Świdnica Workshop Reportage

By Jan Vítek

The workshop was held on Sat, Aug 13, 2022 in Świdnica, Poland. It was prepared to be outside, but the forecast was not good. Rain and thunderstorms changed my plans and the workshop was inside. I took photos of five views from Świdnica including two panoramic views. Then I printed them so that the participants could draw from them. 

I had many papers prepared with random splashes of acrylic inks - I call them přípravky (from Czech language, the singular is přípravka).

During the first half an hour I showed many examples of my drawings on přípravky, I talked about the random shapes and colors and many other aspects of this technique. Then I made a demonstration, a quick painting of a tower where I showed how to work with acrylic markers and Caran d’Ache water soluble crayons (surprisingly water soluble version is more opaque and therefore more useful for this technique than the non water soluble one).

In the remaining 75 minutes the participants created their own paintings. Everybody chose one přípravka and one photo from Świdnica.

At the end I reviewed all the pieces. I was surprised by the quality of the resulting works, many of them were really impressive. Some people even finished two pieces. The workshop was attended by around 30 people. I can’t wait for the next one!

The workshop was part of the amazing Urban Sketching Festival in Świdnica www.uskpoland.pl.

The photos are by Wojciech Skiślewicz.