A Night at the Opera House

USK SEVILLA’S CHRONICLE OF THE MAESTRANZA OPERA HOUSE IN THE CITY OF SEVILLE, ANDALUCIA, SPAIN.

BY LUZ VEGA

LastNovember, the Maestranza Opera House of Seville offered an exclusive invite to USk Sevilla to enjoy sketching the preview of the opera Raphael Deveraux by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. How could we resist – the response was an enthusiastic “Yes” ! The production was launching Seville’s new opera season, and a new series of post-Covid events.

The cast and crew were very excited about our presence there and knew that it would help their performance to be a success. The enthusiasm was high for the Sevilla urban sketchers as everyone prepared, days before for this momentous performance. We knew the importance of this opportunity and wanted to be totally prepared to be show the opera in the best way. There were so many questions: What materials should we bring? How would be manage working in dim light?

We took a group photo, to mark the occasion, and after the incredible first Act 1, we shared anecdotes, compared drawings and stretched our legs. We were joined by the Stage Director and the Maestranza Opera House director. They were thrilled with our first act sketches and excited to see what other artwork we would create.

At the end of the Opera we were took a final group photo. Everyone was excited and in high spirits after the show and there was much to share and stories to tell. We basked in gratitude and the warm welcome received from the Opera House. The entire experience was unforgettable and we went home with the feeling that something really special had happened at our sketch event.

Elpasado noviembre, el grupo USk Sevilla (Sevilla, España) es invitado en exclusividad por el Teatro de la Maestranza de Sevilla, a dibujar el pre-estreno de la ópera Rafael Deveraux, del compositor italiano Gaetano Donizetti. Como no podía ser de otra manera, la respuesta de los dibujantes de USk

Sevilla fue enorme. Con esta representación se estrenaría la nueva temporada de ópera en la ciudad de Sevilla. Los nervios por el estreno, la responsabilidad por iniciar este nuevo periodo del Teatro de la ópera tras las restricciones por la pandemia del Covid, traspasaba del escenario al auditorio. El elenco de artistas nos habían hecho llegar la alegría que les hacía que fueramos a dibujarles en este inicio de temporada, y deseaban que la representación fuera un éxito.

La emoción de los dibujantes USkSevilla no era menor, llevaban días prepaparándose para este día: que material llevo, cuales serán las mejores luces,...Todo este cúmulo de dudas y sensaciones se amontonaba y se unía a la ilusión de poder asistir a dibujar a la ópera. No queriamos dejar ningún momento atrás, y antes de entrar nos hicimos la primera foto de grupo. Ya en el descanso, tras el primer acto, pudimos compartir anécdotas, ver algunos dibujos y estirar las piernas. A nosotros se unieron los Directores de escena y del Teatro de la Maestranza, que estaban entusiasmados y sorprendidos por el trabajo realizado por los urbansketchers, y que no dejaron de alabar.

A la finalización de la ópera pudimos hacer la puesta en común de los dibujos y la foto final de grupo. Teníamos mucho que compartir y comentar de lo acontecido, pero el agradecimiento por la cálida acogida y el trato que recibimos del Teatro de la Maestranza era unánime. Todo ello, hace que este encuentro para nosotros sea inolvidable. Aquel día nos fuimos a casa con la sensación de que algo muy especial había ocurrido en el encuentro: “Una noche en la ópera”.

A SKETCH WALK FAVORITE: THE TALL PAGODA

BY EILEEN P. GOLDENBERG , ARTIST, SKETCHER & RING LEADER!

One of my favorite sketch walks was on my birthday, October 22, this past year. We met at the San Francisco Japanese Tea Garden, featuring the restored Tall Pagoda. Originally built for the 1915 World’s Fair here in SF, it was slated to be taken down but saved and moved to the tea garden.

The builder said the roof tiles were so fragile they crumbled in their hands. It has five levels of ornate and carefully painted gabled roofs; curved roofs were commonly believed to ward off evil spirits as they hated curves and would also fall off such steep roofs. Deep Vermillion, aka “shuiiro”, is the prevailing color with gold accents and black bells hanging at every tier. The day we were there, stonemasons from Japan were installing a special stone from Japan to complete the base. They admired our sketches and it was great to connect and to tell the story of the day by sketching.

SF is a wonderful place for urban sketching. I set up most of the Saturday events and our SF Bay Area group has over 4,300 participants. My phone map has more than 925 starred locations for sketching! From Victorian houses to boat marinas to the Golden Gate Bridge, we have itall. We have at least eight weekend sketch walks per month. The mild weather means we can sketch on location most of the year. Urban sketching has become a passion for me and I try to go out everyday. I love to find inspiring places and sit down and sketch. My brain sets to the task and I can’t worry, make lists or think about anything else, it is so relaxing. Meeting urban sketchers is also a great way to have artist friends.

Usk Delhi Celebrates 250th Meet

IIT Delhi, the foremost engineering college of India, invited USk Delhi to celebrate its 250th sketch meet at its campus on 27 November 2022, with about 50 sketchers participating. The meet was facilitated by the Design Club of IIT and was attended by a large number of members of IIT’s Fine Arts Club. Highlights included a demo by the watercolor artist and Co-Admin Juhi Kumar, as well as the launch of the book “Anyone can Sketch Volume 2” written by the FounderAdmin and IIT Delhi Alumnus Niraj Gupta (published on Amazon). USk Delhi was founded by Niraj in May 2017 and the chapter has met almost every Sunday since then. It has also done six group exhibitions. USk Delhi looks forward to growing this cooperation.

SÃO LUÍS

Welcome New Chapters

Javier Mas Pinturas

USK GLOBAL MEMBERSHIP COORDINATOR

It is a pleasure to inform you that we have 16 new chapters in the USk community. Thank you all for being part of the USk community. In this round we have had a huge participation from Latin America and France. Let’s welcome them!: USk Querétaro, Mexico; USk Puebla, Mexico; USk São Luís, Brazil; USk Ann Arbor, MI, USA; USk Rhode Island, NE,

USA; USk Itu, Brazil; USk Cuiabá, Brazil; USk Vitória, Brazil; USk Corumbella (Corumbá and Ladário), Brazil; USk Manaus, Brazil; USk Tucumán, Argentina; USk Vannes, France; USk Arras, France; USk Amiens, France; USk Metz, France; USk Thrissur, Kerala, India.