Sketching along the pista #3

Having a spare day in Évora I was pleased to make contact with members of the local USk group, Évora Sketchers. The email reply I received was very encouraging: ‘Good news: I have some yes ... The first to be available will be José ... Later, 2 or 3 more will appear’. And they did! Thanks to Luís, José, Cristina, Joanna, and João for sharing their time and local knowledge, and for making this a memorable day. Sketching with other sketchers always gives the occasion a spontaneous edge and supercharges my nervous energy!

 With this sketch of the main square in Évora, Praça do Giraldo, I started with very loose almost abstract blotches of watercolour and only applied ink after the paint had dried, something I have been encouraged to do since sketching in Porto earlier this year with my colleague from Seattle, Eleanor Doughty (a big shout out to @herbcoil).

This method—the reverse of my usual technique—certainly encourages risk taking and while the results are unpredictable the process is always an exciting and creative journey.