Porto Day 11

Thursday was the day I would be leaving Porto...but not until around 4:30. After checking out of my apartment I walked over to the rental office and arranged for them to hold my luggage for the day. Sao Domingos by Oporto Tourist Apartments was a wonderful place to stay. It exceeded my expectations! The staff was really great too. (If you look at the link my apartment was just above the red doors and windows on the right corner with views in both directions.

I headed up to one of my favorite sketching spots by the Se' Cathedral. I liked the view with the lavender in front of the wall. While I sat there several sketchers stopped by to chat. It was fun to see people were still around.

Next I headed to the small, grassy area around the back of the Cathedral where there was a big patch of orange flowers.

This is the Taverna de Largo on Rua de Flores. I'm not sure when I sketched it but I forgot to post it.

Around 2:00 I headed to have lunch. As I was checking out the menu at Leitao e Coisas, a place that specializes in suckling pig, I spotted my friend, Melanie Reim at one of the tables. She had taken a trip with a few other friends for a few days out of Porto and had just returned the night before. We talked for a while and then shared our sketchbooks. She then left to do a bit more sketching before her departure the next day. 

I had been working on a page of Porto's delightful foods. Here it is finished.

I had time left for a bit of people sketching as I sat at one of the outdoor cafes in Largo Sao Domingos and had one last beer in Porto. 

Obrigada, Porto! Thanks for the wonderful time.

Then I was off for a quick late flight to Madrid where I made an overnight stop at a hotel near the airport. I would be back at the airport early for my first flight the next day and my journey would continue...

Porto Day 9

On Tuesday after the symposium I went up by the Pont Luis I Bridge to sketch. That was the bridge we walked over when we went to the monastery to watch the sunset. The views looking down and across from the bridge were great! Here are a few photos from there.

I sketched the view looking down from the edge of the bridge...not the easiest perspective to figure out. I like crumbling architecture so this with the pieces of roofing and walls missing was something I enjoyed doing. This was done standing up in direct sun with no shade anywhere nearby.

I was really hot so I left the bridge to seek some shelter. I was adding a little more color to the sketch above when I heard someone say, "You can't stop sketching either." It turned out to be Anne Rose Oosterbann who oddly enough is a friend of my friend Kitty from the Netherlands. Anne Rose is a wonderful artist and has been & will be a big part of the 2019 Symposium in Amsterdam. She designed the logo for the Amsterdam Symposium. We talked for a while and she left to go across the bridge. I took a break and had some lunch at the restaurant where we had dinner the other night. Sadly they were out of octopus, so I had to settle for their wonderful shrimp instead. I did a sketch of the shrimp which completed my Porto food page in my sketchbook.

I headed back to the area where I sketched yesterday. I wanted to capture this shrine that was build into the wall of the street.

In the late afternoon I headed down by the Douro River. Even without all the sketchers it was pretty crowded. I sat with my back to the river and sketched the buildings, umbrellas, etc along the walkway.

 

My final sketch of the night was looking toward the end of the promenade along the river with the sky changing color.

One of my blog readers had a few questions after my post yesterday so I am posting my answer to Nelvia's questions here too. 

"I think most of the people were happy to see us there. It was great for their tourist industry for sure and since so many people traveled to other places like Lisbon & Madrid it helped there too. I checked out the main tourist locations before I left, but as you met people you found out other places people had sketched and locations that the workshop instructors picked. Every night there was a "drink & draw" along the river by the bridge. While the symposium was going on there were 2 sketchcrawls each day with set destinations so you knew those would be good. I found a lot of spots just on my own. Long before the symposium started we were given suggestions for places to stay, but most of the people I knew found apartments or hotels on their own once we found what part of the city we should look at. I never felt unsafe at all even when I was on my own."

Porto Day 8

On the Monday after the symposium ended I was on my own to explore. The sketchers I had been spending time with all moved on to other locations or home. There were still a lot of sketchers in Porto and I stopped and chatted with some throughout the day. My destination that morning was the location where Ian Fennely had done his demo. I had paid attention to where he was taking us so I was able to find the general area, and after walking around a bit I found the same spot he had taken us to. I wonder what the lady who owned the house thought of all the many people who had sketched her house throughout the days of the symposium. It was a great spot...don't you think?

Just down the walkway to the right in the sketch I did I saw this view and couldn't resist it.

I continued walking downhill and found restaurant called Barrote Encarnado. I sat upstairs and ordered pulpo (octopus) which took a while to grill. Meanwhile I had a 1/2 liter of wine and my sketchbooks to keep me company. By the time I finished my lunch and my wine I needed a bit of a rest back at the apartment.

Later that afternoon I went up to the Sao' Bento Train Station. It was time to bite the bullet and do the tiles inside! I mentally reviewed Rosin Cure's tile method. There was another sketcher from Florida doing a beautiful double page sketch of the inside of the station. I focused on the ticket office and part of the tile wall nearby.

I was really pleased with how well the method worked!

Porto Day 7

Although the USk Porto Symposium itself was over there were a lot of sketchers who stayed on in Porto. On Sunday morning Julie and I decided we wanted to sketch some of the narrow streets near R de Belmont and R de S Joao. We set ourselves up and let Sandrine from Paris know where we were. She was checking out of her hotel and leaving that afternoon, but she wanted to sketch with us one more time. Her chair was already packed so she stood and painted resting her materials on her luggage. As you can see there wasn't a lot of room to work and still let people pass by.

Here is the painting I did in that location.

And a closer view.

We went out for a relaxing lunch before Sandrine left for the airport. Hopefully we will see her next year at the Amsterdam Symposium.

Julie and I sketched again and heard from Marcy and Shawne. The plan was to meet them at the Monastery da Serra do Pilar which was on the other side of the Luis I bridge. I hadn't walked across the bridge yet so this was a treat...although it was a long walk and then the Monastery was up on a high hill. This was the view from the Monastery.

View of the upper level of the Luis I bridge from the Monastery da Serra do Pilar.

Imagine our surprise when Julie and I got to the top to find our NYC Urban Sketching friend, Mel up there sketching the view. He had the same idea as the rest of us to watch/sketch the sunset from up there.

Mel Barranco working on his sunset painting.

Julie Kessler sketching the view.

Shawne Cooper capturing the scene.

My sketch with the view.

Sunset over Porto.

My double page spread of the sunset over Porto.

By the time we walked down from the monastery we had no luck making dinner reservations on this side of the river, so we crossed back over the bridge and found Canfinho da Se' a wonderful restaurant near the bridge. We hung out there talking for a long time. We said goodbye to Mel who was heading to Madrid to visit his parents and celebrate his mom's birthday. Julie was leaving for NYC in the morning,  and Shawne & Marcy were heading to Lisbon the next day, so it was a night for goodbyes until we see each other in NY.

Porto Day 6

Saturday, July 21 was the last day of the Symposium. I met Julie up near the Se' Cathedral and we sketched the view from around the back looking out over the city.

In the afternoon there was the final sketchwalk which ended at the Plaza da Libertad. The plaza was filled with sketchers as far as you could see. 

This was where the group photo of the Porto Symposium was taken. Can you find me in the photo?

Here are a few more photos taken in the plaza.

Sonia and Marcy were sketching.

We had a small contingent of males from NYC...Jeff, Mark, Alan, and Mel.

Most of the NYC Urban Sketchers who came to Porto.

It is always a bit sad for the end of the symposium to arrive. There was a closing reception that evening at the hub. Prizes were raffled off and there was a silent auction of sketches that were submitted with profits going to help fund the next symposium which will be in Amsterdam next year. I was still looking forward to several more days of sketching in Porto.

Porto Day 5

On Friday I had my two workshops. In the morning I had Charlene Moreau and the title of her workshop was "Beyond the Trees." It was held at the Vititudes Park and the route she took was stairs almost straight up. My poor legs!!!

Charlene's method is to do an ink thumbnail complete with shading for lights, midtowns, and darks. Then we redrew the scene on watercolor paper in pencil using the pencil to shade the areas having midtowns or darks. Then indigo in various tones was used to shade the drawing.

Here you can see her pencil drawing and the beginning of her shading.

She continued with the midtowns and darks, slowly adding color. She works in a limited palette of sap green, indigo, purple, and a yellow. The only color she doesn't use indigo underneath is the yellow because it will become muddy.

Here is her finished painting.

Here is my thumbnail sketch done in ink.

Here is my finished sketch using Charlene Moreau's method. I loved the way this came out with the indigo shadows. This was one of my favorite sketches I did in Porto.

After lunch I met Roisin Cure' of Galway, Ireland, for my next workshop called "A Page of Porto Petiscos." Rosin showed us her secret to doing lettering after which we were sent out in Largo de S Domingos square to find a sign to do as well as something that caught our attentions. This was the square that my apartment overlooked so I wanted to do the Largo de S Domingos sign. All around Porto artists have decorated the utility boxes on the streets. This one was so festive looking and the store beside it used it to display some of the wares from the shop.

Rosin also showed us a fairly easy way to do the wonderful tiles that adorn so many of the buildings in Porto. She demonstrated by putting down a light wash of blue. When that was totally dry she did a bit of an abstracted version of the design using a slightly darker version of the same blue. Lastly she used  waterproof blue ink to highlight the darkest parts of the design.

Then it was my turn. She also asked us at the beginning of the workshop to listen to the people around us and record something that we overheard while we were sketching. A man had come over to me and asked me if he could take a photo of me, then he thanked me for visiting Porto.

The day was topped off with another wonderful dinner shared with some of my NYC friends plus Lin from Paris and Ana from Poland. It was a fun night!

Porto Day 4

Thursday morning was the first day of workshops or for those not registered for something, the second sketchwalk of the Porto Symposium was also scheduled. I checked the location where they would be sketching and rather than walk all the way to the hub and back up, I decided to meet them at the Fonte de Leoes. When I arrived there were already many sketchers busy working. I found a few of the NYC people...Pat, Benedicte, & Alan. I did one large sketch in my Strathmore Multi Media book. I was able to save whites for the water everywhere except in the center. I used a white gel pen there.

I didn't do any more than slightly shift my chair to look out of the plaza to capture some of the other sketchers busy at work. Of course I had to use artistic license and leave a lot of the sketchers out...or I would still be there sketching today.

At the end of the morning session we gathered for a throw-down of our work and some photos of the group. You can see the number of people who took part in the photos.

Pat, Benedicte and I walked down toward the hub together. Pat brought along her lunch but Benedicte and I stopped to eat on the way running into another NYC sketcher, Mel. In the afternoon there were some presentations and then we went downstairs to meet our demo instructor.  I sketched a bit outside until that happened. 

My instructor was Ian Fennelly who was so nice and very talented! He walked us to the location that he picked which was about a 15 minute walk... much of it uphill. Ian usually starts with watercolor first, but due to time constraints started with a light grey marker to draw the scene. He progressively used darker grey markers to redraw, add details, and shade.

He then moves on to drawing in black ink pens and brush pens to add more details and texture. I really enjoyed his demo and would love to take a workshop with him to see how he approaches the sketch starting with color.

There was a "drink & draw" that evening but I headed off to have something to eat and relax in the air-conditioned comfort of my apartment. I needed it! It had been another busy day.