http://www.painters-online.co.uk SUMMER 2019 39
There’s also the chance to learn
from some of the top urban sketchers
via workshops at home and abroad.
Over the last few years I’ve planned
holidays in Galway and Oxford around
workshops with two of my favourite
sketchers, Shari Blaukopf (left) and Jim
Richards (right). If you really become
hooked, there’s an annual urban
sketcher’s symposium with workshops,
demonstrations and sketchcrawls. The
most recent events have been held in
Manchester, Chicago and Porto and,
this year, in Amsterdam. For far more
information than I can give here visit
http://www.urbansketchers.org.Your way in
A true urban sketch must be done
on location from direct observation,
rather than from photographs, memory
or imagination, but if you can’t work
outside, or want to practise before you
do, working from a photograph is the
next best thing so long as you sketch for
the pleasure of it rather than worrying
about the end result. Tackle the subject
as if you were on location by aiming to
start and finish in the same session and
use only what you’d be able to carry
with you outside.
I hope you’ll enjoy using my Cotswold
Cottages photograph (below right) to
do just that and with the ‘sharing’ aspect
of urban sketching in mind, please
don’t forget to send your work to
[email protected] for inclusion on
the LPPainting Project gallery at the
PaintersOnline website and to check
back for comments from other readers.
Before you begin, keep in the urban
sketching spirit by remembering the
following:
l Stand the photo up in front of you
as if looking at the cottage for real.
l Start by thinking through what
you most want to capture.
l Use only what you’d be able to
carry with you outside.
Next month, I’ll show you a step-by-
step demonstration of my version of
Cotswold Cottages. LPTonyUnderhill
If you have any questions please
email Tony at [email protected]Jim RichardsCarfax Tower, Oxford,
pen and watercolour, 16x12in. (42x30cm).
Workshops are a great way to learn from
others and Jim’s sketch, done during a visit
from America, was a perfect demonstration
of how to capture character and feel –
in this case an historic building on a busy
corner – without becoming inundated
by accuracy or detail. For more of Jim’s
sketches see http://www.instagram.com/
jrsketchbooktYour reference photograph for this
month’s project: a row of Cotswold
cottages in the sunshine.tLPS 36-39 Underhill_Layout 1 28/05/2019 13:19 Page 39