Sat 15 Jun: Paraparaumu Beach Market

Wellington Sketchers will be having a sketching meetup at Paraparaumu Beach Market on Saturday 15th June 2013, at 10am. 

The market is open from 9am - 1pm, rain, hail or shine. However, we will be meeting at 10am in the market, sketching to around lunchtime. If the weather forecast is bad, we will reschedule our meetup: so check this website the night before.

As always, newcomers and new sketchers are very welcome. You can just turn up on the day, but rsvping by email to Wellington dot Sketchers at gmail dot com will let us know to keep an eye out for you.  

Markets are great places to sketch because there are lots of people and always heaps going on. This market has been going for several years and there are usually over 40 great stalls there, ranging from veggies and gourmet food to crafts, furniture and clothes. 

To get there, head north from Wellington along State Highway 1. Once at Paraparaumu turn left at the lights into Kapiti Rd. Drive past the airport, all the way to Paraparaumu Beach at the end. The market is located opposite McLean Park, in the car park area bordered by Marine Parade, McLean Street and Seaview Road. There is plenty of parking in close proximity.

If the rest of your family is coming (mine is), there is a big playground in Maclean Park and Paraparaumu Beach next door for them to occupy themselves while you sketch. There are lots things to see and do in Paraparaumu, and on the way there or back. I highly recommend dropping into the Nyco chocolate factory / Prenzel distillery on your way back home.

Here is a map for people who need one (note: it is completely NOT to scale ;o)

(Paraparaumu Market photo credit: Sharon Alderson. Thanks Sharon!)

The Sketchbook Project

Photo credit: Blue Window Creative

The Sketchbook Project is a global art project where people from all over the world are invited to fill the pages of a blank sketchbook and send it back for inclusion in the Brooklyn Art Library. Your sketchbook can go on tour around the United States as part of a travelling exhibition of handmade books (don't you wish you could join it?) and later become a part of the Brooklyn Art Library in America. 

Anyone can be a part of this project. The permanent collection at Brooklyn Art Library already holds over 27,255 sketchbooks from 135 countries around the globe. Who wants to join in?

The 2014 Sketchbook Project has the following themes, from which you pick one: Strange Neighbors / Borders and lines / A simple place / Accidents / Found! / Dudes and latitudes / To the last page! / First aid kit / Say words out loud / Paper airplanes / This list... / Atlas of... / Greetings from… / 32 Days / This is not about you / This is not about me / Undecided

The sketchbook which you use must be one which is supplied by the Sketchbook Project and you can order a sketchbook through their website. There are discounts for groups. The deadline for returning the finished book is 15th Jan 2014. Plenty of time! Wouldn't it be great to see a little (or a lot) of Kiwi creativity becoming a part of this international art work?

Artwork in this post is from the Sketchbook Project media kit, or used with permission obtained with thanks from the very helpful Project organisers

Changes to the Saturday 18 May meetup

Due to the rainy weather forecast, we will now have the sketching meetup indoors at Te Papa.

Where: Te Papa.
Meet:  Inside the ground floor foyer.  
When: Meet at 10 am. We will sketch till just before lunch, or whatever time people want.

There is underground parking below Te Papa, but you have to pay for it. Entry to Te Papa itself is free. Most exhibitions there are free, however, they do charge an entry fee to some of their temporary exhibitions.

If you are planning on coming, email us at Wellington.Sketchers at gmail.com so that I can give you my mobile number. If you are late, or have trouble finding us in Te Papa, you can txt me. You are welcome to turn up without having rsvped, of course.

We won't forget about Oriental Parade (our original choice), and will schedule another meetup to sketch there soon!

Sketching meetup: Sat 18 May

We will be having a sketching meetup on Saturday, 18 May 2013 to sketch around Oriental Parade. We will meet at 10 am, at the entrance to Freyburg Pool, which is 139 Oriental Parade. We'll sketch around the area, probably for a couple of hours, and then stop in a nearby cafe at the end.  Oriental Parade is usually a busy place, with heaps going on, and great views of Wellington Harbour. So lots to sketch!

Although you are welcome to just turn up, it is best to send an email to Wellington.Sketchers at gmail.com, so that we can keep an eye out for you and let you know if there are any changes to the plan (bad weather? / my car won't start?). As always, check the website the night before, as we will know the weather forecast by then.    

Sketching News

There are quite a few free resources on the internet now about sketching and painting on location, which I'll post about in the next few Sketching News posts. One of the best websites is the Making a Mark website by Katherine Tyrrell. The website is a little difficult to navigate through, sometimes directing you between her different blogs and to Squidoo. However, it has a huge amount of information in it under the Artists' Resources link and lots of free tutorials. 

Katherine has written a free three part course on sketching on location called Sketching for Real. If you are new to sketching on location, this is worth downloading and working through. When you get to the bits about going out in public to sketch, come along to our sketching meetups (which are also free)! There are pages on how to sketch, 10 tips for sketching people, and sketching on location with coloured pencils. The site does cover watercolours and painting, but mainly in the blog posts themselves rather than as separate links. 

She also reviews the best art books on lots of topics, including drawing, sketching, and painting. You can look at the best books by year, or the ones she considers the best ever. Wellington Library now has several of the most popular urban sketching books which she has reviewed: