This has been a disastrous year for the travel industry, and travelers. Not only have we been unable to enjoy the places we’ve been longing to visit, but we’ve had to cancel carefully made plans, miss once-in-a-lifetime events and precious time spent with family and special people. Health and safety does come first, but I have some dear friends whose holiday businesses have been forced to close, and the outlook for 2021 is still very uncertain for us all.

‘Travel sketching’ is a term used for rapid sketching ‘on the go’. It also serves to describe a journal, or a sketch diary, that people will create on a holiday or vacation. Travel sketching, however, can be anywhere, and of anything. You don’t need to voyage to the other side of the world to travel sketch – you can create a beautiful and fascinating travel sketching journal right on the street where you live!

With this in mind, let’s do just that – let’s create a beautiful sketch, based on where you are right now.

On the Street Where you Live is a rather different and very personal kind of ‘travel sketching’ workshop. No matter which timezone, in a series of 4 ‘virtual classes’ I will work with you on a 1:1 basis via email/phone/Zoom/Skype – or whatever means is easiest for you (Whatsapp/Facetime etc).

To get started you simply need to send me a photograph of a scene that you’d like to sketch*. Typically this will be a street view, a building or landscape and may include people, or vehicles too. It is important you have the rights to use the photo, it is taken in good light, and can be enlarged to show more detail (so at least 1500px wide, ideally, but if you are unsure if the photo is suitable, send it to me before booking the workshop and I’ll take a look!).

Part 1 – we’ll fix a time to go through the photo, why you chose it and how to sketch it, and if applicable I can help you with important elements such as page composition and perspectives. If you are considering framing your sketch, or making it into cards, we can talk about options for that too.

Part 2 – once you have completed your sketch we’ll go through it together, and I’ll show you my version of the sketch for reference. We can also talk about the colour options and materials recommended for Part 3

Part 3 – I will apply watercolour to my sketch – filming it for you on a step by step basis. I’ll send you the private video link, so that you can follow the steps at home in your own time

Part 4 – we’ll review our finished sketches together and talk about the overall process, the things that worked well and of course the ‘happy accidents’!

From start to finish this workshop will take anything from 1-4 weeks, subject to availability. At each stage of this process I’m online and here to help you – so if you hit a stumbling block you can always contact me for advice.

* If you decide not to sketch something from your own street let’s create a sketch of somewhere special to your family – with the holidays approaching, your finished artwork could make a lovely gift!

If you would like to take your travel sketching to a new level with 1:1 tuition, please sign-up here or send me a message!