The day before the symposium I went a little crazy- well, I think it was a mild a frenzy-  to get myself in the mood….

There are some notes that I wrote to myself on these pages recording the thoughts running around in my head. I felt like I needed to be in the groove for the symposium… but ultimately I don’t really think it matters that much. The experience of an Urban Sketchers Symposium is so overwhelming (in good ways) that you can never truly be ready for it.  I was thinking and comparing too much with last year when I had 2 days totally on my own sketching in Santo Domingo before anyone else turned up –  that was a very unique and special experience and it connected me with the place and my sketchbook in a way that I was never going to be able to do this year. Anyway- that just explains what all the crazy notes are about!

  
I think I mentioned before- being in the groove is a feeling of hand and eye coordination that I strive after when I am on a sketching trip. The end result of the sketch or the page is not what I am referring to. I was also a little unsure of what tools to be using. In the old days (last year!) I used ink and wash all the time.. there was no decision to be made, my lamy just started moving… now I have to think whether to use lamy or pencil or paint… and ultimately my love of my lamy pen won out most of the time.

As you can see from the pages, I headed off for the sketchcrawl but ended up never actually being with the main pack…was very special to have my great friend Eza sketching with me this day (she is the one that introduced watercolour to me 6 years ago)

Lots of crazy quick architecture sketching… oh! Barcelona is such a rich place to sketch if you like elaborate architecture (hmmm, I wonder if I am one of those!)

We visited two very special buildings. The Hospital de Sant Pau which was the very top on my list of buildings to visit and the House of Spikes! I also couldn’t resist a 3 minute sketch of Casa Batlo and ended back up sketching in Placa de Rei.

I think the sketches and the notes explain themselves… despite my concern about being in the groove or not, I was having a LOT of fun!

Another random thought (I record these ramblings in the hope that it will make me remember things for the next trip) is that despite using the bigger page and having the intention of leaving lots of room for maps… the last two days I didn’t leave enough space for all the notes and maps that I wanted to add….

Three very special sketching friends that I sketched with during the day… Esther from Edinburgh (who I call Eza – poor thing, it is my attempt to give her a corny australian nickname!), Alissa and Chris from Sydney.