I usually listen in to USk Talks live on instagram on Sunday mornings. Not only do they inspire me each week, there’s also a sense of community in everyone turning up to listen, comment and ask questions together.
But i missed the talk live on Sunday, so I’m doing the next-best thing: listening to it later on YouTube while sketching at my desk. Te easiest thing to sketch of course is the mess on my desk, so I try yet another version of it while I listen in.
I’ve only listened to half the talk so far, where Mário Linhares shared the sketchbooks of Delacroix on a expedition in Morocco. And what a fascinating talk it is. If you haven’t listened in, do it now, there is a lot to learn, think about, imagine and be inspired by, even in this time of lockdown when you can’t get on a plane and go to Morocco now!
And this below, in stages, is what happened in my sketchbook as I listened.
So, so happy to be a part of the Urban Sketchers community and so grateful for all the work put into these talks. I look forward to them every week. And when it’s okay to travel again, I am going to Morocco.
Sketch Away: Travels with my sketchbook 
Thank you for sharing the stages of your desk sketch – this is an eye opener. Ah ha, I get it, never understood how to get such a background in. Appreciate the USk info, too, Suhita. Keep all this up, please, it matters!
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Annie thank you for writing in!
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Love. One of your best I think. That yellow background gives great energy and makes the collection in foreground pop. ❤️❤️❤️❤️
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thank you Margaret!
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I like this idea!
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Great sketch. Thanks for link to the talk!
May I ask what sketchbook are you using?
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Alison this is the stillman and Birn Alpha book in softcover
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Muy inspirador.
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Hi, Suhita: I was in Morocco in March on what was to have been a 3 week trip when the govt of Morocco decided to close borders and airports. Had to get to Casablanca and find a flight. Got on an Air France plane to Paris (chartered by the government of France btw) and from there back to the US. France was closed too so had to spend a long night in the Paris airport waiting for the next morning’s flight. I spent 3 days in Tangier, which was the landing port for Delacroix in what? 1830? and a century later, Matisse. I even stayed in Matisse’s hotel, across the hall from his room! The hotel was built in the late 1800s and had a huge renovation a few years ago. They used a lot of Matisse “themes”, almost to the point of kitsch, but rather endearing. The hotel is Grand Hotel Villa de France, and is perfectly located for exploring Tangier and surroundings. It’s about $110 a night. Great service, great views, English speaking desk staff. They can arrange a guide with a car if you like. Delacroix traveled into the interior of Morocco. His watercolor notebooks are a treasure, and I found the catalogue of an exhibit “Delacroix in Morocco” staged in Paris, and most of the pages of the notebooks that survive are reproduced. I also found a small book that has all his notes, no paintings, translated into English. Amazing to read his thoughts and then see what Matisse had to say a century later. I also have a catalogue of an exhibit at the National Galllery “Matisse in Morocco”. Together the two books are inspiring, even for the non artist like me. You must go to Morocco! I will go back to finish my trip as soon as it’s possible. And I may add a few days again in Tangier. I’m more a photographer than a painter or sketcher but love your work and commentary and also the Urban Sketchers. I didn’t know about the Youtube videos but will explore soon. What else is there to do while we stay home? Keep on painting and writing. Nancy Cunningham Savannah Ga
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oh I hope you get to go again soon, Nancy… I will be writing to ask you more,Morocco has been on my places to go to list forever but after the Delacroix talk I am so, so eager to go.
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Nice painting of your art supplies, I like how the yellow is behind everything and blends into all your other colours.
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Such a magnificent composition.
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