After a wonderful 4 days in Alsace, it was time to head to Toulouse for the Urban Sketchers Symposium. I travelled from Strasbourg to Toulouse via Paris and planned my train journeys so that I would have plenty of time for my connection in Paris. I ended up having 5 hours to catch up with a friend!

On the two train trips, I finished pages in my sketchbook, edited two 40-minute videos for Patreon (for members of my Sketching Adventure community… I’m referring to my Alsace vlogs here and here), and then, in my spare time, I sketched the view out the window in three combination panoramas.

Once in Paris, my friend Magdy met me at the train station. We jumped in a taxi, and on the way I saw a few Paris highlights – the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower and Les Invalides.

She took me to her neighbourhood, and we had a lovely lunch.

And then I was taken to the train station. Thanks, Madgy, for looking after me so well during my brief visit to Paris. It was lovely to catch up with you and J!

I arrived in Toulouse after 8 pm, so it was around 9 pm by the time I got out to walk the streets.

I didn’t sketch (it was still very warm!), but I walked around, took a few photos, and got a feel for the city. (BTW: I didn’t see any sketchers!)

Once back in my hotel, I did these colour swatches to record my first response to the pinks of Toulouse. These were test swatches for my demo – the left column contains my tempera sticks as a first layer. Three watercolour washes form the vertical columns.

What a lovely travelling day this was! Of course, it would have been nice to have had more time in Paris this trip, but I’m happy I managed to sneak in 5 hours!