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Drawing Attention November 2016

Drawing Attention November 2016

USk Medellin, Colombia

Bring a Workshop to your Chapter

 

In 2016 Urban Sketchers organized 16 workshops around the world in collaboration with USk chapters from Malaga to Orlando to Galway. These workshops were taught by our top instructors: great teachers such as Lynne Chapman, ? ?? Chng Kiah Kiean, Don Low and more! If you would like to bring an official USk workshop to your chapter, email our Education Director, Mario Linhares at education@urbansketchers.org.

READ THIS IN SPANISH

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USk Leadership

by Mark Leibowitz

READ THIS IN ITALIAN
READ THIS IN PORTUGUESE


You might be thinking about starting an Urban Sketching chapter. You might be thinking about taking a more active role in your existing chapter. You might already be a leader of your chapter. What does it take to be a good leader of an Urban Sketchers Regional Chapter?

Our reason for existence is to encourage people to enjoy capturing the world we live in through sketching. The chapter leader is the critical person who sets a welcoming, supportive tone. A good leaders enthusiasm for urban sketching is contagious. As the group’s leader, you are creating a community.

Being consistent and reliable is fundamental. To do that a good leader has to be organized. Being fair is another fundamental. The group leader should never be critical and should encourage others to be supportive. We all start with different skills. Everyone has a gift to be shared. A good leader creates an atmosphere that encourages everyone to share their gifts. There can be no favoritism. Leaders need to bring their higher selves to the task and practice the “Golden Rule”, that is, treat others the way you would like to be treated.

Each chapter has three leaders, it’s a requirement. The work should be shared. Each group finds better solutions when their leaders respect each other and multiply their creativity. Leaders need to understand social media, so they can help members to post their work and so they can spread the word about their group’s activities. A good leader stays informed about Urban Sketchers, reaches out to other groups and is the conduit for information about USk world-wide activities.

Good leadership is the source of our success and our growth. It’s a hard but rewarding job.

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Manchester Symposium Video

Wynter Productions @ Easter Jones

By Wynter Productions @ Easter Jones

Videographer Hilary Easter Jones captures all the excitement of the Manchester Symposium with this exciting video.

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Symposium Lectures

Richard Briggs

Some of the videos of presenter lectures from the 2016 Symposium are now available on our website. Click here to view lectures by Richard Briggs, Ed Harker, Alvin Wong and more.

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Jane Blundell’s Watercolour Mixing Workshop

by Ann Schwartzwald

“Many people find colour mixing difficult because they havent analysed which pigments are necessary to create the colours they see, or want to create” Jane Blundell, from Sydney, Australia explains. Jane is a colour expert and recently taught a workshop called “Watercolor Your World One Mix at a Time” at the Manchester Urban Sketchers Symposium.

“Some [people] just use whatever is in the set they have bought. Some use whatever someone else uses. I have analysed the colours required to be able to mix pretty much any colour you wish, with just two pigments. That makes adding accurate colour to sketches much simpler.”
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Jane Blundell

Jane has travelled and sketched all over the world, including visits with USk chapters in Hong Kong, Singapore, San Francisco, Paris, Seattle, New York, Manchester and Montreal.

In the workshop Jane taught the fundamentals of what an urban sketcher needs to enliven and refine their effective use of color and still be able to carry their gear.

“My workshop covered how to choose a set of watercolours for sketching; how to work with limited palettes to create harmony in sketches and how to mix a massive range of colours with relatively few. It also included tips for choosing the right pigment characteristics for sketching and special effects, and which pigments to use for creating building materials whether marble, stone, brick or whatever.”

Jane’s passion for creative expression in watercolor has led her to delve deeply into the medium.

“Watercolor is the most pure form of painting there is. Unlike other mediums where the pigment characteristics are hidden in the oil or acrylic binder, with watercolour the full beauty of the pigment is visible. Consequently one can play with the granulation or staining or opacity of the pigments rather than just the hue and that is exciting”.

Click HERE to read the notes from Jane’s Watercolour Mixing Workshop.

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What Makes a Great Workshop Proposal?

by Lauren Peterson

Ever wonder what makes a great workshop proposal? Gail Wong is a member of the Education Committee that reviews proposals for the symposium. Last year they reviewed 72 proposals and the Symposium Team accepted 26 for workshops. Some of the proposals that were not accepted as workshops became activities or demonstrations.

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Gail Wong

A lot of work goes into preparing a great line up of workshops. But Gail says she enjoys getting to know instructors from around the world while helping them navigate the process giving them the best chance to get approved as a USk workshop.

“Being part of the Education Committee has been wonderful,” Gail said. “It has been great working with the other educators on the committee and getting to know them.”

The Education Committee reviews the contents of the workshop proposals, then provides comments and makes recommendations. The proposals then go on to the Symposium Team which makes the final selections on which workshops will run.
 
To help instructors increase their chances of having their proposal accepted Gail presented a lecture called How to Prepare a Successful Workshop Proposal at the Manchester Symposium.The lecture covered the selection process highlighting both the common weaknesses as well as the strengths of workshop proposals. This is the same information that should be included in any USk workshop proposal, whether it is for the symposium or for one of our global workshops held throughout the year. For more information about how to prepare a successful workshop proposal click HERE.
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Welcome to New USk Chapters

The following 15 new USk chapters have been approved by the Board. Welcome new chapters!
Urban Sketchers Karlsruhe, Germany 
Urban Sketchers Norrköping, Sweden
Bermuda Hamilton Urban Sketchers
Urban Sketchers Saint Petersburg, Russia 
Edinburgh, Urban Sketchers 
Urban Sketchers Alberobello (Italy)
Urban Sketchers Middletown, CT
Urban Sketchers Liguria (Italy)
Urban Sketchers Dallas/Fort Worth
Urban Sketchers Launceston (Australia)
Urban Sketchers San Miguel de Allende (Mexico)
Urban Sketchers Curitiba (Brazil)
Urban Sketchers Moscow (Russia)
Urban Sketchers Lawrence, Kansas
Urban Sketchers Las Vegas, Nevada
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USk Waterloo Region Celebrates Oktoberfest

Urban Sketchers of Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada

by Jane Wingfield

Urban Sketchers of Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada, kicked off the city’s Oktoberfest with the opening of an exhibition in the prestigious Berlin Tower ARTSPACE inside Kitchener City Hall. The opening night reception had a great turnout with friends, family and festival attendees.


The Waterloo Region sketchers submitted their exhibition proposal to the City a year in advance and were thrilled when it was accepted. This was their second exhibition in that space.

USk Waterloo Region put out a call for submissions to their members and the first 15 works were accepted. The sketches had to be completed in the City of Kitchener with the group or on their own. Each piece was done on 11”x14” watercolor paper and framed and matted similarly. The works are on sale for $150 each or as determined by the artist and the buyer.

The show will hang throughout the month of October. Congratulations sketchers!

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 Upcoming USk Workshop

USk is pleased to announce a new upcoming workshop called From Simplicity to Complexity to be held December 23-24 in Dubai. The workshop will be taught by instructor Behzad Bagheri. For more information click HERE.

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Luís Simões Living the Sketcher’s Dream

by Lauren McVittie

Traveling the world and capturing it through sketching seems like a daydream, but for Luís Simões, it’s a dream come true. Simões has been traveling the world since March 2012 and has no plans of ending his travels any time soon.

Simões (37) is from Lisbon, Portugal and worked as a 3D motion designer. After ten years, he decided he needed a change. During a trip to Croatia in 2011, he realized he wanted to improve his drawing skills and got the idea for his World Sketching Tour.

Simões sold his apartment and his belongings, and finances his travels with his savings and through freelancing and workshops.

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Luís Simões

Simões has travelled to over 30 countries in his four years of sketching and is currently in Bali. He has sketched Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, but can’t pick a favourite place. He is particularly looking forward to sketching the colours and stories of South America and Africa in the coming years.

“Traveling pushes me to discover more about the world and myself,” Simões said.

Simões joined Urban Sketchers in 2007 while living in Portugal and has sketched with various chapters around the world as he travels. For Simões, sketching is about having fun while telling a story and about capturing a moment in his trip. He says he’s always happy to see the reaction of people receiving a sketch.

“Once I was waiting for my flight and killing time by sketching some people. When I got on the plane, I saw that they were going on the same flight. In that moment, I decided to give them the sketch. It was fun to hear them talking about it and see their happy faces,” he said.

The World Sketching Tour has been a life changing experience, and has particularly changed how Simões views obstacles. “The biggest obstacle we have in life is our mind,” Simões said, “other than that, everything is possible.”

You can follow Simões’ sketching journey on his newly designed website, or on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Flickr.

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Exhibition Marks First Anniversary of USk Pune (India)

By Joann Sondy

Memories were made as fifty urban sketchers showcased more than 150 amazing sketches for the art lovers of Pune. A grand success, the exhibition marked the first anniversary of the USk chapter.

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Sketch by Deepa Sarawate

The individual sketching styles and a broad range of subject matter were highlights of the exhibition of the USk Pune diverse membership. Urban sketchers that include architects, doctors, IT professionals, engineers, students, and homemakers participated; each depicting the historically and culturally-rich city of Pune.


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Sketch by Lakshman M

The architecture of Pune’s grand buildings is something that the urban sketchers could not resist capturing in their sketchbooks. The array of architecture included traditional Hindu temples and grand buildings constructed during British rule.

Partnering with a local art gallery, it was an extremely motivating effort by the Urban Sketchers Pune group with grand results. The community of Pune enjoyed the glimpses of the old city through the sketches of iconic buildings and old traditional residences called wadas.

The USk Pune exhibition was a great success, an inspiration for many sketching enthusiasts to join in the urban sketching movement.

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 Introducing USk Medellin, Colombia