Art Lesson #52: Barcelona from my window

A street scene in ink

Welcome to Barcelona!

I made this drawing from my hotel window and managed to film bits of it for you. I was lucky to have a little free time to sketch, courtesy of a sudden downpour that kept us from leaving the hotel.

I like the sort of quick and careless vibe of this sketch. When you’re trying to capture a place, it’s nice to be able to give a sense of how it feels to be there. Barcelona feels like such a jumble—old churches, breathtaking Art Nouveau architecture, and all kinds of boring utilitarian buildings, all crammed together.

I filmed the steps I took to make this drawing, just to give you a sense of how I put such a complicated scene together: