urbansketchers.org

In November and December I organized 4 “Simply Draw It”-sessions, and now I add “paint it” to it, as I experienced everybody likes to give more attention to end the sketch in watercolour. In this workshop we will exercise how to look in a creative way at an urban scene and sketch in a relaxed way what we see, avoiding overwhelm and allowing each participant to search for his own “handdrawing”. This can cause a lot of stress and sometimes even takes away the joy of sketching and the monkey in their left side of the brain sometimes even starts saying that they don’t have a “gift” to draw well. I developed some urbansketching exercises based on Betty Edward’s method to make drawing more accessible and to make progress in drawing more effective and joyfull and to take away the fear of making a “bad” drawing.

The answer emerges slowly across a series of sketches, both large and small, captured in a single sketchbook. Join urban sketcher and instructor in this three-day workshop designed to give you a variety of skills to help you feel confident while travel sketching. Capture people, places and things that evoke memories of a time and a place, and return home with a fat book filled with fresh and vibrant sketches. As part of a small group, you'll observe plenty of demos and receive individual attention as we work on value studies, color, composition, vignettes, lettering, simplifying a scene, and keeping our watercolors fresh.

In honor of this Sunday's Seattle Urban Sketchers meet-up at the University of Washington's Suzzallo Library, I'm posting this step-by-step from a few years ago in order to show my very "architectural" process for constructing and completing a perspective sketch. That spot is directly in front of me as I face the back wall of the space, and it's the point where the many receding lines will all converge, making this a one-point perspective sketch. Step TWO--by drawing in the three elements of step one (big shape, vanishing point, eye level) I can use the vanishing point to start drawing in the big lines, the major architectural elements of the space.

[By Lis Watkins in London] There is an important vote in the House of Commons tonight. Following on from a close fought referendum two and a half years ago to decide whether to remain part of the European Union, Parliament has to decide whether to accept or reject the Governments' leaving plan. I went along yesterday to do some ‘thumbnails’ and check out some good spots to draw and the atmosphere seemed quite jovial between the different factions. Tourists were stopping to take photos and ask questions and I felt quite okay standing and drawing.