Urban Sketchers Symposium: Friends

As always, while we were away, I found myself as much attracted to the people as to our surroundings. I drew lots of locals but, like many of my fellow sketchers, I also drew us.

I'm so glad I captured so many of my sketch-buddies and new friends, as I remember them so fondly - Santo Domingo was fantastic, but it was the electricity we created between us that for me was the true magic of the symposium.

We were gathered together in groups at lunchtime and in the evening, and that's when most of these happened. When I'm sketching someone, I don't set out to draw a portrait as such - there's nothing as boring or as stressful as worrying about capturing a likeness. 

Sometimes I capture people nevertheless, which is great, but my main aim is to achieve an interesting drawing with the flavour of the person. 

From the top Liz Steel, Lapin, Gabi Campanario, Shiho Nakaza, Alanna Randall, Elizabeth Alley, Chris Ruiz-Velasco.

Drawing People on the Train Home From the SketchCrawl

On Saturday SketchCrawl North met up for a day of sketching at the Imperial War Museum in Manchester. On the way home, I took my sketchbook out again. 

We took the tram from the quay back to Manchester Piccadilly, then the train back to Sheffield:

John, as usual fell asleep before we got hom. I have so many sketches of him in this or similar positions!

You can see all the sketches I did at the museum here. Other people's work, plus details of all future events are posted on Sketchcrawl North's Facebook page.


If you are interested in sketching people in public places, you might be interested in this post with all my best hot tips!

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.

Wet SketchCrawl!

June's SketchCrawl was a bit damp. Well, I guess we can't complain: apart from a few showers at the end of the one in Graves Park, we have been very lucky with the weather so far (which, for England, is a miracle).

Were we faint hearted, when we saw that the forecast was so abysmal? Not on your life! We stayed in the cemetery as long as was practical (above is Porridge the dog, investigating Maya, our youngest, 7 year old member), then mid morning, when the skies opened, we moved to the Botanical Gardens, to the shelter of the glasshouses:

Most of us fitted into the few cars, but a handful trudged the whole way through torrential rain. We SketchCrawlers are made of stern stuff! 

Below is a selection of the sketches that people did on the day. My work is on the main blog here.

John Birks:

Julie Whitham:

Bryn Hughes:

 

Afraa Yousef:

Sian Hughes:

Michael Lee: