SKETCHING P O RTU GA L
A GOUACHE TOUR BY M IR E IA GU B IANA S
SAGRÉS
PORTO COVO
FARO
SETÚBAL
LISBOA
PENICHE
SINTRA
COSTA NOVA
BATALHA
AVEIRO
PORTO PINHAO W S
N E
CACELA
EVORA
ÓBIDOS
ALCOBAÇA
COIMBRA
SKETCHING P O RTU GA L A G O UACHE TO UR BY M IR E IA GUB IANA S
Portugal is a country of castles and enchanted palaces, of mysterious and seductive places. It´s a country of stories and remarkable, stylish buildings. With narrow streets, charming hills up and down, and also romantic and cosmopolitan cities. In all these magical places we like to stop time, to stop in time, to listen the stories of those who live there, we like to watch slowly until we feel the weight of the history falling upon us. We like to travel alone around the cities and villages. We relish the details, the smells, the food and the sounds. And the silences. We like to draw them, and when we look at them carefuly, we also draw emotions and feelings, we draw pieces of ourselves and others.
It was this small country of explorers, that Mireia Gubianas decided to truly explore in the summer of 2018, after her participation in the Symposium of Urban Sketchers of Porto. She was a traveling sketcher, who kept memories of the places she visited and allowed herself to be enriched with. She drew with her soul, drew authentically, drew time, freed herself and fell in love naively. This book is a jouney. Allow yourself to fall in love too.
Nelson Paciencia Urban Sketchers Portugal
Hello! My name is Mireia Gubianas, I work as an actress and acting coach based in Barcelona. Travel is one of my greatest passions, I grab my suitcase and go out into the world whenever I get a chance. My other love is drawing. I started Urban Sketching in 2016, a practice based on live drawing to capture your surroundings in real time. I actively participate in the sketching community of my city, going out to draw as often as my acting work allows me. On the summer of 2018 I had the opportunity to be a part of the International Urban Sketchers Symposium in Porto. That experience, as well as my interest in developing the gouache sketching technique, both led me to cross one of the items off my bucket list: to travel throughout Portugal.
SKETCHING PORTUGAL, A GOUACHE TOUR is the result of a five weeks long trip around this fascinating country. In this book you’ll find a selection of more than fifty drawings of my favourite locations and landscapes in Portugal, from north to south. This is a book for travel and artwork lovers. I hope you’ll enjoy it! Mireia Gubianas
Porto is a magnificent city with a distinct flavor of old times. The light from River Teijo, the colours of the houses and the smiles of the citizens and visitors are a great inspiration to sketch.
PORTO
After a week drawing Porto during the International Symposium of Urban Sketchers I started my journey through Portugal. The route I planned was a personal choice, not an exhaustive visit of Portugal but a great invitation to get to know this fascinating country in depth. The most exciting experience of this trip was to find sketchers from all over the world capturing the country as I did. It was easy to spot each other, armed with our sketchbook and a thousand pencils, colored pencils, pens, fountain pens, inks, markers, brushes, watercolours... or gouache boxes in my case. It’s a heavy load!
First stop, Pinhao and the Douro Valley. I took the train in Sâo Bento Station. This is a great journey by the Douro River: the electric green rounded hills, the deep blue tones of the river, the view of the vineyards (source of the Porto wines), and the slow passing of time through the train’s hypnotic rythm, it all brought us to Pinhao and its gorgeous station decorated in handmade tiles.
Rio Douro · PINHAO
Walking through the streets of Costa Nova is an invitation to return to the early days of the summer holidays on the Atlantic Coast. The houses are painted in colorful stripes, ranging from deep reds, blues, greens and yellows, and they make you want to wear an old bathing suit, wrap some pumpkins around your waist and jump into the sea.
Bairro dos pescadores COSTA NOVA
Cais dos Botirôes · AVEIRO
The most surprising thing about Coimbra is its almost vertical urban landscape. After climbing endless steep streets I arrived at the oldest University in Europe, its majestic building full of wisdom and magnificent rooms, chapels and an overwhelming library.
LISBOA
Elétrico 28 · LISBOA
Alfama · LISBOA Lisboa is one of my favourite cities around the world. Take the old tramway number 28 up to any of the city’s viewpoints, visit the Sâo Jorge castle, get lost amongst the narrow streets of Alfama, do not miss the wonderful art collection of Gulbenkian Foundation or sit on one of the terraces of Praça do Comercio while you watch the quiet, friendly and always cheerful Lisboetas go by.
Fundaçâo Calouste Gulbenkian · LISBOA
LISBOA
Quinta da Regaleira SINTRA
Praia da Vila Nova de Cacela ¡ ALGARVE I finally reached the sea and the beautiful beaches of the Algarve with its warm, turquoise blue waters. Don’t miss this whole area in the south of the country, from the spanish border to the limit of the Atlantic Ocean.
Largo Marquês de Pomba PORTO COVO
Templo Romano · EVORA Portugal has had a long tradition of famous explorers throughout its history. To visit it today is to take a journey through the very essence of Europe mixed with the flavors of all the territories that the Portuguese discovered: from Africa to America. In Évora and Setúbal you can check that mixture of cultures and traditions.
Praça de Bocage · SETÚBAL
Last Stop: Alcobaรงa and Batalha. My trip ends in the central region of Portugal, an area with gorgeous towns and villages such as ร bidos, Peniche, Alcobaรงa and Batalha. It was beautiful to discover these landscapes with the company of Nelson Paciencia and his family and drawing together in those summer days, trying to escape the heat under the trees. What a great way to wrap up this adventure full of exciting experiences, lovely food and beautiful people.
Mosteiro de Batalha · BATALHA
O meu caminho ĂŠ pelo infinito fora atĂŠ chegar ao fim. My way is through the infinite outside until the end. Fernando Pessoa
Dedicated to all the awakened people who like to draw. The publication of this book has been made possible by the crowdfunding platform Verkami. Special thanks to Ignasi López, Nelson Paciencia, Serena Altair, Raquel Maes, Maru Godàs, Eli Biosca, Montse Fortino, Eva de la Riva, Mario Linhares, Silvio Menéndez, Shelly Ginenthal, Ana Isabel Soares, my family and friends and to all the contributors who supported it.
Illustrated and published by Mireia Gubianas Book designed and printed by La BibliogrĂ fica Translation by Serena Altair This book is number . of a numbered edition of 200 copies Barcelona, April 2019 Instagram: @mireiasketches
SKETCHING P O RTU GA L A G OUACHE TOUR BY MIR EIA GUB IANA S