I’ve recently returned from an amazing short trip to France, including the 14th Annual International Urban Sketchers Symposium in Toulouse. I did a lot of mixed media sketching (filling 2 x 8×10 Alpha softcover sketchbooks – although I have lots of incomplete pages!) and had special times with art friends.

My trip involved a 4-day road trip with Kerstin in the Alsace/Strasbourg region, 10 days in Toulouse for the symposium and a 4-day road trip from Toulouse to Paris airport with Francoise. (Note: I only had 5 hours in Paris in between two train trips).

As with last year’s overseas adventures, I will share highlights here in the coming weeks (and maybe months!), but will start off with my typical reflections post.

This year I will simply share a list of my thoughts that are going through my head at the moment (written a few days after returning home):

• The 6 weeks I spent doing all kinds of trip prep (see blog article here or browse Patreon videos here) really set me up for success!
• I was really happy with all the media that I took and used all of them throughout my trip (with the exception of tempera sticks, which I took mainly for my demo at the symposium. (Note to self: probably will not need them for the next trip!)
• Apricot (Neocolor II) and Blue-Grey (Luminance) were the two new colour fads of the trip, but in Alsace I became obsessed with shades of brown! There was also a bit of an Aubergine / Caput Mortuum Violet theme running through all three weeks as well.
• Light cobalt blue (Cobalt Blue 5%) is my most used Neocolor II by far!
• I only used my dagger brush once in the whole trip (what???), and that was for the demo I taught at the symposium.  I’m using some other brushes these days, which I explored during my trip Prep phase.
• I love mixing up transparent with opaque, water-soluble with non-water-soluble.
• I really want to explore collage and use of stencils to get shapes with crisp edges (thanks to the workshops by Marina and Nina which I did during the symposium – stay tuned for more about that)
• I’m still searching for the best line tool to use over Neocolor II
• I’m really happy that I took coloured pencils rather than watercolour pencils this trip. I did not miss my WCPs, as I had a few Inktense pencils and my Neocolor II if I needed water-soluble marks.
• Mixed media layering is very forgiving but does take more time. So these days I’m often the last to finish and the one who takes the longest to pack up!
• Half-timber houses are my new favourite style of architecture to sketch (but I prefer the framing to be random rather than too regular).
•  The regions of France that I visited were all insanely beautiful!
• I’m very thankful I survived the heat reasonably well (it was hot every day until the second last day!)
• I had a LOT of amazing art conversations (sharing a room with Suhita during the symposium was a major part of this), and there are many concepts to think about and ideas to develop in my work.

As always, people are the best part of any trip – so thanks to everyone who was part of my France adventures!!

If you are a paid member of my Patreon community…
On Friday, I hosted a livestream to flip through my books as they currently are, and emphasising how important it was for me to simplify the complex scenes I was sketching before I started my mixed media sketches. Watch the replay here.

In the coming weeks, I will be finishing off my pages (taking advantage of our monthly theme – Finishing Touches – to do so!)

Anyone can see a preview of this livestream (and pages from the first week of my trip) here and if you scroll down my Quips page (a new free feature on Patreon) you can see more images from my trip and some of my trip prep.

I’ll start sharing highlights from the trip here in the coming weeks – so stay tuned for that!