Urban Sketching

I have admired the sketches of artist and journalist Gabriel Campanario ever since they started appearing weekly in The Seattle Times. Known as the Seattle Sketcher, Campanario takes even the most iconic, widely photographed Seattle scenes, like the Pike Place Market, and gives them his fresh, personal perspective that no camera can capture. I was so inspired that I decided I wanted to become an urban sketcher myself.

(See the remarkable Urban Sketchers website for more information and inspiration. And see my review of Campanario’s equally inspiring book, The Art of Urban Sketching: Drawing on Location Around the World.)

“Urban sketching” is defined by the Urban Sketchers website as “on-location drawing.” At this point, not quite spring in Seattle, my outdoor urban sketching experience is mostly theoretical. I’ve been out a few times to sketch at the zoo and park, shivering in my down parka, but mostly I sketch on-location from inside my car. This was sketched while waiting in the ferry line on Orcas Island, Sept. 25, 2011 – officially my first urban sketch.

Sketched on 9/25/11, Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pen, watercolor, watercolor paper

I sketched this one while riding the No. 66 Metro bus from downtown to Northgate.

Sketched on 2/28/12, Pigma Micron pen, Hand Book sketchbook

This was sketched at the Woodland Park Zoo on a cold but sunny day.

Sketched on 2/23/12, Copic Multiliner SP pen, Akashiya watercolors