Sketchers do Battle with Sugarloaf…

A little while ago, I was telling you about the trip to Rio, following the symposium…

The weather forecast for our first full day in the city was really good, so we decided to go up Sugarloaf Mountain and sketch the views (and goodness gracious – there were views!): 

I worked mostly in the watercolour Moleskin I’d started in Paraty, but thought it might also be fun to record a narrative of the day on the other side of the little A6, Laloran concertina book we were given at the symposium (I used the other side for Richard Alomar’s sketch-walk). 

I began drawing as our little group were waiting for the taxi outside our hotel – as you can see, Suhita Shirodkar was already sketching. On the way, I recorded the taxi driver and some of the things I saw on the journey, including our first sight of the mountain:

We met Marc Holmes and his wife Laurel at the cable car – that’s them far left in my sketch. 

Here we all are starting our journey up, up, up! That’s Esther Semmens, a fellow Brit, far right. Liz Steel is taking the photo and that’s Shiho Nakaza between me and Suhita:

I did my best to draw the unfolding view through with my trusty Sailor fountain pen, as we were travelling up in the cable car. I had to be speedy! Once we had disembarked at the first level, I was able to finish it off, by drawing the bay and adding some quick colour. Then an obliging helicopter took off from right below me:

At the top, we met Omar Jaramillo. We all wandered around trying to take in the view and work out what on earth to do with such a lot of information. With Claudia Jarjoura too, there were 8 of us sketching together. 

I found it quite challenging: my Moleskin was just WAY too small to fit it all in! Then there was the even trickier issue of how to interpret the condensed sprawl of all those buildings, pooled in the valley so far beneath us and trailing up and up into the distance between all the hills. 

I did the sketch above, adding a little ink for detail, but was unhappy with the way the format flattened out the view, so I experimented a little, using my book at different angles, first diagonally, to get in the section of mountain we still had to climb (you’re going to have to tilt your head to one side, I’m afraid):

Then I tried turning it vertically, to try and capture at least part of the view down to Guanabara Bay, which was full of little boats: 

The turquoise splatter is deliberate by the way: I was trying to add perspective and pull the front forwards. I rather like the effect, but John’s not keen.

It was truly exhilarating, painting alongside the others, with everyone so focussed. It created such a buzz! And of course, we were learning from one another too. I recorded us sketching in my concertina book of course. This is Omar, between Shiho and Esther:

After all that work, we figured we deserved a spot of lunch and I ordered a big glass of gorgeous, fresh watermelon juice to cool down. As we were getting the bill, a little group of marmosets climbed out of the trees and started foraging for scraps at the tables:

Then it was time to take the next cable car, up to the very top. Yahoo! Again, I sketched through the window, this time with my freebie Super5 fountain pen.  At the top, I carried the vista on across the book. It was an extraordinary view…

…and so vast that I could only capture one small section:

We had time for one more sketch before the weather began to turn. Back in my Moleskin, I did the one below. I had been really inspired, watching Liz Steel painting beside me, so did my best in watercolour alone:

Then we took a group photo. By this point, having sketched in the same place together all day, we felt really bonded as a group: a band of sketchers! 

As you can see, a cloud descended on us shortly after that photo, completely obscuring the view, so it was time to take the cable car back down. We were so lucky though, to have such a long clear spell to do our sketching. During the next two days I was in Rio, the weather was never clear and bright like that again. 

It had been a wonderful day. Working with such a close-knit group was truly something special. Thank you guys – you’re the best and I still miss you all.

BTW: if you haven’t already seen it, Suhita wrote an excellent article pulling together everyone’s work and perspectives from the day. It’s fun to see the sketches side-by-side. Well done Suhita!