It's been a fun few years and we've got some more exciting things in the pipeline next year.
We thought we'd round up our year and also answer a few questions you may have about joining or collaborating with our group.
First the basics: common terminology & principles
We follow the urban sketching manifesto guidelines - basically to meet and draw live on location and share our work. Our events are free to attend and inclusive.
We meet regularly (at least once a month) for a few hours and refer to these as sketchmeets
Sketchmeets usually have a meeting point where we say hello, a suggested trail/meeting points where we shall be, and an agreed meeting point and time at the end for a throwdown.
A throwdown is where we put all sketches and take a photo of the lot to share online but also to speak to each other about what we have drawn, noticed and enjoyed - there may be coffee or tea at this point at the location we do the throwdown.
What counts as an urban sketch? Here's a handy video helping you determine if your sketch is an urbansketch (remember it needs to be drawn on location and show a sense of the place - it doesn't have to be a famous location or even urban).
What to expect if you're new?
It's perfectly normal to be nervous when you first join a motley crew of urban sketchers. We are friendly. We meet up at the start and then let you go and sketch and come back for the throwdown which is the most fun bit. That's when you realise everyone draws differently and you can share tips. It's informal and friendly and welcoming to all. Most of all it allows you to just sketch and record a time and place in your own style and share it with others. If you feel you can't draw or are scared of doing so in public - rest assured, we all did and this setting does you good.
Sometimes people sketch together but more often, they sketch in the knowledge that another sketcher is nearby.
You can also get to know Reading (and the surrounds) in a new way thanks to our collaborations with events and people in Reading. This helps us celebrate Reading in a different way.
Usually we have our events on a Sat or Sun morning and there tend to be 5-10 people max
We've also started doing some weekday or evening events and will consider how manageable this is.
Equipment? What should I bring?
Bring your own materials/media. A simple pen and paper should be enough to get you started or you can you apps on your phone/tablet to sketch digitally. Android has Autodesk Sketchbook and iOS has Procreate and these are both very popular but there are others.
I personally bring a spare set of paper and don't mind if you want to try some of my materials with permission.
Children - can they join?
Only if accompanied by their responsible adult who will look after them and if the venue allows for it. Our sketchmeets are informal.
What we did during our first official year?
This year was mostly discovering and collaborating with events and people in central Reading. In the past we have been to Henley, Wokingham, Southlake and intend to explore more next year.
Nov 2018 - Museum of English Rural Life - aka MERL
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| Throwdown from MERL |
Here's a writeup with less blurry photos of Nicola's experience of the day
Dec 2018- Riverside Reading
SilentMoonStudios took pictures of the throwdown and Carolyn posted a gorgeous sketch of the riverside where she was trying to dodge hundreds of Santa's running - we're aiming to embrace the fact this December.
Jan 2019- Dinton Pastures
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| Throwdown from Dinton Pastures |
Feb 2019- Whitley
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| Throwdown at the Whitley Community Centre/Museum |
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| Throwdown at the Whitley Growallot Meavy Gardens |
We sketched in and around Whtiley Community Museum and the community allotment - this post in Whitley Pump describes the day.
Mar 2019 - Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in rehearsal plus Cemetery Junction
One of our members suggested sketching at rehearsals - we've been extremely lucky as Jelly put us in touch with people who could help us set these up.
Did you know the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is resident at Reading's Hexagon? They invited us to two of their rehearsals last year. We all sat quietly in the balcony and sketched. Rehearsals are great insights into how a concert comes together. At the second time, the Hexagon put some of our sketches on display in the bar so that the audience and orchestra could see these close up. We all felt extremely lucky.
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| Throwdown from our concert rehearsal with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Hexagon |
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| Some of our work displayed at the Hexagon |
Cemetery Junction is actually quite lovely to walk around - some of the sketchers also wanted to sketch the surrounding area as there are quite a few landmarks including the Stained glass shop and Palmer Park nearby.
Some examples: https://www.instagram.com/p/BvZjyVagP-E/ and https://www.instagram.com/p/BvZjRKLAqwA/ and here's a post by Liz near Palmer Park https://www.instagram.com/p/BvZH96aAIxk/
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| A visit to the Cemetary Junction and around |
Apr 2019- Allotment
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| Another visit to Meavy Gardens Allotment |
May 2019 - Reading Farmers' Market
A few people didn't know we have our own Reading Farmers' Market at Great Knollys Street.
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| Throwdown from the Farmer's market |
One of our artists Thérèse enjoyed her time so much she went back several times, and her work got commissioned by the market folks as well as exhibited in her joint exhibition at Blake's Lock in the summer.
The Reading Guild of Arts hold Summer painting days - we were invited to join in so some of our members attended. It's a wonderful opportunity to meet other plein air artists.
We also decided to collaborate with Richard Bentley again and try out sound sketching - drawing a sense of place and sound and pushing us to look/hear in a different way. Initially, we were looking for quiet places but our meeting point was during a large concert in Forbury Gardens - we went to a church during a wedding rehearsal and to the Reading Museum during a time that they were clearing up from an event so there were LOTS of sounds.
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| Sound sketching - adding an additional sense to our sketches |
We also sketched again at the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra rehearsal at the Hexagon.
July 2019- Open for art urbansketching (White Building roof gardens and Guerrilla Gardening) and another soundwalk
July is the month we celebrated 3 years of urban sketching in Reading.
We were lucky enough to gain access to the roof garden on the White Building again and then visit a totally different garden space on Vastern Road created by the Guerrilla Gardeners Reading (this town has so much to offer us) and we did another soundwalk, this time by the lock, weir and View Island.
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| Throwdown from White Building roof garden |
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| Throwdown from Vastern Road Guerrilla Gardens |
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| Throwdown from Soundwalk by Reading lock and Caversham |
Aug 2019- RGA summer painting day (Harris garden)
Sept 2019 - Portrait party and Riverside museum and Silence Abscnce exhibition
We had our own portrait party and intend to do another next year. What's that you ask?
Well, it was inspired by https://dannygregorysblog.com/2019/02/05/how-to-party/ and here's a description of our own smaller event https://neschof.com/2019/09/07/portrait-party/
We also went to the Riverside Museum at Blake's Lock and sketched here.
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| Views from the Riverside Museum |
Some of our sketchers took part in the Silence.Absence exhibition as part of the Thames Festival and our sound walk sketches were part of it.
Jelly chose me to represent USK Reading artists at Haslams in September.
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| Urban Sketchers Reading represented by Huma Jehan at Jelly/Haslam |
Oct 2019- Sketching at Reading museum/BaFM/Aldworth Philharmonic Orchestra rehearsal
We had a wonderful opportunity to sketch during the British Association of Friends of Museums conference organised by Friends of Reading Museum and sketched at the Reading Museum at the same time. Nicola wrote about her experience sketching at the conference.
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| Throwdown from BaFM conference and Reading Museum |
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| Throwdown from BaFM conference and Reading Museum |
Some of us sketched the Reading Gaol Hug and we were lucky enough to sketch the Aldworth Philharmonic Orchestra - this was up close for our sketchers and a really fascinating insight.
What's next?
The group's Facebook events page will list events or the @RdgSketchers twitter account will post about them
Some dates for your diary but you're best off checking our facebook or twitter feeds for up to date info.
Dec - Sun Dec 8th 10:30-12:30 - In town centre taking in some of Santa run.
Jan - date and location tbc - Portrait party (date tbc)
Feb - Sun Fev 9th 10:30-12:30- In and around MERL. Meet at MERL cafe.
Mar - Sat Mar 14th 10:30-12:30- Henley- details tbc.
June - 12-14 USK UK chapters - UK chapters gathering in Leeds to sketch there. Meet other sketchers from other UK chapters. Details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2381467252167408/
We're excited about more rehearsal sketching, a collaboration with RLab (Reading Hackspace) for (laser) etching our sketches, hosting a workshop by a USK trainer and are also hopeful about getting a community grant.
We're thinking of having our own exhibition/drop-in day about urban sketching in Reading -we're proud of our years individually and collectively recording Reading and the surrounds and excited that we can add to Reading's heritage.
How to help us organise/collaborate
If you have an idea re great locations in and around Reading then do let us know so maybe we can organise together.
Things we ask about/consider:
- Is there somewhere sheltered in case of bad weather we could congregate?
- What is the accessibility of these locations?
- Are there loos nearby or at the location?
- Is the place open at the time that suits us?
- Is there somewhere we can grab a warm or cold drink if need be?
- Is there a limit to the number of people who can attend?
- Are there any rules imposed by the location/event?
- What's the policy re accompanied children attending?
Common questions for folks partnering with us?
All of the above plus
- Is there a limit to the number of people who can attend?
- Are there any rules imposed by the location/event? (e.g. do we have to be quiet? can we walk in and out?)
- Would you encourage people in your group to join in? We love it when people do.
Can you post our photos? How do you share the Reading Sketchers' images?
I've put my own photos of the throwdown in this post so have given myself permission.
All content posted under the banner of Reading Sketchers was created by individual artists who each retain copyright and control of their images (artwork and photographs). Retweeting or posting links is the best way to share Reading Sketchers' work as this maintains the original context and credit to artists. Before using images in any other way (downloading, posting directly to your social media or website, etc.) you should contact the specific individual artist of the image to obtain permission and agree how they will be credited. If you're not sure who owns the copyright for a particular image you want to use, please do ask.
Hashtags to look for and use
#uskreading , #usk, #urbansketching, #urbansketchers alongside #rdguk
Accounts to look for
twitter: https://twitter.com/RdgSketchers
fb - https://www.facebook.com/groups/590208911160549/
instagram - https://www.instagram.com/RdgSketchers/
Come join us and explore Reading in a new way.