161. Sneaky in Seattle

walk softly and carry a big sketchbook.

Oct 21, 2022

Dear reader,

Can I share a small win?

Last weekend, I crossed the US border (a win only brown people can fully appreciate) to visit a new city of my world. I met many people that wanted to meet me. I met many people that I wanted to meet. There were some delightful intersections between the two. I conducted my first in-person workshop since COVID. It sold out.
Yay.

In today’s post, I uphold my resolution to learn in public - by sharing the best ideas from being sneaky in the pursuit of art.

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Class is in session at Pike Place Market, downtown Seattle.

But Why Sneaky?

I make my art in public spaces, observing human activity and interaction. I don’t inform my subjects beforehand, and they never find out afterwards. Everything is hush-hush.

There are some good reasons to do it this way - some that I started with and some that emerged along the way.

When I started, the main reason was that I was ashamed of my drawings and did not want anyone to see them. I was embarrassed by the idea of drawing in public places. Today that feeling is gone, thanks to the global urban-sketching community. But I still enjoy being sneaky for other reasons…
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Sneaky in Seattle

I wrote to Insiders already about the first two days of my Seattle weekend. Sunday morning began outside the Seattle Art Museum. The air was too cold in the shade and too warm in the sun. It has been a strange autumn in the Pacific Northwest. Very hot. Completely dry. The unease of the season is encapsulated by the sight of tall, green trees standing on yellow, defeated grass. As I write this, the weather app predicts rain tomorrow morning. I pray it is correct.

But on Sunday in Seattle, the air hung heavy with the scent of distant wildfires. Kate Buike, an admin of Urban Sketchers Seattle, scheduled the meetup. We were over a dozen sketchers who took up different positions around the busy street intersection, armed with our art supplies of choice. Afterwards, we congregated under the feet of the Hammering Man to peek into each other’s sketchbooks. Sketchbook throw-downs are my favourite part of the meetup!

For my drawing, I had found a seat one level below the street, on the Harbor Steps, with a view of some fellow sketchers, passing tourists, and the museum facade.

Life in Seattle, downtown on a wildfire morning. Game day for the Mariners and their fans.

I speak in my workshops about using natural frames for composition. With that in mind, can you see the page above as a three-panel comic? Or even … a triptych?

Walk Softly and Carry a Big Sketchbook

Consider the following question that I always ask in workshops -

Why is a city?

Not what. Or where. Or how. But why.

Any city. Anywhere.

(Top) Doing the final exercise with participants, (Bottom) Post-workshop pic, with the biggest sketchbook I could find.

Why is a city? The answer -

A city is because … people want to go from point A to point B, to get things done without getting involved in the lives of other people.

A city is a completely artificial but nonetheless living organism created for the sole purpose of giving us what we need — sleep, work, travel, food, coffee, and places to take cute selfies. Without a human presence, a city becomes dystopian because it loses all of these reasons to exist. It becomes meaningless. People give meanings to things.

Dear reader, share your own answer - Why is a city?

Tips and Tricks

Here are some good ideas that I shared over the course of the 2-hour workshop. Feel free to ask about them in the comments.

Drawing tiny people with participants in the final exercise.

To see more notes and all the drawings I made that day, download the free PDF here.

A Positive Feedback Loop

I love to reach out for feedback from participants. Not only does thoughtful feedback make me a better instructor the next time, but kind praise also livens up my day!

This month’s Zoom session

Following up on the useful lessons of this event, I am running a free Zoom session on Sun 30th Oct, 8 am PT. It will include a -

📚 Narrated tour of my recent sketchbooks,
✍🏼 Demo of my ink drawing techniques for portraits and landscapes,
👣 Step-by-step draw along from reference images.
🖐 Informal, open Q&A

While the session is FREE to attend, it is exclusive to participants of my workshops (in-person + virtual) and SneakyArt Insiders.

The best way to attend is to become a SneakyArt Insider. Insiders get front-row seats to all live events, exclusive discounts and giveaways, and bonus content around all my work as a writer, artist and podcaster.

Become a SneakyArt Insider!

Zoom links will go out to Insiders this Sunday. If you have attended any SneakyArt workshop this year, you will receive a separate email soon.