Chicago Sketchcation: Part 6

The final day! I had my very last workshop, another one on perspective, this one with Stephanie Bower. Know when I say she wrote the book on perspective in urban sketching, it isn't a metaphor! We were provided with gorgeous weather, and were tasked with doing panoramas of the equally gorgeous river walk. A major bonus of the workshop was getting to see Stephanie in action! (her half-finished sketch below!)

I begrudgingly brought along my watercolor moleskine as it was the easiest way to do a panorama, despite the fact that it meant my sketch would forever be bound, and also that I'd be painting over the binding. I have since bought a few blocks of long watercolor paper (not the first time recently I've wanted to work that way, so it seemed like a good time to invest!) I didn't quite get to finish my sketch, but I learned a lot and had a lot of fun, so I really can't complain! I added a few strokes after the class to try to make it a tiny bit more finished.

After class all we had left was the final sketchwalk, group photo, and closing ceremonies!

The final sketchwalk led us along Michigan Avenue, so I chose a view containing the bright red signage of the Congress Hotel (and took more than enough photos from other angles to do some studio paintings later!). Marta caught me at work, yet again!

This was my final sketch as I opted to take the rest of the walk to visit with friends, new and old, to see what they were sketching. I also took it upon myself (since I run the @nycurbansketchers official instagram) to alert my chapter we'd be doing an NYC photo after the big group photo. We met for the group photo, all 570 of us! Or at least, as many as were left; we lost some to early flights! Can you find me?

After we were officially released from the photo, I was worried about losing my fellow New Yorkers, since several I hadn't met yet! We meet frequently enough that it's easy to miss other sketchers, if you don't go to every single meet up. I was sitting with the majority already, but to wrangle the rest I stood up and said "NEW YORK CITY SKETCHERS! STAY HERE FOR OUR OWN GROUP PHOTO!" and while I was concerned I wasn't loud enough, I was told by my group that I didn't need to be concerned and that they were surprised by my volume! Turns out, even theatre production majors learn to project!

Here's an unofficial group photo while we were waiting for the group; I'm proud to say the New York City contingency proved ourselves the loudest, most ridiculous and outrageous group. And had the most fun ;)

Our final NYC (and outer boroughs, and outer OUTER boroughs, Long Island, Connecticut, Upstate NY, and NJ) group photo!

Finally, it was time to say goodbye. We met up in the hub one last time for dinner, the silent auction, and the long-awaited announcement of the location of next year's symposium. I had entered my Qor Bean sketch for the silent auction and am happy to say it wasn't left on the table at the end of the night. I was the lucky winner of two sketches, the more notable of the two was the one by Paul Heaston, who taught my first workshop! I thought I might get into a bidding war with Stephanie Bower, but she let me have it. Here's the sketch, and a photo of me and Paul with it (Paul was a good sport and hung in there despite my phone's camera being less than cooperative).

And finally: the big announcement! Hopefully next year I'll be attending the symposium again and sketching from....(drumroll please!) Porto, Portugal! Going to save my pennies and will hopefully see my sketcher friends there. In case there was any doubt, I had a blast at this one and definitely want to make a habit of going! The urban sketching community is such a lovely crowd: uncompetitive, supportive, and friendly. I couldn't have asked for more!