Ian Fennelly Workshop

When I attended the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Porto, Portugal I attended a demo by Ian Fennelly from the UK. I really like his style of sketching and I like him as a person. Since Porto I've been wanting to take a workshop with him. Recently Etchr Studio promoted a mini-workshop with Ian that was 2 hours long and was taking place on Saturday at noon. 

In addition to a live demo and the ability to interact with Ian the participants also get to download the video of the actual workshop to keep. All of this is for the bargain price of $5. Ian was so good and would demo a section of his painting and allow us time to do the same. He worked with a limited palette of 4 colors, some grey brush pens and assorted fine-line markers. When he did the demo in Porto he was sketching a street scene, so I know his method can be adapted to other subjects besides boats. I really enjoyed this!

I will be watching for other workshops being offered by Etchr Studios. 

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.