Urban Sketching

My Sweet Baboo gave me a wonderful book for Valentines Day; The Art of Urban Sketching. Featuring Norfolk's own Walt Taylor, it introduces the idea of sketching while traveling or around your own town, as a way to chronicle your adventures. It's a bit like journaling with pictures. Why take photos when you can quickly sketch a place and moment in time? Urban sketchers from around the world have even connected on the internet. They share tips, stories and their drawings at urbansketchers.org. Their slogan is "See the world one drawing at a time". I'm sure you can see where this is heading...lesson plan!!!! My older artists learned a bit about this art form, and Walt Taylor specifically, and then we headed outside to capture our surroundings with pencil and paper.

The first step is choosing your subject. Even the most mundane scene can be interesting when sketched.

Laura - Age 7

Careful observation is key. We talked a lot about drawing what you see, not what you THINK you see. It's important to include as much detail as possible, but to draw quickly. We didn't have much luck with moving targets like people and squirrels.

I thought this was a great rendering of the lamp post and handrail!  Jackson - Age 7

Andrew - Age 6

Urban sketchers often include the date, place and even time of their sketch, to record not only what they saw, but when and where. What a great way to continue creating long into adulthood!