The sixth week of my big European Trip was taken up with the international Urban sketchers Symposium in Poznan, Poland. In the past I haven’t sketched much during Symposiums as I was often a full instructor with teaching taking up all my time and energy. But this year I was just teaching one demo and so I hoped to sketch a lot more!

However, early on in the week, I made a decision to prioritise spending time with people!

Even though I could have sketched non-stop (certainly being surrounded by so many sketchers constantly sketching is extremely inspiring) I focused on socialising and catching up with friends. I do find it hard to do my best work when I’m constantly having quick conversations (and photos) with others, so making sketching a less priority made the week easier!

So you will not be surprised that this article has more photos (many taken by others who tagged me on Instagram) than sketches.

As per other weeks of my European Trip, I managed to do some filming of my work and shared a BTW video into my Sketching Adventure Community on Patreon (you will see a few screenshots from these in this article). I also went through my full symposium sketch collection during a livestream – the replay of which is now also available inside my Patreon. If you are part of my Patreon you can find these videos here.

Ok, enough preamble – let’s get going…

(Warning: this is a super long article!)

Tuesday

Breakfast with Peter Rush (Sydney) and Suhita Shirdokar (USA) – both of whom I hadn’t seen since 2019! I’ve had so many online catchups with Suhita over the years (so you can imagine how amazing it was to be seeing her in person again) but it’s a little funny not to have seen Peter in Sydney since the Brisbane Sketchfest!

As my page says this was a “chilled start” to my time in Poznan as not that many sketchers walked past us. It was also fun to talk graphite and coloured pencils with Peter.

I went to check a location for my demo… 

and then ended up in the main square – Stary Rynek – where there were quite a few sketchers in action.

I decided just to do a quick ink and graphite sketch!

After lunch (with some different USK friends) I ended up back in the Stary Rynek sketching with a few Europeans. This is when the extreme socialising began. Nearly every sketcher who walked past knew at least one of us and so I doubt that we had an uninterrupted period to sketch  more than 5 minutes. 

I ended the day having a quiet (and inspiring) dinner in a local potato restaurant with Andrew James (NZ) …

and we then went back into the main square for a little night sketching. We also ran into Peter Rush and somehow he and I had an architect’s handwriting competition with some German sketchers. 

It was really hard to see what we were doing due to a spot light shining right in our faces, but it was good to use my dark blue tempera stick for the first time!

Wednesday

I was involved in Faculty events for most of the day but in between round table discussions I ran downstairs to say hello to a bunch of sketchers who had done my SketchingNow courses and were going out to sketch together.

I managed to join the group photo and give everyone a hug. I wish I had had more time to hang out with these lovely people!

I also was happy to see this group again – they met up in Amsterdam (once again through my SketchingNow courses) and have been in touch ever since! (Esther, you were missed!)

I then went on the Faculty tour…

and did a few quick sketches along the way (in between conversations!)

During our faculty lunch I had a wonderful conversation with Detlef Surrey – all about life in Berlin with the Wall and how things changed when it came down. Detlef is holding his book ” Berlin: The Wall Revisited” showing his sketch drawn in 1987.

Sometime during the day, Paul Wang and I ran into Pete Scully and we had our traditional photo together. Ah! it was so wonderful to see my friends again!

I was itching to do some sketching (without a time limit) and ended up hanging out with Andrew and Peter. 

Screenshots from my Patreon video – Peter using paper (rather than the inside of a cereal box) and Andrew explaining his sketch.

And then Peter took us on a tour of all the cool spots he had discovered in the area.

After the opening ceremony I still felt the need to do some more sketching so I headed out with Andrew and Suhita to do some quick night sketches!

It was a little crazy sitting in the middle of a parking lot in the dark. But oh, so much fun! (Screenshot from my Patreon video)

Thursday

After attending the morning lectures (going between the two) I headed to the main square to do a sketch for the silent auction. 

I didn’t take a photo of it but afterwards did this crazy sketch just for me!

I then did a little walking – a few quick neocolor sketches – a little chatting to sketchers I walked past and then a visit to the art market to pick up one half pan of Daniel Smith watercolour. 

In the afternoon I did a demo called Architecture starting with shapes.

So much fun and a wonderful group!

Here is my second demo – I also gave the group a mini lesson on perspective and how to sketch  classical architecture.

Thanks to everyone who attended!

So lovely to meet you all and answer all your questions!

While I was doing my demo, my red Lamy Joy (fitted with a Medium nib) was being converted into a fude by Marek in his activity called Bending Steel. You can imagine some of the puns that were floating around! 🙂

Thanks Marek! I love my Lamy Fude!

Friday

It was a real treat to attend Uma’s Gouache workshop!

I really enjoyed the thumbnail exercise and especially discovering new ways to think of shapes.

We then did two small gouache paintings. I love doing these!

Amazing work done by everyone! Thanks Uma for an outstanding workshop – I have a few new ideas to explore in coming months,

For the last exercise I decided to cross the road and sketch from the location of Andrew’s group.

So while I was there doing my gouache piece (as shown above), Andrew gave me a simplified rundown of his workshop concepts and I then did a crazy version of the church using them. 🙂

After Uma’s workshop, I went for some ramen (so great to catch up with Daniel and Joel) and it was fun to sketch something different!

In the afternoon – after spending some time at the art market and having a quiet cuppa in my hotel room (whoa – having solo time during a symposium is radical!) I joined my friend Françoise and some other sketchers from Brussels and Luxembourg.

They were finishing up their sketches when I arrived and getting ready to move (they had been going for about 2 hours) and so I did this quick ink and graphite sketch in about 15 minutes!

This was the first time using my Lamy Fude!

The weather had turned really cold so after sheltering inside for a little while we went to another location. The light was fading so I did another quick ink and graphite drawing. 

Then it was time for dinner! Thanks for letting me hang out with you all!

Saturday

On the last morning of the symposium I decided that it was time to actually join a Sketchwalk. I had thought I would be joining in with them each day but there was always something else for me to do. The Sketchwalk this morning was in the location I had been the afternoon before!

But there was plenty to sketch there. The weather had turned cold so after a few sketches I returned to the Hub – had a coffee with some Berliners on the way and then went back to the Art Market.

I spent the entire afternoon talking!!!!

And then it was time for the family photo!

I couldn’t find the Australians afterwards for the national group photo but I did join in this photo of sketchers who were at the very first symposium in Portland. (minus Rita!)

Back at the potato restaurant with the boys for an early dinner before the closing ceremony – I’m often talking too much to eat enough food at the closing event.

The faculty group photo. Honoured to be part of this incredible group!

After the big announcement that next year the symposium will be in Toulouse France, a group of us headed downstairs to do some more sketching. It got very crowded on the bench and shortly after this photo was taken Peter joined us as well. 

And there were lots of sketchers on the other side of the table. There was just not enough room for everyone who wanted to keep sketching!

I was tired but not too tired to sketch!

Monday

Suhita and I were leaving on an afternoon train so we had the morning to do a few more Poznan sketches. We started our morning with a coffee and the famous croissant (which kept us going all day!)

One more ink and graphite sketch.

The city was really quiet – everyone had gone!

A crazy mixed media sketch of a fun view which I discovered with the boys during the symposium,

One final sketch of the Stary Browar – where we met for workshops and activities.

And so ends my time in Poznan!

This has been a crazy long blog article (perhaps the longest one I’ve ever done!)  but I still have heaps more photos to share!

So I’m finishing this article with a collection of photos with other sketchers. I know that I was in more but these are the ones I managed to capture!

It was so amazing to see my urban sketching friends again and to make lots of new ones! It was such a special time with you all in Poznan!  

 
Finally, a huge thanks to the local USK Poland team and the USK Symposium and Education Committees and Executive Board for making it all possible!