City Shapes 10x10 Workshop with Sue Heston

I know fall is a busy time, but there are still a few workshops coming up in the Seattle Urban Sketchers Fall 10x10 series. Click on the "10x10" tab at the top of the page for the full list and registration details. Meanwhile, here some sketches I've done and a little description of the workshop I will be teaching on November 3!
I like to think of an urban scene as a jigsaw puzzle of interesting and interlocking shapes. What grabs my attention is not always predictable. It could be an unusual shadow shape, or an irregular glimpse of sky between buildings. In this workshop, we will look at ways to use the shapes of the city to create interesting and effective compositions. The class does not require any particular level of skill or knowledge, but you should have some prior experience sketching and drawing. The suggested materials will allow students to use drawing tools they are familiar with.
The class will meet in the lobby of the US Bank building in downtown Seattle. But, if the weather looks promising, we may move a block east to the Convention Center which has terrific views of downtown Seattle and access to the very sketchable Freeway Park.

Dancing with KK and Melanie

My head is still exploding from a fantastic weekend learning from Ch'ng Kiah Kiean and Melanie Reim in the Dancing Lines USk workshop! I published full reports on the workshop on my personal blog (Part 1: KK; Part 2: Melanie). Rather than repeat them here, I just wanted to share a few photos and express my thanks to Urban Sketchers Seattle for bringing KK and Melanie to us. It was like having a mini symposium right in our own backyard! Many thanks, especially, to Gail and Jane for their months of hard work in making the workshop possible.

KK carving twigs

KK demo-ing his tools

KK's demo at the Seattle Center

Melanie at the Seattle Center

Day 1 finale: KK and Melanie sketch Chihuly flowers simultaneously!

KK's demo at the Pike Place Market

Final throwdown at the Market

Good Sketches start with Good Bones...

This past weekend was another 
Good Bones workshop at Seattle's iconic Pike Place Market.  The weather was so unusually warm and sunny that the market was just packed, and it was hard to find places to sketch.  But this group of intrepid sketchers was GREAT, and they weren't daunted!  If you can sketch in the crowds of Pike Place Market, you can sketch anywhere pretty fearlessly!

Friday covered basic perspective, Saturday was basic watercolor for sketchers, and Sunday, about half the folks showed up to join a large crowd of Seattle Urban Sketchers at the Starbuck's new Roastery in Capitol Hill.  

Thanks to Jane and Kate for setting up the USk date to allow the workshop folks to participate too...it was amazing to see everyone's sketches.

Thanks to Pentalic and Bee Papers for sponsoring this workshop by providing TWO wonderful sketchbooks for everyone!  They are the same sketchbooks that I love and use, thanks so much to Joe at Pentalic in nearby Oregon for these wonderful books!

Thanks so much to all those who participated in this past weekend's workshop.  I hope you'll continue to sketch, and I hope we'll see each other at future USk sketchcrawls!

March 20-22 is the next Good Bones workshop that will cover Advanced Perspective-- two+ point perspective, slopes, and more.  There are three open spots in that workshop, so please contact me if you are interested!

Wrapping up Good Bones

Good Bones 2 USk workshop just ended this past Sunday by joining the Seattle Urban Sketchers in the International District.  Thanks to all who attended the workshop, it was a great group who came from Seattle and environs, California, Colorado, Oregon, and even as far away as Kentucky!  

The first day was perspective basics, and by mid-morning, everyone had that deer-in-the-headlights look, but by the end of the day, they started to get it.  The next day was watercolor basics, using a very limited 3-color palette to add color to their sketches.  After a few demos, it was off to the very busy Pike Place Market to put the classroom knowledge into practice--and they got great results!  A few people said they were too intimidated to sketch in public, but given the crowds of onlookers and people taking our photos, I'd say they've gotten over that fear.

On Sunday, most of the class was able to join the Seattle Urban Sketchers (thanks all for including us!), and I have to say, the results were amazing--their sketches were GREAT, even those who had never, yes, never sketched before!!  

Both workshops were a wonderful experience, thanks to all who participated.
Thanks also to Urban Sketchers for this opportunity, to the makers of Pentalic and Aquabee journals for their generous support, and to Daniel Smith for their watercolor sample cards.

Below are a few photos from the Good Bones 2 workshop--I hope some of the participants from both Good Bones and Good Bones 2 will write comments and post their sketches to the Seattle USk flickr page.

Good Bones 2 Workshop participants (minus Carol)

Sketching midst the market crowds.

Watercolor demo of a fruit stand at Pike Place Market.

Seattle's King Street Station with Good Bones 2

Thanks to the Seattle Urban Sketchers for welcoming the Good Bones 2 USk workshop folks on Sunday morning.  It was so great to see the workshop group integrate what they learned into their own sketching, even those who had never sketched before were turning out amazing drawings!!!

I sat more or less dead center for this view, debating whether or not to put the sketchbook's seam in the middle of the space.  But the station is so classical and symmetrical, I decided to respect it's formality and center the image.  The station looked great, by the way, they did a wonderful job on the renovation.  The sketch looked a little washed out with the light pencil and low light in the station.

Sketching Workshop in Italy~~

The details have been finalized and it's official--I'm so fortunate to partner with NIAUSI to teach a 5 day architectural sketching workshop in the incredible, ancient hill town of Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy next summer!

...small groups, lots of one-on-one instruction, focus on thoroughly understanding and using perspective, intro to watercolor, great food, use of the beautiful fully-restored and furnished NIAUSI apartments, Etruscan caves and Roman stone, the glorious colors of Italy in the summer, and one of the most dramatic settings on the planet...so inspiring!

For more information, go to www.stephaniebower.com or drop me an email. Ciao!!!

Architectural Sketching Workshop in Civita, Italy July 5-10

Sketching in Civita di Bagnoregio!

Hi Sketchers,

Some of you may know that I have been an architect and architectural illustrator for 25 years both in Seattle and New York City.  I have also been teaching perspective sketching for most of that 25 years--for a decade at Parsons in New York, briefly here at UW, and for a number of years at Cornish College of the Arts, as well as workshops directly to architectural firms. I also recently won a fellowship to France and will be in Paris for 3 months, sketching and painting architecture and landscape every day!

Also this summer, I will be teaching an architectural perspective sketching workshop in the amazing town of Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy...an ancient pedestrian-only hill town about 60 miles north of Rome.  Planned together with NIAUSI, the Northwest Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in Italy (the same folks who have awarded fellowships to Seattle Urban Sketchers Dave Boyd and Anita Lehmann), we will have the opportunity to stay in the organization's beautifully restored, stone facilities in Civita.

The workshop promises to be amazing, and if you have ever wanted to really LEARN perspective, this is your opportunity! We will be sketching the charming streets, piazzas and buildings of Civita, the farmer's market in Bagnoregio, the hills and orchards in the valley below, dining al fresco in the garden, and more.  We'll cover perspective, pencil and pen sketching, and watercolor (I recently qualified to become a signature member of the Northwest Watercolor Society).  And because this is the first year we are offering this event, it will be fairly short, very reasonably priced, and the group will be very small, 5-7 people with lots of one-on-one instruction.

If you'd like more information on me and my work, please go to www.stephaniebower.com and click on the links.

For info on the Civita Workshop including itinerary and costs, go to www.stephaniebower.com and click on Civita Workshop.
You can also contact me directly at stbower@comcast.net

For more information on the beautiful NIAUSI facilities in Italy, go to www.niausi.org

To see what Rick Steves says about Civita, http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/italy/civitabd.htm

Be sure to sign up soon!!  Space is limited!