Where Shall I drop this Urban Sketch?

We have an exciting weekend in urban sketching ahead! First, I'll be teaching my 10x10 USK Workshop on First Steps into Visual Journaling on Saturday. The workshop is sold out but I will be posting some tips and hints in the next few days and after the workshop as well. Follow me here and on Instagram. Set up alerts so you can see a real time hint when I drop this piece.

I'm hoping some of my students will be enthused with their new confidence and urban sketching skills and come to the monthly outing on Sunday at Wallingford Center. I'll be there to cheer you on!

So where shall I drop this? On Saturday or Sunday? I could use some suggestions to overcome my dilemma. Update: OK, tomorrow it is, Sunday the 20th at Wallingford Center sometime during the monthly sketch outing. Come join us for urban sketching in Seattle!

Going to abandon this greeting card with sketch print on the coming weekend during USK event.

Free Kickoff Event at Daniel Smith, Inc on March 3–Join Us!

I am honored to be teaching one of the workshops for beginners. 

For the second year, USk Seattle is taking part in 10x10, the worldwide initiative to offer educational workshops wherever sketchers live. Launched in celebration of Urban Sketchers’ 10th anniversary in 2017, the program brings a variety of courses on urban sketching techniques taught by talented local instructors in their home cities.

All workshops are on Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Registration begins Sunday, March 4, 2018, 9 a.m. The cost is $60 each.
UPDATE: My workshop May 19, 2018 (#8 First Steps into Visual Journaling) is FULL
Wait list taken. Please send your request to usk.seattle@gmail.com , and you will get a response regarding your status on the list. 

A free Program Kickoff Event will be held March 3, 4:30 p.m., at Daniel Smith’s Seattle store. (Although the kickoff is free, registration is required.) Meet the instructors, see their sketchbooks, and learn about the workshops before registering. The kickoff will be followed by an unhosted, informal “drink & draw” at a nearby location, which will be another opportunity to talk with instructors who attend this optional event. Hope to see you there!

Street corner sketch by Michele Cooper 

Please see the Seattle blog for workshop details and registration information. 

A page out of my USK Manchester symposium sketchbook.

Above shows how I used lettering in an expressive headline as an element of the design of the page. Materials used: watercolor, watercolor pencils, black Sharpie Stylo permanent waterproof pen, pencil. I had made these sketches on 32 lb. laser jet paper clipped to a clipboard. Then I cut and folded to fit my Pentalic Aqua Journal, attaching it at one end with permanent glue tape.

Group Reportage from Manchester Symposium, Inside and Out

Since I won't be able to be there for our group reportage Seattle 10x10 USK workshop, June 17, I've decided to organize my sketches and post some thoughts from my experience at Marc Taro Holmes' symposium workshop last July. Finally!
Perhaps this will give those of you considering the Seattle version an idea of how it works. (We do have a few modifications to the procedure, timing, etc. for Seattle, so read the program for details.)

Knowing how much information Marc Holmes imparts in any one workshop, I had a clipboard and stack of laser jet paper as well as my usual sketchbook, pens, clips and other supplies. I'm glad I brought an adhesive tape runner so I could attach one of the card prompts he gave us.

OUTSIDE

We walked over to a plaza across the street from the museum where Marc gave us an overview of the workshop with examples and a demonstration.Then we went out to tackle our first assignment.

We no sooner began our 1 minute, 5 minute and 15 minute sketch drills than it started raining in earnest. We dashed in and out of the small lobby nearby between sketches. We shouldn't have complained. Take a look at the poor "Holme-less" students in another location that morning with Liz Steel!

INSIDE 

The unrelenting rain forced us into the museum, where we met in a top floor room. Marc dealt out two decks of his cards, face down on the table and we all picked one for the first assignment. Then it was down the wooden staircase, card in hand, in search of a subject to sketch.

I found a display case with incredibly detailed hand sewn dolls by Jane Livesy, inspired by "things with antennae". Her pencil sketches, hand stitching and carefully selected fabrics showed a meticulous depth of research into her subject. She inspired me to find things with antennae for the first part of my reportage assignment. The assignment was based on this clipped on card from Holmes' set.
         Butterflies have antennae! So it's down a flight of stairs to capture them. I admit I found it challenging to apply the concept of the prompt and opted for basic overhead views. While running up and down the Victorian staircases, time ran out before I could even get started on the bees.

Today, I've cut down the laser jet paper to fit my Pentalic Aqua Journal and attached it and other ephemera using a permanent adhesive tape runner.

INSIDE OUT

Sharing final results after round 2

It was raining so hard that I made my second sketch looking out a ground floor window at a huge monolith in a rear courtyard. Included in the photo is my prompt from Marc's set of cards, clipped to the board. Here, we are just beginning to share all our results from the group reportage. (Crummy exposure on this photo, though)
THOUGHTS

My Bee Collection Sketch

I found that many of the students needed first round and sharing after to get a grasp of how this group reportage works. I liked the fact that when we shared our sketches, we would see an entire composite of the site, not 15 views of the front of the building, or some other scene that most of us might choose to sketch on our own. The final share in Manchester was awesome! Thanks so much, Marc, for the education and  inspiration. Bravo for keeping everything going despite the weather!

Because bees are such a symbolic icon for Manchester, I really wanted to sketch them while visiting the city. I had to wait for another opportunity and the next day I finally found a small collection of bees in a drawer in the museum's children's activities room.