It feels a bit unreal to say, now that I am back home, but the lack of posts here lately is due to the fact that I have been drawing in Brazil for ten days. I had the great fortune of being one of the instructors at the 5th Urban sketchers symposium in Paraty, Brazil, which was a fantastic experience. These events keep getting better every year, and this time was no exception.
On my way there, I stayed in Rio de Janeiro for a few days (too few!) and got the opportunity to meet up with both local and foreign sketchers to see and draw some fantastic places in this city.
On my arrival in Rio, I met with local sketcher Nathalia. She had the perfect remedy for an exhausted traveler – we had a nice lunch and then went to the art school at Parque Lage near Jardim Botânico and sketched in the park. It was warm, calm and fabulously beautiful. As a little bonus, the Cristo Redentor was looming up above in the background. Thanks Nathalia for keeping me company that day, and showing me around for a bit. You really made my day!
The next few days, more sketchers arrived in Rio, and I met with – among others – Orling, Karina, Miriam, Flavia, Christina, Joel, Thais, Gabi and Kumi. The company of these guys made Rio an even more awesome experience. 🙂
Apart from Rio de Janeiro being a very beautiful city, full of great views, things to see, sketch and do, I found a tremendous amount of little things to be incredibly interesting. You know, the stuff that is almost the same as at home, but not quite. I think I could have spent days just sketching stuff like this; street furniture, groceries, little old houses, traffic, plants… But I only had four days, so I had to move on to the grand views. More scans coming up soon!
All drawings: approx. 21 x 14,5 cm, various ink pens and watercolours on Stillman & Birn alpha series sketchbook paper.