8/9 March sketching meetup cancelled

My apologies, but I am no longer be able to make it to the Otaki Kite Festival to run a sketching meetup on 8/9 March. Sorry everyone!

Of course, the festival itself is still on, and will be terrific, so feel free to head up there and sketch away on your own if you are keen.

I will sort out another March date for a meetup. Any ideas or places you want to go? Email Wellington dot sketchers @ gmail dot com if you want to suggest a sketching location or event in March.

Sketching Meetup: Thorndon / Botanic Gardens

Wellington Sketchers will be having a sketching meetup to sketch around Thorndon. We'll meet at the Founder's Gate entrance to the Botanic Gardens on Glenmore St in Thorndon (Tinakori Rd becomes Glenmore St past the gardens). We can either sketch around the Botanic Gardens or sketch down Glenmore St/Tinakori Road in Thorndon, whichever option strikes people's fancy. We might have a coffee afterwards at a nearby cafe. 

The Founder's Gate entrance to the Botanic Gardens on Glenmore St, Thorndon

Where: Meet at the Founder's Gate entrance to the Botanic Gardens on Glenmore St in Thorndon

When: 2.30pm, Sunday 23rd Fenruary 2014. Sketch until 4-ish?

How: There is parking up on Glenmore St (I think it might be coupon parking there, 2hr limit), or you can catch the Karori number 3 bus from Wellington Station, which stops right at the Founder's Gate.

As usual, if the weather is awful, we will postpone. I will notify anyone who has rsvped to me in this case. You don't have to rsvp and you are very welcome to just turn up, but if the unforeseen happens and my car won't start, my train is running late etc, I can only text people who have rsvped to wellington dot sketchers @ gmail dot com.  

PS - I have put up a poll on our website for where we will go sketching for the 43rd Worldwide Sketchcrawl on 19 April. The poll is anonymous, so vote away! You are not committing yourself to coming along by voting.

Some new urban sketching books on the market

A couple of ¨how-to¨ urban sketching books have come onto the market this year. These books have lots of examples of people's sketching work, but also practical tips for sketching/painting on location.

Urban Sketching: The Complete Guide to Techniques, by Thomas Thorspecken. I have pre-ordered this one (it is released in 17 days) and will bring it along to a meetup as soon as it arrives in the mail, if you want to take a look at it.

Sketch Your World: Essential Techniques for Drawing on Location, by James Hobbs. Incidentally, this book seems to change cover design alot (???), so you may see it with a different cover (same name though). I already have this one and have found it an interesting read. I'll bring this one along to the next meetup, if you want to have a flick through it.

Worldwide Sketchcrawl #42

Gosh, is it that time again already...? The next Worldwide Sketchcrawl is on this Saturday. The worldwide sketchcrawls are organised by Enrico Casarosa on the www.sketchcrawl.com website. Individual sketchers and sketching groups from all over the world can participate, sketching around their hometowns. Afterwards, people usually post their sketches on Enrico's website. Our group, Wellington Sketchers has done a few of these, and I've really enjoyed them.

There is an Ocean Sports Open Day on Wellington Harbour which I thought would be fun to sketch. Please note that we are just members of the public sketching around that area - I haven't made any contact with the event organisers, and we are not a part of their event in any way.

When: Saturday, 25th January 2013. Meet at 10am, sketch until whenever!

Where to meet: on Oriental Parade, near the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club (which is 115 Oriental Parade) and the marina next door.  

Rsvp? You don't have to. However, if there are any plan changes, my car won't start, or any cancellations due to horrible weather etc, then I can only text people who have rsvped to me. Rsvp to wellington dot sketchers at gmail dot com.

[POSTSCRIPT: to view the sketches we did on the Sketchcrawl website, click here.]

Sketching meetup: Sat 7 Dec, 10am

Wellington Sketchers will be having a sketching meetup on Saturday 10th December 2013.

Where to meet: at the lion gates to Parliament & the Beehive on the Bunny St/Lambton Quay intersection. I'll put a photo up in this post of the gates I mean next week, so if you are unsure, check back on this website mid-next week.

When to meet: 10am, Sat 7 Dec 2013

Wet weather options: If it is raining, I'll be waiting undercover outside Bennett's bookstore across the road, and we can sketch in a nearby cafe instead.

RSVP: you are welcome to just turn up, but if you want to be notified if I am running late because my car won't start etc, then you will need to email Wellington dot sketches at gmail dot com to give me your mobile number.

Sketching meetup: Sat, 23 Nov 2013

Wellington Sketchers will be meeting to sketch around Plimmerton (Porirua), on Saturday, 23rd November 2013. We'll sketch around the cafes, main street, and beach area of Plimmerton: wherever people feel like sketching.

Meet at 10am in the Cafe Vella (or outside the cafe if it is full), opposite Plimmerton Station. Note: I think the cafe is currently painting its signage and may or may not be as purple as it is in the sketch below at the moment. 

You are welcome to just turn up, but if you want to be notified by text message if we cancel due to bad weather or if, for example, I am running late because my car won't start etc, then you will need to email your mobile number by the night before to wellington dot sketchers at gmail dot com. 

Worldwide Sketchcrawl #41

The Worldwide Sketchcrawl #41 is on this Saturday 19 October. This is an international event, held three times a year, where individual sketchers and sketching groups all over the world sketch their cities on the same day. The event is set up by Enrico Casarosa on the website www.Sketchcrawl.com. Our group, Wellington Sketchers, will take part, but you don't need to sketch with us to post your sketches on our Wellington page of the Sketchcrawl. 

If you want to meet up with us on Saturday, here are the details:
When: Sat 19 October 2013
Where: Days Bay (Beach and Jetty). Days Bay is on the other side of the harbour from Wellington city.
Meet at: 10.30am around the jetty / beach area.
How to get there: Drive (parking is easy), Days Bay Ferry (timetable here), or the 083 bus (timetable here).
Rsvp: you are welcome to just turn up, but if you want to be kept apprised of (a) weather cancellations, (b) me being late because my car won't start etc, then you will need to email me your mobile phone number by the night before: Wellington dot Sketchers @ gmail dot com. I will give you my number in return, so you can txt me if you can't find the group on the day etc.

Days Bay Beach and Wharf

We will sketch around the Days Bay area, wherever takes our fancy, and will finish up for a coffee/bite to eat at the Chocolate Dazy cafe, or the cafe at the Days Bay Pavillion, which is a 2 min walk north up the road. You can stay for as long as you want, but I will probably have to leave soon after lunch.  

Newcomers and new sketchers are welcome.

Wet/bad weather arrangements: Other than cafes, there are not a lot of places to sketch in wet/bad weather. If we have to cancel for bad weather, then I will txt everyone who has rsvped. As this location is not so very far from my home in the Hutt, I may still go ahead and just sketch in the cafe if the weather is too bad to sketch outside. I think, if you click here you can check the current weather for Lower Hutt.

If you want to see what we got up to last sketchcrawl, click here.

SKETCHING WORKSHOPS

In other news, Erin Hill from Erin Hill Sketching in Australia is visiting NZ later this year and will be running two amazing sketching workshops: one in Taupo and one in Auckland. Click here for dates, costs and booking info for the courses. Erin runs sketching and art classes, weekends, and holidays in Australia, so this is a rare chance to take part in a NZ one!