Swasky is Beyond The Bleaches Aisle

Missing pieces from our history

Two weeks ago I went with some sketchers, Montse Fortino, Maria Per, Mercè Algueró and Montse Fando, thanks to Clara Baylina, sketcher too, to her brother's Bakery. Lately in Barcelona plenty of old establishments are closing forever. All of them rooted to neighborhoods, districts or the whole city, like VINÇON. Baylina's Bakery is less noticeable, not as famous as VINÇON, but as important as it.

First logo design

Behind the counter we found a butter smell workshop

Is time to retire to Oriol, Clara's brother, who has ran family business since he was young and now no one will follow in charge of it, one of the oldest cake makers in Barcelona, since 1899. The same year which football club Barcelona was founded. L'Oriol is happy, not sad, because he will spend more time with hir wife and practicing his favourite hobby, photography.

L'Oriol has plenty of stories about his business, now is time to sell all the machines and memories from his whole life.

Grey, enjoying it!

I love get into a artshop and find new materials, new stuff for my sketching gear. These new tip pens were a great suggestion made by Tessa a really nice attendee from my last workshop ran in Coventry. I noticed them and she told me that I might find them in a shop called Hobbycraft.

This nice set offers three thicknesses 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5, a quite wide range, from my point of view.

And its grey is really lovely, not too dark, not too light. I've been looking for something like this long time ago and now I think I have found something quite right.

Dibuixant al Picnic Jazz al 34 Festival Jazz Terrassa

Avui ha estat un dia per dibuixar després que ahir tot el dia estigués plovent hem anat a Terrassa. La família creix i el grup d'USk Terrassa amb la Marta Palmero al front ha començat a rutllar, més grups s'estan movent i sorgeixen amb la voluntat de dibuixar.

Today has been a great day for drawing after having yesterday a rainy day we have come to Terrassa. Family is growing and the USk Terrassa Group with Marta Palmero heading it has started going ahead, more groups are coming with the same aim, drawing.

Un gran dia ha estat la millor manera de començar, amb molt de sol i el Parc de Vallparadís obert a tothom. L'any passat vaig estar també dibuixant i aquest només he pogut copsar a la parella de la dreta. M'ha encantat dibuixar-los, espero tornar-los a veure el proper any.

A great day was the best way to start, with plenty of sunshine and Park Vallparadís open to everyone. Last year I was also drawing and that I could only grasp the couple on the right. I enjoyed drawing them, I hope to see them again next year.

Again on the train. From Barberà to Sant Joan Despí (round trip ticket).

El tren és el millor lloc per dibuixar gent. Sempre gaudeixo dels retrats de Lynne Chapman "al tren" i de molts més que fan el mateix. Els viatgers són models paciènts que de vegades són amables i posen davant teu durant 20 minuts o, a vegades, menys, i aquesta incertesa força la teva velocitat dibuixant. Els dorments de dia són els models més agradables, després dels addictes als telèfons intel·ligents. Mentre dibuixo en el tren no puc evitar que la meva ment començi a inventar històries sobre la vida de la gent, amb molt drama o felicitat, cosa que depèn de l'aparença cares.

English version USk.org
Versión en español USk Spain

Exhibition at the Mitte Barcelona Gallery

Yesterday was the inauguration of the "Twisted reality" a collective exhibition of some Urban Sketchers which were invited by Mitte gallery to show the way we draw our reality. This is a great way to share this wonderful joy of drawing on sketchbooks. Little by little, recognition is increasing among people and society and we (Urban Sketchers) are part of this. Now, from my point of view, next step is to show its potential as a communication tool. Most of us have already done it with great artworks as Melanie Reim, Veronica Lawlor, Lapin, Marc Taro, Gabi Campanario, Thomas Thornspecke, Mike Daikubara, Danny Gregory, Simonetta Cappechi,… and many more. Now is time for stories, documentaries, docubooks,… I'm not telling something new but now storytelling is more necessary than ever. Tell stories through drawings better than pictures. Photographers do not get angry with my opinion but thanks to smartphones photography has become massive, we are bombed daily by thousand of photographies and we are overexposed to them. Drawings become icons, photographies has become fast food. Do not get wrong, I really love photography, I do, but now not many photographies are really touching. I feel sorry about that.

If you are interested you can buy my prints at the gallery, they are limited edition or you can ask me to buy one sending an e-mail to: info@swasky.es.