Saturday 21 July 2012

Urban Sketchers Symposium: the Mercado


As you might have gathered, I enjoyed every single second of the symposium and was on a high from the moment I woke each morning, to the moment I fell into bed, often at midnight. 


One of the many highlights was our trip to the Mercado: a big enclosed market, surrounded by lots of individual stalls, selling everything from mangos to bongos. Here we are above, sketching on the steps outside. 


The indoor market was great for pressies, and we had good fun 'bongoing it up' on the steps outside. These are my friends and fellow sketchers Inma Serrano and Scott Renk, and you might spot someone else, wiggling in the background...


The indoor market wasn't my thing for sketching, so I explored the food markets outside. People were, as always, very friendly and interested. They thought it hilarious when they spotted a friend in one of my sketches.


This man below was chopping something. He was quite old, but I was struck by his wonderful muscles! I started him from the front but he moved, so I walked round behind him:


At one point, I snuck into a narrow alley behind the veg stalls. It was quite dark. This man was having his lunch. I asked with gestures if I could draw him. He grinned a 'yes' then posed very still, with his lunch going cold! I bit further on a woman was taking a rest with her sleeping dog under her chair: 


You can see most people's names on the sketches: I always think in these situations that it's polite to ask and record names. It makes it feel less intrusive and slightly more inclusive.
I could have stayed at the market all day, but it was soon time for lunch and we had to head back:


3 comments:

Ethna said...

It all looks so exciting and sounds like you had a ball....I hope we can hear and see more of your time there in SD.
Some good moves there, Lynne in the bongo-ing!
Ethna

Lynne the Pencil said...

Thanks Ethna. Plenty more to come - there's no escape!

Vicky L. Williamson said...

I especially love how you try to record a person's name on the sketch, honoring them. Thanks for sharing this adventure with us!