Oxford is one of the greatest cities in the heart of England – the city of dreaming spires -. Everywhere you go there are beautiful locations, people, cyclists and loads of stories to tell. We have organised six different locations for the 3 day workshop and you would be experiencing them all, from the quirky Oxford University Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museums to Radcliffe Square within the Bodleian Library complex, the Oxford Covered Market, scenes from St Giles’ and St Aldate’s streets and the views from Christ Church Meadow. Join Urban Sketchers Isabel Carmona, Miguel Herranz and Victor Swasky for 3 full days workshop that will get you to know Oxford intimately and to develop your personal urban sketching techniques.
The workshop will be hosted at The Old Fire Station Gallery in Oxford Old Fire Station where we will start and end each day and we will put up a developing exhibition of our the work created during each day in their gallery space.
It will be fun but hard work, as you will be enjoying learning and experimenting all the time, trying out different ways of drawing, sketching and using colour without fear, sharing the work we do and discussing our findings intensely. There are no mistakes in urban sketching only lessons.
Each of the instructors will explore different themes of urban sketching.
Locations & Instructors
St Giles Street – Miguel Herranz
Radcliffe Square – Isabel Carmona
Oxford Covered Market – Swasky
St. Aldate’s – Miguel Herranz
Oxford University Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museums – Isabel Carmona
Christ Church Meadow – Swasky
Colour in the eye of the beholder (Isabel Carmona)
Isabel’s first theme is Colour: we all see colour different, as colour is light reflected and perceived by us on the back of the eye and stimuli sent to our brains.. How many times have you argued about What colour is this? Using watercolour as the main medium, we’ll explore the idea of colour and contrast as the starting point of a sketch. In this workshop we’ll start with colour (in watercolour) to abstract what we see, using colour boldly and with strong contrast. Drawing can take place later either with more colour more linear marks or with pen if preferred. We will talk about colour, perception, abstraction and individuality. Don’t worry if you have not used watercolour before, the basics will be covered. If you’ve used watercolour before, be prepared to use strong colours! Isabel’s second theme is Texture: Learning to modify the paper surface that you are drawing on. Treating difference surfaces with texture will allow you to sketch/draw/paint almost anywhere. We can modify the surface that we are given during the drawing (wax crayons, salt) or before by preparing surfaces prior to sketching (gesso, collage, colour).
Thin line, bold sketch (Miguel Herranz)
Miguel’s theme is line. Following the line to see what it shows you over the paper, to wander between life and drawing, to see how your hand, your pen and your line give can give themselves another different life to the drawing. We will experiment how to sketch spaces with no reference or erasable tools (no rules, measures or pencils) in order to be able to put invisible reference points, add or divide dimensions, checking depths, heights and tilts on your paper just working with your eyes and mind. This will allow you to draw much slower but to finish the sketch much faster. The second exercise will be spiral drawing, which don not mean drawing spirals, but taking a main favorite little focus point that takes our attention and to draw it on the center of the page. Then drawing everything around following a spiral movement to avoid losing the reference of the focus point but letting it grow to all the page surface in a some kind of “organic” way.
Drawing people. The Walking Dead point of view or making up Frankenstein (Swasky)
Drawing people is the most scary topic when we have assume how to draw a building. It is the most difficult for everybody,even for me. So let’s go a bit further we will work most of time in the middle of nowhere, there where everybody doesn’t want to go. Unpleasant feelings will be our first sensations but after a little bit of theory we will see that it is not so difficult. Human body is just a question of way of seeing things. Exercises will focus in drawing crowded scenes or locations where people is gathered. While capturing people in motion is often a challenge, this workshop will begin with some indicators about how to let go of the fear of drawing people, how to identify the body language. We will also remark all the stories which are behind each place in relationship to the people.
Workshop schedule
Tuesday 8 July
Welcome in the Old Fire Station Cafeteria in the evening at 4.30pm.
Wednesday 9 July
9.30am -12.30am Isa, Miguel and Swasky workshops (St Giles, Radcliffe Square and Oxford Covered Market)
12.30pm- 1.30pm Lunch
1.30pm – 4.30pm Isa, Miguel and Swasky workshops (St Giles, Radcliffe Square and Oxford Covered Market)
4.30pm -5.00pm Review (at Old Fire Station)
Thursday 10 July
9.30am -12.30am Isa, Miguel and Swasky workshops (St Giles, Radcliffe Square and Oxford Covered Market)
12.30pm- 1.30pm Lunch
1.30pm – 4.30pm Isa, Miguel and Swasky workshops (St Aldate’s Street, Oxford University Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museums
4.30pm -5.00pm Review (at Old Fire Station)
Friday 11 July
9.30am -12.30am Isa, Miguel and Swasky workshops (St Aldate’s Street, Oxford University Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museums)
12.30pm- 1.30pm Lunch
1.30pm – 4.30pm Isa, Miguel and Swasky workshops (St Aldate’s Street, Oxford University Natural History and Pitt Rivers Museums)
4.30pm -5.00pm Review (at Old Fire Station)
Saturday 12 July
44th Sketchcrawl in London
Participants
30 attendees maximum, 18 minimum. Any level of drawing experience is welcome.
Accommodation
http://www.visitoxfordandoxfordshire.com
http://www.universityrooms.com/en/city/oxford/home
http://www.airbnb.co.uk
Supplies
We are pleased working with great tools but we recommend to check out Swasky’s sketching gear, because he can draw with a biro, a pencil o just a twig. You can ask him on his Facebook’s page.
Sponsorship
Thanks to Stillman & Birn who will provide us sketchbooks for drawing with watercolor (Beta series) and Canson also supply to everybody sketchbooks (Inspiration Artbook).
Registration fee
225 £ including tuition and a Stillman & Birn sketchbook and one pack of two Canson Sketchbooks. To apply please email to: isacarand@gmail.com.
Cancellation Policy: All fees are fully refundable if cancelled prior to 23 June 2014. If cancelled after 23 June, a 25 £ cancellation fee will be retained. In the event of too few registrants, all monies will be refunded.
Workshop map
https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zGj17MPF3d0k.kuN62nIfb21k
About the instructors
Isabel is Spanish but studied in UK where she practices as an architect and artist. Her passion is watercolour, easy to carry around and sketch on the go and likes experimenting and mixing media to get interesting effects. Isabel started sketching in 1993 as part of her architecture training and continues to this day. She joined Urban Sketchers Spain in 2011. As an artist she is part of West Berkshire and North Hampshire Open Studios scheme and joined the Oxford Printmakers Cooperative in 2013. She participate volunteering the Barcelona USk Symposium as an interpreter in Barry Jackson workshop. http://www.isacarmona-sketches.blogspot.co.uk
http://www.isacarmona-art.com
Miguel. After a long career as advertising creative in Spain and Italy, Miguel becomes a freelance illustrator a few years ago. Working all day with digital media drove him back towards the live touch of the sketchbook that had finally grown to become his main medium of expression. He participate as instructor with Swasky in the Santo Domingo USk Symposium, with What’s Behind an Onion workshop, in 2012 and also organizing Barcelona USk Symposium.
http://www.freekhand.com
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mherranz/?details=1
https://www.facebook.com/freekhand
Swasky born and raised in Barcelona, Swasky has been drawing most of his lifetime, but when he finished his BFA he left drawing because he tried to start working. Then he decided to start again a degree in Audiovisual Communication. Once he fulfilled his second degree he worked in an advertising production company, RCR, disappointed with a job so stressful and invidious he left his job and run a shop. With a new life he started drawing again and everything changed. Now he is freelance illustrator and teaches drawing to anyone who is interested in remember how proud she/he felt when was a child and drew over a piece of paper. He participate in Santo Domingo USk Symposium in Santo Domingo as instructor with Miguel and Herranz and was one the organizer of the Barcelona USk Symposium in 2013.
http://urbansketchers.org/search/label/Swasky
https://www.facebook.com/drawingswasky
http://www.swasky.es
