Basques and False Eyelashes!

We had a really fun time on Saturday, combining a SketchCrawl with a Dr Sketchy session recently - the first Dr Sketchy to take place here in Sheffield. 

You can read more about the event and what we got up to on my main blog post about the day, but here are some of the drawings I did that didn't fit on that post. As you can see - it was a bit more racy than the average SketchCrawl!

Salford SketchCrawl

This SketchCrawl was a bit different - it was linked to my exhibition at Salford Gallery. I did a bit of a talk in the morning, then the afternoon was given over to drawing. You can read more about the adventures of the day on my main blog, which is where you can see the sketches I did, but below are some photos of us in action.

Thank you so much to everyone for coming - it was lovely to meet you all. Hope to see you all at future SketchCrawling events!

Sept SketchCrawl: in the sculpture park

We had a great turn-out this time round. People always love the Yorkshire Sculpture Park!

My sketches are all on the main blog, but below is a small selection from some of the other sketchers who came to share the day. I think you'll agree, there was some fantastic work done! 

Sian Hughes:

Andrea Joseph:

Matthewl Midgley:

Thomas Forde:

Bryn Hughes:

A big thanks to everyone who turned up. I hope you'll come again. If you would like to join me on a future SketchCrawl, just drop me an email. We meet every month.

Sheffield Fayre - August's Sketchcrawl

This year's Sheffield Fayre featured battle re-enactments, so there were loads of people in costume from all eras for us to draw, from medieval archers through to relatively recent combat soldiers: 

You can see my sketchbook here and read more about the day on the main blog.

Ediburgh Festival SketchBook

I took a little A6 sketchbook to the Edinburgh Festival this year, to record what I could as I went along. I was only there for a day and a half, including the time I was actually working, but it took 4 hours each way on the train, so plenty of people-sketching time:

Here are the drawings I did on my way: 

Here are some I did during my time at the actual festival (you can see more and read all about it on my main blog post):

And here are some I did on the way home again:

SketchCrawling

SketchCrawling is a really fun way to share your love of drawing: it turns a solitary activity into a group event! SketchCrawls are open to everyone, whatever their age or ability. 

There is no ‘teaching’: it is about the buzz you get from sketching alongside other people, inspiring and empowering one another. Anybody who enjoys keeping a sketchbook (or who fancies giving it a go, even for the very first time) is invited to take part. 

SketchCrawling provides an excellent opportunity to take those sketchbooks out into the world, as drawing among friends gives many people the confidence they need to sketch in public.

There are informal groups all over the UK (and all over the world), many of them aligned to the international sketching group Urban Sketchers. Our group is one of those, and is called Urban Sketchers Yorkshire. I organise a monthly, free SketchCrawl. We meet up at a pre-arranged venue, somewhere different each month, all over in the north of England. 

On a typical SketchCrawl, we walk around together, stopping at various places for about an hour at a time to capture the things we see around us in our sketchbooks. There are no rules - you can draw whatever takes your fancy, using whichever medium you wish (as you can see, we sometimes draw each other!)

We stop for lunch together midway, in a pub or cafe, or for a picnic if it's summer. Some people carry on drawing even as we eat! 

We try to finish in a café or bar too, where it is fun to pass round the sketchbooks, so we can share what we have created and learn from each other.

No art materials are provided: you will need a sketchbook (A6 – A4 are the easiest on the move) and your favourite media. People use coloured pencils, pastels or watercolour, but many are content with just a pencil. If you are new to SketchCrawling, I suggest you begin with whatever you're comfortable using, but you're bound to find yourself inspired to try new media next time!

You don't need much else. Warm clothing is a good idea - even on a warm day you can get chilly sitting still. I have fingerless gloves too, for those extra nippy occasions. You might also want to bring a pad to sit on, as not everywhere we go has handy seats (or a portable stool if you can’t sit on the ground).

In Sheffield, we are so keen on sketching together, we have developed 2 spin-off activities: the Tour de Sketch, which is SketchCrawling on bikes:

...and the SketchJam: drawing live music:

I always write up our days here. If you would like to be on my mailing list, to be notified about where to meet for our SketchCrawl events, let me know. You don't have to commit to coming regularly, or at all, you don't even need to reply - just turn up if you fancy it or ignore my message if not. Easy as that.

The sketches here are all from my own sketchbooks, but you can see some of the work done by other people if you look in on our Urban Sketchers Yorkshire group on Facebook. Once you have been to an event, why not join the Facebook group yourself, so you can show people your sketches?

If you enjoy sketching, you might be interested in my short film about how and why I keep sketchbooks, or in looking through some of my sketchbooks, both from the UK and from my travels in Europe or further afield.