especially in November, after the visits of the families, the chrysanthemums, the autumn colours and the monuments make for an interesting painting palette.

We were happy to welcome two new members, Nico and Manon (our youngest urban sketcher).

We were lucky that it did not rain, but there was a cold wind and you could feel snow in the air even if it was only the beginning of November. But the November light was beautiful, so we were courageous and we sketched for about an hour in the cemetery.

We made the traditional ‘family photo’ of our sketchbooks:

With the cemetery as background it has a special melancholic ring to it:

Here are my own sketches - I focused on the ‘Angel of Grief’, a replica of the Rome sculpture by the American sculptor William Wetmore Story.

Afterwards we went for a hot drink in the Hitch on the Glacis. When our fingers and toes were warm again we could go on sketching in a drink&draw session!

Manon sketching

Maria Grazia

Nico

November sketchcrawl

Hello dear sketchers,

For this November's sketchcrawl, we will explore the Limpertsberg area and its cemetery in particular.

After the visits of families on 1 November, it will be the occasion to discover the location in a different light.

Let's meet in front of cinema Utopia on the avenue de la Faïencerie in Limpertsberg on Sunday 6th November at 14:00.

Don't forget to wear warm clothes and bring mittens or gloves!

See you on Sunday!

Vide-greniers place Guillaume II le 2 octobre 2016

C'était une grande joie de retrouver notre groupe d'Urban Sketchers après la rentrée pour se balader entre les tentes et étals de ce vide-greniers sur la place Guillaume II. Le temps automnal hésitait encore entre un vague rayon de soleil et une petite pluie. Nous ne nous sentions pas très courageux pour braver longtemps les éléments, donc une petite heure pour récolter des impressions et faire le point si on continue en plein air ou à l'abri.
Je me suis confortablement installée en haut des escaliers de la mairie, pour avoir une vue d'ensemble et être à l'abri des courants d'air.  J'avais envie d'exprimer l'ambiance colorée des tables et présentoirs qui défiait l'incertitude du temps…mais je me suis trop attardée sur la mine de plomb, et voilà:

…un peu terne!… mais il y a tout de même un des lions de Trémont et plus loin Guillaume II qui tente  sur son cheval de dominer la place et de concurrencer les grues du chantier en cours.
Finalement, nous avons opté pour un cocooning au Kaale Kaffi autour d'une boisson chaude.
Là, je ne voulais pas rater la couleur et le savant désordre alentour…j'ai peut-être exagéré et étouffé Marianne et Veronica sous les contrastes colorés de cet univers bariolé. 

C'était un beau dimanche de plus.

October sketchcrawl

Hello dear sketchers,

For our October sketchcrawl, let's visit the vide-grenier in Luxembourg city.

Weather permitting, we will be able to sketch visitors and exhibitors on the Guillaume II square. We can always take refuge on one of the surrounding cafés if needed.

Let's meet in front of Cercle Cité on the Place d'Armes on Sunday 2nd October at 14:00.

See you soon and don't forget your pencils! :)

Vacances autour du lac d'Annecy

Pendant que les Urban Sketchers L esquissaient l'ambiance festive de la Schoberfourer à Luxembourg, je me reposais paresseusement au bord du lac d'Annecy dont voici quelques moments contemplatifs tout d'abord depuis la plage de Saint-Jorioz…

puis sur les hauteurs depuis le parc de la maison d'hôtes. Quelle quiétude!

Sketching at the Schueberfouer

For this month's sketchcrawl, we visited the Schueberfouer, one of the oldest and most beloved Luxembourg traditions. Every year, starting around mid-August, this event, a mixture of market and funfair, takes place for three whole weeks.

The Schueberfouer was founded in 1340 by John the Blind, King of Bohemia and Count of Luxembourg. It was initially a huge market where people from all around the Greater Region came to sell their products, ranging from agricultural products and livestock to cloth, pottery and other household products.

Over the centuries shows and games started to become part of the fair, and the Ferris wheel and rollercoaster became permanent fixtures in the 20th century, later joined by more and more sophisticated attractions, some of them not meant for the faint of heart.

 

The beginning of the Schueberfouer always feels bittersweet to me, as it brings loads of fun but also announces the end of the summer holidays.

On Sunday, we went there with Leen and Maria Grazia for the monthly USk sketchcrawl. I focused on the Ferris wheel, which I find immensely photogenic. The owners of the attraction came regularly to see how our sketches were progressing.

I am pleased to say that they loved them and even asked if they could buy my sketch. I told them that unfortunately, as it was part of my sketchbook, it was not possible, but I later sent them a scanned image.

 

One ride on the carousel and a drink later, I was ready to call it a day and to say goodbye to the Schueberfouer for this year and mentally prepare for the arrival of autumn.

I sketched at the Schueberfouer on another occasion. You can see more of my sketches on my blog

Moment de ville: excavation Centre Hamilius

Samedi dernier, 27 août, j'ai eu le privilège d'accéder le matin au 9ème étage d'un immeuble en chantier au coin du boulevard Royal et de l'avenue Emile Reuter. Privilège aussi de monter à pieds par une journée qui s'annonçait torride… mais l'effort en valait la peine! Un panorama plongeant sur les excavations ayant remplacé le Centre Hamilius s'ouvre à mes pieds. Depuis que ces immeubles ont été démolis, un espace long, comme une place cadrée par la rue Aldringen d'un côté et les façades du boulevard Royal de l'autre, s'est dégagé dans le tissu urbain. Seul un immeuble isolé émerge de l'excavation gigantesque, comme une bateau à la dérive, en vague équilibre.  Cet arraché dans la substance urbaine laisse depuis quelques mois la lumière baigner les façades de la rue Aldringen dont on peut maintenant apprécier la qualité. Avant que le nouveau projet referme ces ouvertures sur le paysage urbain, je voulais profiter de l'opportunité d'accès pour saisir aussi bien que possible ce moment unique de la ville.

Moments volés en juin et juillet

Juin et juillet ne m'ont pas laissé le temps de me joindre aux urban sketchers, alors quelques instants volés …un petit quart d'heure "café"

…puis pendant ma marche du soir, un arrêt sur un banc place d'Armes pour capter la lumière d'une journée finissante…

…enfin, petite méditation solitaire sous le soleil de juillet à Lasauvage, en attendant les autres participants à une réunion. Parfois j'aime bien qu'on oublie.

September sketchcrawl

Hello dear sketchers

This month we will sketch at the Schueberfouer, the annual funfair taking place on the Glacis parking in Limperstberg.

We will be able to sketch fairground people, visitors and the various amusements while eating Gromperekichelcher and other treats.

Let's meet in front of the ferris wheel at 14.00 on Sunday 4 September 2016.

See you on Sunday!

Discovering London

I didn't get to go to the symposium in Manchester this year, so I decided to compensate by spending a week in London instead. As happens with most symposiums, sketchers started flocking to the United Kingdom already the week before the event and this year was no exception.

I spent the week in a shared apartment in Piccadilly Circus with Stephanie Bower, Anne Percival and Gail Wong. It was so much fun to catch up with Stephanie and Anne, and to finally meet Gail, whose name and sketches I already knew from the online community.

Graduation in Greenwich

Westminster Palace

As the days passed, we were joined by other sketchers, first the Asian contingent with Tia, KK, Pramote, Nicholas and many more. I got a lot of inspiration from them, from Pramote in particular, who was showing me how to let loose and just have jun with my sketches.

Piccadilly Circus

Over the weekend, we joined two sketchcrawld, the first, on Saturday, organised by Urban Sketchers London. We met on Trafalgar square, continuing on the direction of Buckingham Palace(but not getting that far).

Trafalgar Square

Admiral's gate

On Sunday, we met by St Paul's cathedral to "Sketch Wren's London", a sketching tour organised by Pete Scully. He even gave us a short speech on Wren and his work. I was very impressed with all the preparations he made.

St Paul's cathedral

This week was like having a tiny bit of the symposium fever without the stress of attending all workshops and as many activities and lectures as possible.

It was my first actual visit to London and what a fun way to discover this amazing city!

You can see more of my sketches from that week on my blog.

MANCHESTER: the Urban Sketchers Symposium 2016

This year I had the great opportunity to attend the 7th Symposium of the Urban Sketchers in Manchester.
What an experience! Imagine more than 500 participants from 44 countries from all over the world sketching together for 4 days. Arnaud and Zita were the two other participants from Luxemburg.

At the beginning I was a bit overwhelmed. Many people seemed to know each other from previous symposiums or from their own regional groups. The other half was sketching feverishly every free second - which had rather a paralysing effect on me.
Adding to my confusion was the chaotic and vibrant city of Manchester: old and new, 3-levelled city, rich and poor, highbrow and underbelly, graduation day and comiccon festival, harry potter and homeless people, road works everywhere...
But gradually I totally warmed up to the city and the Symposium and it turned out to be a fantastic experience. The warming-up as a matter of speaking, because every day the weather got a bit wetter and colder. I suggested a nice sunny and dry Greek island for the next symposium!

Workshops

I had been lucky to ‘catch’ a workshop pass, which allowed me to follow workshops, activities, demos and lectures. It was not easy to choose between the vast offer of so many great topics and teachers, but I am very happy with the choices I made. I selected some teachers whose work I really admire, or picked a theme that interested me or where I feel a lack of experience.

Marina Grechanik 

In her workshop “What & How: Creating your Story” Marina taught us that the process of making an exciting and communicative sketch is all about making decisions: focusing on one central idea, deciding on format and dynamics, choosing a specific tool. She guided us through this process with a range of quick and clear exercises, working towards a final sketch.

choosing a format

choosing a theme

LK Bing

No time to rest! The afternoon workshop of LK Bing, “Capturing Atmosphere Using Dramatic Lighting and Fast Spontaneity” did justice to its title: rain poured down on us and some unexpected spells of sunshine brought the right drama! With fast and firm movements LK Bing showed us not to be afraid of scratching, mixing and pouring the colours.

StephanieBower

The next morning it was time for some fine-tuning. My architectural knowledge is nihil and perspective scares me to death, which is why I choose a more ‘technical’ workshop, “Soaring Spaces”. In the impressive staircases of the neogothic City Hall of Manchester Stephanie taught us with infinite patience and gentleness the basics of drawing an arch and how to move our eyes from there upwards high into the sky. My sketch is a far cry from the subtle sketches I saw around me, but at least I got rid of my ‘cold feet’.

Daniel Green

Daniel’s “Reflecting on Water” was not a workshop but a demo in the beautiful area of Castlefield, along the world’s oldest industrial canal. It is quite inspiring and instructive to see how others work. On my way home I tried my own hand at the Canal reflections.

MarionRivolier

I have been admiring the work and the palette of Marion Rivolier for a long time. The quintessence of Marion’s workshop “Paint like nobody’s watching” was learning to play with warm and cool colours and, by doing so, to construct and ‘tame’ the space.

EmmaFitzgerald

Only some hours left before the end of the symposium! I certainly do not regret my choice of a last activity “Drawing a collection”, led by Emma with a gentle and attentive hand. The Manchester University Museum proved to be a rich subject matter for collecting the most unexpected items...

Fayum portraits 1st century AD

 

Time for the family photo

And goodbyes...

See you in Chicago next year!

P.S.  I left Manchester without seeing any football! The only football I saw was the table football at the pub Peveril Of The Peak, one of the drink&draw spots of this Symposium

7th USK SYMPOSIUM in MANCHESTER part #2

Day#3
I chose the workshop proposed by Paul Heaston "THE BIG PICTURE and the tiny details"
Paul is a awesome sketcher! If you look at his drawing, you will see an incredible amount of details. He draws all what appears in his field of view. 
I knew his drawing before the symposium and I always imagined a A3 size sketchbook .. but, as extraordinary as it is, he never draw on more than a A5! 

"Don't mind the perspective rules, just use what everybody knows as obvious: what is close to you is bigger, what is far is smaller, what hides something else is closer, etc... and don't forget: straight lines do not exist, they are just a construction/correction of your brain, so free your mind and just draw what you see, not what your brain wants you to draw!" (Lapin's notes) 

your sketchbook is of course in your field of view and has to be on your drawing!
here a vertical view on the Manchester City Hall

and an horizontal view from the arcades (still raining...)

What is really great in the symposium was to meet so many sketchers from around the world, nice people happy to share the passion of sketching with each other: here I was with Lapin (Barcelona) and Alvin Wong (USK Hong-Kong)

No workshop in the afternoon, but a walk with Lapin, Gérard and Antoine Michel (Liège) and Matt Cam (Ohio)

you can find Stan, the T-Rex at the Manchester Natural History Museum
(not far from the School of Arts)

Lapin found those very nice back facades behind Waterloo Place

In the late afternoon, what has already become a tradition: beers at the Pub ZOO with fellow sketchers: entre autres Fabien Denoël, Vincent Desplanches, Christian Wouters, Julien Schleiffer, Matt Cram... and Johnny Cash (local barfly...)

Day#4
Workshop "Cars in the City" proposed by Lapin and Gérard Michel (USK since more than 50 years!), formerly created by Florian Afferbach who unfortunately passed away some months before the symposium.

Sketching a car as if it wasn't a car, but a person...
First from 2-3 m distance, than from less than a meter.

Draw a maximum of details, especially your own image reflected in the chromes...

The cars in a larger context

For the last afternoon: Manchester Museum of Science and Industry, and a walk through Castelfield Place and its big iron bridges.

Air and Space Hall

Castelfield iron bridges