Worldwide Sketchcrawl # 40

The Worldwide Sketchcrawl # 40 will be held on Saturday 13th July. What is a sketchcrawl? It is like a drawing/sketching/painting marathon, where you set aside a day (or some of it) and just move around your city or town, recording what goes on around you in your sketchbook, telling the visual story of your city on that day. The idea was started by Enrico Casarosa in San Francisco in 2006, who has turned it into a worldwide event run three or four times a year: a day which sketching groups and individual artists all over the world join in. Sketches from the event can be seen afterwards on www.sketchcrawl.com. 

We will meet at the top of the cable car area, near Kelburn Lookout at 10am on Saturday 13th July 2013. We will move around the area sketching whatever takes your interest. There are many things to sketch: the cable car, Cable Car Museum, Kelburn Lookout with views over Wellington, Carter Observatory, and Botanic Gardens etc. You can sketch with the group, or go off on your own and just meet us for lunch: whatever you prefer. Sketch for as long as you feel like it on the day. Newcomers and new sketchers are very welcome!

This is a free event, and is not a course, or an instructional day. It is simply local sketchers meeting up socially to sketch our city as part of an international sketching day. You need to bring your own art materials. We plan to meetup at a nearby cafe and get a bite to eat & a coffee. Please be aware that riding on the Wellington Cable Car and entry to the Carter Observatory costs money. 

Wet weather arrangements: The event will still go on in wet weather. There are places to sketch indoors and undercover, such as the Cable Car, the Cable Car Museum and the Carter Observatory. 

Sketching Meetup: Paekakariki

We are having an impromptu sketching meetup on Sunday at Paekakariki on the Kapiti Coast. Why? A few free hours suddenly popped up on the weekend, and why not spend them somewhere terrific sketching? All sketchers welcome: newcomers and new sketchers too. 

We will be meeting on Sunday, 30th June, around 2pm in Paekakariki, on the Main Street, probably in or near the Perching Parrot cafe. If that is full, we might try the other cafe a couple of doors to the left. Wherever we are, we will be easy to spot, as we will have our sketchbooks out. Paekakariki has a small main street, but I love the buildings, the wooden houses, the secondhand bookstore, the gallery, the old church, and the railway museum (which closes at 3pm). The station is right next to the main street, for those coming by train. You are welcome to just turn up, but if you rsvp (email address below), we can keep an eye out for you and give you a mobile number to txt if you have any trouble finding the group. 

Wet weather arrangements: There are plenty of undercover areas to sketch in. However, if it the weather is really atrocious, pouring down, or really windy, we might cancel and wait for a better day. We'll let everyone who has rsvped know if that is the case.

Want to suggest an event, location, day, or time for one of our next sketching meetups? Email us on wellington.sketchers at gmail.com.

Time lapse sketching videos

Sometimes when you look at amazing sketches it can be hard to imagine how they were created. A time lapse video of an artist sketching can be quite an eye opener and kind of encouraging: we all start from a blank page! One of my favourite urban sketchers, Nina Johansson of Sweden, has done a time lapse video of her sketching a view of Stockholm out her kitchen window: urban sketching at its most comfortable! Her work appears in many of the latest sketching books, such as Gabriel Campanario's Urban Sketching and Danny Gregory's An Illustrated Journey. Nina has very kindly given us permission to show the video on this website. Thanks Nina! Check out the rest of her amazing blog, where you can see more of her work, reviews of pens and other sketching equipment, and even slideshows of some of her sketchbooks.

Another of my favourite urban sketchers is Rob Carey, who has done a series of time lapse videos of his sketches in various cities, such as Basel in Switzerland and Saint-Louis in France. Click here to see more of his videos.

Lunchtime Sketching: Wed 19 June

We will be having our very first lunchtime meetup to sketch on Wednesday 19th June, from 12 - 1pm. We will meet at 12.00 at the wooden birds (see photo) on the City to Sea Bridge, which is the wooden bridge that links Civic Square to the Lagoon. Newcomers and sketchers of all levels are welcome! 

If it is raining, we will meet in the Te Papa ground floor foyer instead at the same time. Check this website the night before, just in case there are any last minute details. You are welcome to just turn up, but if you rsvp (email: Wellington dot sketchers at gmail dot com) we can keep an eye out for you.