Journey to Oslo

Both me and Pedro Loureiro were invited by Urban Sketchers Oslo to teach our usual dual workshop in the Nordic Capital. Scandinavian  countries are for us Portuguese, an achievement to unlock. Tales of quality of life, high salaries, higher education and health, are ever present in our minds as an example of society to follow, and Norway being the cherry on the top. So, this opportunity to visit one of the most-wanted countries on earth was something like a dream.  

...and it didn't disappoint, far from it. The city feels like an architecture Computer Rendered Image that come to life, a Masterplan project turned real. The people, the sea, the urban structure, all felt like as all cities should be. 

We start our long workshop day in the morning by Aker Bridge for our Watercolor Storytelling workshop, then we went for a big break waiting for the Night Sketch. Meanwhile, we stood by the Salt area with a fantastic view to the fantastic Oslo Ópera house, with its iconic walk able roof, designed with fashion. 

Which was the last workshop setting, as the night was still a long waited dream. The sun was setting at 23:20, which was struggling for a NIGHT SKETCH WORKSHOP ending at 00:00... But we still did it and the results were surprisingly good!  Staying up way past midnight to sketch with us was a fantastic effort Oslo Sketchers!! 


A big thanks to Elisabeth Berge for inviting us and also a big thanks to Escoda Brushes, Hahnemuhle and Urban Sketchers International for making this possible. 

The day after was all about sight seeing, and after a rainy morning we went to the museum quarter, and while my wife and kid went to the FRAM, me, Pedro Loureiro, Patricia and our friend Carina Tornqvist went to the Viking Museum to sketch actual Drakkar Viking ships! In this composition, we can see the Museum building and the remains of the Oseberg Ship found in a burial mound near Tonsberg, Norway. 

After that, a quick lunch near the marina in Bygdoy, with a fantastic view to the city, and soon we were on our way to the airport. There´s still a lot to see and experience in Oslo, a fantastic city. 

Pedros Mastercourse in Urbansketching - Oslo

Most sketchers enjoy their cities during the daylight, when views are crisp, shadows are sharp, and colors are vivid. But when the night comes, a different challenge begins. 

Sketching the cityscape at night is both easy and challenging! The easy aspect of it, is that your palette gets reduced to a couple – three at most – colors. Simplification of what you see – that includes lines, shapes and colors – is key. One dark, cool color for the shadows and sky, one light warm color for the illuminated parts, and a third one for special details and highlights. 

The challenge is to be precise in saving the whites in your paper. With watercolor, there’s no going back – at most, you can wash off the amount of pigment in a lighted area. And the light parts, the glare of public lamps, the shiny surfaces, are scarce and vital for the success of your sketch. In the Night Sketching workshop, sketchers learn-by-doing a myriad of concepts and techniques that make their lives much easier, while producing results that will make them proud. 

After an evening out sketching, daylight comes, and out come the morning city dwellers, going about their business – working, relaxing, loitering, running late. It’s time for a sketcher to shift focus from the city to the stories of the citizens, the storymakers of a city. Moving people are tricky to capture, but by focusing on their actions and with the help of a few techniques, any sketcher can quickly lay out a crowd in a sketchbook. 

As we warm up, we also get closer to the people and want to better convey their movements, their expressions, their poses. That’s what the Watercolor Storytelling workshop is all about! In it, sketchers get a grasp on people and their day-to-day stories, resorting to a few quick lines and a limited palette. The more comfortable sketchers get with people, the more they want to represent the spaces around their subjects, which is the final challenge of the workshop. 

The dual workshop Night Sketching and Watercolor storytelling, by the Pedros – Pedro Alves and Pedro Loureiro – has toured around their home region in and around Lisbon, Portugal, and also around Europe, in Barcelona, Spain and Riga, Latvia – always with the help of the amazing local Urban Sketchers chapters. Now, the Pedros are inviting the Urban Sketching global community to Oslo, Norway, for a Scandinavian night sketching and storytelling experience! Together, we’ll share experiences, techniques and tricks of the trade, and we’ll capture the late dusk of the beautiful Nordic capital, and the stories of its citizens in our sketchbooks. 

Participants will learn how to: 
· Quickly establish a viewpoint that will make for a dynamic and focused sketch;
· Effectively balance the linework and the color phases of a sketch;
· Use a limited palette to create rich and intense night scenes.
And
· Get familiar with sketching a crowd of passing people, quickly and effectively;
· Incorporate a facial and bodily structure that will ease the portrayal of any person;
· Use a limited palette to create rich and intense street scenes.

Workshop dates 
May 25th 2019, from 10AM to 2PM and from 8PM to 12PM

Location 
Oslo, Norway (specific location to be determined)

Maximum number or participants 
30 people (all levels)

Supply list 
Sketchbook with 180 gsm + ;
watercolor kit;
brushes;
water recipient;
cloth or paper towel;
white Posca pen or white gouache.

Registration fee 
150€ per participant

To register, please contact 
urbansketchersoslo@gmail.com