urban sketching – a curious nature

Late February to mid-April

Fascinated by the work that so many urban sketchers turn out, and further inspired by a few Sketchbook Revival 2023 sessions, it’s no wonder I wanted to try my hand at Urban Sketching. Joining the Albuquerque Urban Sketchers, my first outing was to a very iconic New Mexico shop called Jackalope. In some ways, this was a great place for lots of newbies (we didn’t have to brave the still freezing February temps), but then again it was very challenging. So many things to choose from! Here’s a few of my sketches. Because there were so many interesting trinkets, I decided to spend no more than 15 minutes on each, including some quick watercoloring.

This one was sketched from a life sized sculpture of a roadrunner. Meep! Meep!

This was sketched from a very typical Santa Fe-style painted wood cabinet. To me this style always looks like the furniture was hooked up to the hitch of a pick-up truck and drug down a dirt road at breakneck speeds! Luckily the very large rooster clay pot wasn’t hurt in the process.

Someone captured a photo of me working on my frog trivet sketch. You can see my dilemma deciding what to sketch! Stacks of trivets, all different, to choose from!

This was one of my attempts to urban sketch “solo.” I found a bit of early spring buds while waiting for Roy to finish up a doctor appointment.

All of that was really fun, but not as easy as some urban sketchers make it seem. So I began practicing and searching on-line for a bit of sage advice.

On Saturday (April 15th) the Urban Sketchers met again, this time at Old Town Farm, downtown Albuquerque. With the chance of sketching some rusted farm equipment and broken down barns, I wanted in on this event. And besides, the breezy day was supposed to be warm … ideal for a bit of plein air sketching! Well, on a Saturday, this place was buzzing with visitors, ranging from bikers and hikers; people sitting and enjoying a morning coffee and carrot cake; several teams playing something like bochi ball; venders; puppies for adoption. This definitely broke my fear of public sketching while giving me an opportunity to improve on my people sketching skills. Here’s what I found to draw in a few hours.

This was a pretty cool old barn, and still in fine shape. Looks like I could use lots of practice sketching old buildings! But I did meet several delightful women also trying their hand at barn sketching!

When I realized my barn sketch was going wonky, all I had to do was turn around and find this action scene! There were 2 teams of bowlers playing Pétanque (like bocci ball) in the dirt behind the barn, Here’s my quick sketch trying to capture their action and conversation. This was very fun. Afterwards I walked over to show them what I had done. The team leader was very excited about the sketch and asked if he could take a photo to use it as the team banner on their Facebook page! Of course I said, “Absolutely!”

Hard to resist drawing an old truck. Although not a rusty heap, this beautifully restored 1939 Ford V8 was just begging to be sketched. I had a little fun with the character of this truck, and never intended to make it a perfect replica. But this really suits my style. Have I found my happy style?

Hope you enjoyed my urban sketching efforts! Look for more posts in the future.

March 20 – April 1st

For the last 6 years, I’ve participated in an annual, 2-week long sketching/mixed media event, Sketchbook Revival, founded and hosted by a talented sketchbook artist, Karen Abend. Every Spring, Karen brings together a cast of creative artists for a mega on-line teaching marathon, where each day, 2 1-hour sessions are shared with hundreds of participants. These sessions cover topics like basic mark-making, collage, caricature creation, drafting and perspective, composition, urban sketching, flowers, mammals and birds, portraits, map making, story telling, and on and on! This year a session in textiles was even included. Techniques were taught in using a wide-variety materials, such as watercolor, gouache, markers, pencil and pen, colored pencil, and many forms of mixed-media.

The whole fun event is designed to stretch your creative comfort zone by trying new things and experiencing new approaches to art making. And as incredible as it sounds, all you need to participate is your time and whatever materials you have on hand. Otherwise, it’s totally free! Wowza!

If this sounds irresistibly intriguing, and you just gotta-wanna participate next year, I’ll include a link below to find out more. Meanwhile, check out the photos of my Sketchbook Revival 2023 creations, filling up my handmade sketchbook (oh yeah, the pre-work session includes instructions on how to make your own sketchbook). I never expect to create works of art during the event; many of my pages are just plain awful. But no matter the result, I always made it fun! Enjoy!