Let the Sketching Adventures Begin...

One of the very best things about Urban Sketchers is being a part of a world-wide community of people who like to sketch as much (or even more) than I do.  As luck would have it, my travels in Italy this summer happen to overlap with the amazing Montreal sketcher Marc Taro Holmes and his wife Laurel.  We all sketched together as part of a group last summer in Brazil after the Paraty symposium and enjoyed it so much, we will also sketch together as part of a group in Cambodia after this year's Singapore symposium. Someone pinch me, this is all pretty amazing!

I am now spending a few days sketching in Venice with my husband and Marc and Laurel. Marc just finished teaching his workshop in Cortona, and I will start teaching my workshop in Civita di Bagnoregio this week.  

It always takes a few days to warm up and find the right feel in a new place, but here are some starting sketches on location for the trips this summer...

If you want to follow these sketching adventures, I invite you to check out my blog and flickr page too.  Happy summer sketching, all!

Portal to another summer adventure...

Wow...two weeks from this moment, I'll be wedged into a coach seat on a plane...heading to Rome.

With the Civita Institute's Astra Zarina fellowship, I'll be spending 2 months in the teeny Etruscan/Roman/Medieval/Renaissance (and it pretty much stops there) hill town of Civita di Bagnoregio ITALY, literally following the footsteps of other Seattle sketchers like Anita Lehmann and Dave Boyd who were there last summer.  The project:  to create an illustrated walking guide to the town, as tons of tourists show up and quickly walk from one end to the other, never knowing that they are in a really amazing, historic place.

I'll also be teaching the second annual DRAW CIVITA-- 5 day sketching workshop in July (and yes, there will be a DRAW CIVITA 2015)...
 http://www.stephaniebower.com/DRAW_CIVITA_2014Info.pdf  as well as joining the Urban Sketchers in Rome for sketchcrawls.  It will be great to see the Good Bones 2 sketchers Ben and Francesca who work for Rick Steves and are based in Rome--they are really good, brand new sketchers!  The plan is to also visit a few of the gardens that predate those I studied in France last year, the Villa Lante and Villa d'Este...lots of perspective there...

Then in late August, I'll board a plane again to join the Urban Sketchers community at the symposium in Brazil to teach a workshop called "180 Degrees", which will include lots of how-to information on basic perspective. I love these wide angle views, as they really put you in the space!  And if Paraty is anything like Barcelona last year, it will be amazing--so very, very well organized, an incredibly fun opportunity for any and all sketchers.

Look for a few posts to the Seattle Urban Sketchers blog, but if you are interested in following the daily posts, go to:
blog: www.stephaniebower.blogspot.com
flickr:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/83075812@N07/
or through Google+ (and I have no idea how to post a link to that site...)

It appears that lightening can strike the same place twice, I am so very, very grateful for these utterly amazing opportunities and adventures. My gosh, it honestly seems too good to be true.

180 degree view of Civita's Piazza in front of the Chiesa San Donato 2013

180 degree view of the Interior of Civita's Chiesa San Donato 2013

Walking through this portal into Civita is like entering a time machine,
as it throws you back many hundreds of years...and a
spell comes over you. It is such an amazing ancient place, perched
like an island high above the valley below.

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!

2010 Syracuse, Italy, Temple of Apollo

Hello to all of you! I missed sketching with you at Pioneer Square. It's great to be able to see the drawings that have been uploaded. They look wonderful and make Seattle look so charming. My husband and I are in Sicily now and I'm including my Sketchcrawl drawing of the Temple of Apollo in Syracuse. It is surrounded by a major square where life continues to swirl around. The pillars are the most original part, others having been modified by whatever power was current. In the sun, the pillars glow with soft golden light.