Brendan Brohan created a compilation of videos and photos from the 14th USk Toulouse Symposium, and it was fun to try and spot myself in the crowds of attendees.

Flying home from the Urban Sketcher’s Symposium in Toulouse was one last opportunity to add to my event sketchbook with more sketches of people at the airport and on the plane. It was also a great exploration into mixing monochromatic elements with colour.

At the Urban Sketcher’s Symposium in Toulouse this year I started a severe fascination about drawing wonky lines, and I wondered why a confident loose, quick, and wonky line looks so much better than a thoughtfully slowly rendered straight line. The Laws of Gestalt Psychology help to explain this phenomenon and also help to quiet your inner critic.

Even though I had a week at the USk symposium in Toulouse, I only got around to sketching three buildings. The rest of the time I sketched people, and attended workshops.

A collection of photos of the city of Toulouse and the urban sketchers who attended this year’s symposium. We had some fan girl moments

At the Urban Sketcher’s Symposium in Toulouse I attended the Peter Rush demonstration to experience his method of capturing s street scene that includes adding in, rather than ignoring, street signs, traffic lights, posts, recycle bins, and other street furniture and urban elements that give the street it’s personality. I took inspiration for this style of sketching along onto Saturday’s Sketch Crawl in Toulouse, and have started to use it now that I’m back home.

The Urban Sketcher’s Symposium in Toulouse was a four day event and I sketched people every day during the workshops, lectures, and demonstrations, as well as while I was exploring the streets of Toulouse.

My second workshop at the Toulouse Urban Sketcher’s Symposium with Veronica Lawlor which was all about reportage and capturing stories with your sketches. We did warm up exercises to familiarise ourselves with the area using vignettes and thumbnails, and let our stories evolve organically from the elements that interested and intrigued us.

My second workshop at the Toulouse Urban Sketcher’s Symposium with Richard Briggs which was all about sketching narrow street views. We did warm up exercises using continuous line to capture shapes, outlines, and edges.

My first workshop at the Toulouse Urban Sketcher’s Symposium with Dan Archer which was all about sketching people. We did warm up exercises of sketching people, and then went to the Victor Hugo market to sketch people with overheard conversations.

Day 146 of sketching people during my travel day to the Urban Sketcher’s Symposium in Toulouse. Including some sketches with some poetic reportage, and some using a limited colour palette.

I sketched my art supplies for the urban sketcher’s symposium in Toulouse. I like ink lines and watercolour, but I’ve had to pack a few extra supplies because of the workshops I’m attending.

Exploring an interesting colour triad for Toulouse buildings and street scenes. The Manganese Blue Hue provides a bright and vivid contrast to the opaque mixes created by the Indian Red and Buff Titanium.

Putting my Noodler’s Ahab Flex Nib pen through its paces to see if it’s ready for the Urban Sketcher’s Symposium in Toulouse. I created a variety of different line weight by adjusting the pressure, and the angle of the nib. Then I used it to test the writing and sketching capabilities.

I’ve created a set of small watercolour canvases for portraits I do on location. They’re only 8cm x 6cm, and ideal for doing loose quick sketches to give to the subjects I sketch. On the back is a linocut self portrait I created last year.

I’ve been prepping these three books for my trip to Toulouse to attend the Urban Sketcher’s Symposium next week. Three are Hahnemühle watercolour books, and one is a hand-made matchbook swatch book that I made to consolidate some of my colour swatching ideas for painting the Pink City. I also made a spiral bound sketchbook for notes during my workshops and making thumbnail sketches.

Daniel Smith published their suggestions for painting Toulouse street scenes during the Urban Sketches Symposium. So I experimented with how to mix these from the colours I already have in my watercolour palette.

Exploring Toulouse, the pink city in January. A French cultural immersion and welcome hospitality from the locals.

We weren’t going to let a French Rail Strike get in the way of our plans to travel around France for three months.