Toulouse 2026: Raúl view (Day 3)

Third day of the symposium. Like yesterday, the coffee and the wide variety of food at the hotel buffet are the perfect way to load up with energy before another long day.

I head to Rita Sabler’s lecture, Practical Guide to Reportage. The auditorium is completely full of attendees. I only manage to get in because I’m a correspondent and have my “magical pass.” The session is truly inspiring. Rita shares the story behind her reportage projects, speaking openly about both her mistakes and what she learned from them. Her advice comes from years of experience devoted to a wide range of fascinating and deeply personal projects.

Later, the three correspondents split up to cover different workshops.

My first stop is Richard Briggs’ workshop, Unfolding Vision. I love the evocative and original titles the instructors come up with. We wander through the streets of the city centre while Richard encourages us to notice the shapes and colours of the walls, façades and pavement. The participants follow him attentively. Richard is incredibly energetic—he talks, gestures and moves constantly! The workshop begins with a series of line exercises. Using coloured lines, the students explore the rhythms and shapes of the streets.

Next, I join Ian Fennelly’s workshop. I was lucky enough to take one of his workshops at the Porto Symposium, and I’ve admired his work ever since. The group is gathered beside the river, overlooking a row of beautiful old façades. Ian demonstrates how shapes and lines can be used not simply to draw a place, but to tell its story.

The last morning workshop takes place in a hidden inner alley. Jane Blundell is leading a masterclass in watercolour, focusing on the terracotta and stone colours and textures that give Toulouse its distinctive character. She explains how to work with colour triads, and the participants experiment with creating a surprisingly wide range of colours using only three pigments: Indian Red, Cerulean Blue and Goethite.

At lunchtime, the three correspondents meet at Pierre Baudis. We compare notes over lunch and divide the afternoon workshops as efficiently as possible. It’s easy thanks to Gaël, who is an excellent organiser and knows Toulouse inside out.

In the afternoon, I join Peter Rush and his students. He explains that one of his favourite drawing surfaces is cardboard from cereal and food boxes. He started using it years ago simply because it was an inexpensive material, and it has remained part of his artistic process ever since. The group begins with a quick line drawing exercise in the middle of the street. Later, at the final location, they settle into a slower and much more detailed drawing. Their challenge is to capture a narrow street with its strong vanishing point, together with every window, sign, aerial and small urban detail.

I then leave the group and head to the Canal de Brienne, an area I hadn’t explored before. I always enjoy discovering new corners of a city. Nina Khashchina’s workshop is taking place beneath a bridge while runners, cyclists and boats quietly pass by. It’s a wonderfully bucolic setting. Nina encourages her participants to step outside their comfort zones by experimenting with paper masks, sponges, erasers and other unconventional tools. The results are impressive, but even more rewarding is seeing how much everyone enjoys the creative process.

Once the workshops are over, it’s time to relax and socialise at the Drink & Draw, held in one of my favourite places in the city: Port Viguerie. As I arrive, I find a huge group of people posing for a photograph… they’re the Catalan sketchers in Toulouse! I make it just in time to join them. Later, I grab some food and a drink with a group of sketchers from the United States whom I met earlier in the day. We chat, share our sketchbooks and exchange stickers. Before the evening ends, I decide to sketch them—my last drawing of the day.

Some of them are very well known in the urban sketching community. Another fantastic day comes to an end in the best possible way.