Symposium participant: Jorge Royan

Hello. I introduced myself a month or so ago already. Gabi encouraged me to keep posting here, so I am doing it now.

Some days ago I returned from a trip to New York City with my daughter, Laura. She turned 15 and that was her gift. She is crazy about ballet, and that is Mecca for her.

So I carried all my stuff: loads of paper,  replacement for all the main watercolors, etc.

And, predictably, instead of being able to spend my mornings drawing -while she slept- I got a cold, it rained half the time, etc.  So I could only try my hand a few times.

I am an architect and photographer (www.royan.com.ar), but after 30 years of hard drafting I began sketching and battling all that new stuff only a year ago. (Who knew watercolors had these funny names?) so I was curious on how it felt drawing, say, in Times Square!

I carried a Walkstool and while I waited 3 hours for Laura to see a show only she cared for I sat atop a bench. It was fun …the tourists did photos of my and my work and had I slipped a hat in the floor I had covered dinner...

There is a big difference between drawing in New York than here in Buenos Aires. Here spaces are small, and people are all over you. There no one cares, and everybody is friendly regarding your presence. And there is plenty of space in the walkways (Unlike here), so you can spread freely with your stuff.

My main problem is I am slow.  It takes forever,  and things have an innate tendency to move. Murphy's law says that 5 min after you began drawing something somebody will take it away, some truck will park in front of it or the light will change drastically. So one has to be fast. Not me. The moment I begin I take a photo, so when they begin moving the scenery I have my backup to check into.

Well, my expectations in Santo Domingo revolve around two headliness: Meeting fellow sketchers and getting faster while on the spot. Do more with less, something difficult for me.

All I do is made in 300 g Canson Paper, 17 x 24 cm, Pens and watercolor. This is the most I could compress my kit.

The locations are: the Dakota Building, Times Square at peak hour, a busy street in SoHo and a nice fruit market round the corner at W91 & 8th Ave.

So, well, meet you in Santo Domingo!

Bye

Jorge Royan