Even Sketchwaiting Needs Practice

9/8/23 Safeway pharmacy line

9/2/23 Cloud City Coffee

A sketcher had lamented online about not having enough time to sketch. She was asking for advice from other sketchers who seemed prolific, especially those who filled brief, idle moments with what I call “sketchwaiting.” The experienced sketchers chimed in about the fun of filling otherwise dead time with sketching. Much of the advice was about having simple sketch materials with you at all times so that you can take advantage of any sketching opportunity. Wherever you are and with whatever time you have, sketch whatever you see  – that was the common advice. Just jump in and do it.

9/5/23 Cloud City Coffee

9/7/23 Green Lake neighborhood

10/3/23 Green Lake neighborhood

I can easily “just jump in and do it” now, but sketchwaiting did not always come as easily. It takes quite a bit of time of regular, on-location practice before sketchwaiting comes as second nature. If you have very little sketching experience, or even if you have some but most of your practice has come from using photo references, sketchwaiting is much harder. The “whatever you see” is huge and overwhelming (even in a place like a doctor’s waiting room) – how do you choose what to draw? By the time the subject is selected, likely your name has been called for your appointment, and the opportunity is lost.

9/19/23 Green Lake Village

9/20/23 Thornton Place Plaza

I have talked a lot on this blog about the importance of learning to draw from life, not just practicing from photos, and I think this is one more reason. People who sketch from life are already used to distilling the huge “whatever” they see into a sketch, which makes them better prepared even if they have only a few minutes. And the more one practices regularly, the easier it becomes to practice regularly.

9/19/23 Russian Veterans Monument, Orthodox Brotherly Cemetery, Seattle
(I typically wouldn't use color while sketchwaiting, but in this case,
I knew I had an hour to happily kill. Most sketchwaiting opportunities are much shorter.)