A few months before the Barcelona symposium, I saw some amazing work by a Barcelona artist named Sagar Fornies. He was handling light in a beautiful way, and when combined with his loose drawing style the overall effect seemed magical to me. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend his workshop at the symposium, and benefited a great deal from the teaching of both Sagar himself and his talented translator, our longtime Urban Sketchers friend Miguel Herranz.
Below is one of Sagar's drawings of L'Escola Industrial in Barcelona; it's the drawing that caught my attention before the Symposium and compelled me to seek him out. Under Sagar's drawing is my on-location drawing of a university courtyard, produced over about 45 minutes during Sagar's workshop (I further darkened the foreground and added color to the roof later). You'll note it's very different from my typical style. I hope to be able to incorporate some of the lessons learned into my everyday work. So here's to Sagar and Miguel...muchas gracias!
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| A drawing of L'Escola Industrial by Sagar (from his book, Barcelona: Redescobrint L'Elxample |
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| My own location sketch of my view from the second floor balcony of a university courtyard produced during Sagar's workshop. |
Sagar must be very pleased with your exercises during his workshop. ;) The colors and light add depth and suit your lovely style very well, Jim. I was so glad to meet Patti and you in BCN! Hope you had a good journey home. Btw, is there any chance to get a signed copy of your book? A warm hug from Spain =)
ReplyDeleteThank you Isabell; it was wonderful seeing you again. The best part of the symposium was reconnecting with such warm, wonderful people as yourself. I'd love for you to have a signed copy of the book. I'll send you a Facebook message about the options. Warm hug back at you..
DeleteYou managed to put lovely light and depth in your sketch. The influence is clearly to be seen. It's beautiful! I loved Sagar's workshop as well and hope I will be able to incorporate what I learned from him in my sketches as well as you did.
ReplyDeleteThank you Beliza! It's always a challenge to slowly assimilate the new ideas after workshops, especially when the influences are so varied!
DeleteNice heads up for Sagar's work James! We're actually very lucky to enjoy his work and endeavours very closely.
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job on Sagar's Workshop and I'm pretty sure you'll definitely incorporate those lessons on your drawings in the near future so I'm looking forward to enjoy the James Richards 2.0!!! ;)
Thank you Cesar...James Richards 2.0...now THAT's fun to think about. Cheers, my friend!
DeleteA great workshop and a great drawing. The translator just did his best, and looking at your drawing now can breathe easy! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm very happy you are relieved, Miguel! It was great seeing you; thanks for all you did to make the symposium a success, including sharing your translating and teaching skills.
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