Reading perspectives

Monday, 25 November 2019

FAQ for Urban Sketchers Reading

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's next?
The group's Facebook events page will list events or the @RdgSketchers twitter account will post about them

We're intending to just list our events on a site - more to follow in the new year.

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?

Do you know of any group who may be interested in doing a one-off urbansketching with us? If so, can you put us in contact?

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.

Sunday, 24 November 2019

Urban Sketchers Reading - roundup and common questions

Urban Sketchers Reading (aka RdgSketchers) have been informally meeting up since July 2016 and became officially recognised as a worldwide chapter of Urban Sketchers in November 2018 with the news in USK coming out in Jan. Happy official birthday to us!

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

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

Throwdown from Dinton Pastures

It was cold - I stayed in the warm cafe but others ventured outside. One of the participants turned out to be the architect of the cafe itself.

Feb 2019- Whitley

Throwdown at the Whitley Community Centre/Museum

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.

Throwdown from our concert rehearsal with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Hexagon

Some of our work displayed at the Hexagon

Check out Mohan's sketch - he drew most of the orchestra - https://www.instagram.com/p/Bu0pU5HAXb-/

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/

A visit to the Cemetary Junction and around

Apr 2019- Allotment

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.

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.

June 2019- RGA painting day, second Royal Philharmonic rehearsal and our first sketching sound walk for Open For Art)

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.

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.

Throwdown from White Building roof garden

Throwdown from Vastern Road Guerrilla Gardens

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.

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.

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.

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

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?

Do you know of any group who may be interested in doing a one-off urbansketching with us? If so, can you put us in contact?

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.

Sunday, 24 March 2019

The Sketchbook Project Vol 14 (finally) ready to post

The SketchbookProject book is finally ready to return to the Brooklyn Art library

Here's the scans of the pages.

This thread of mine documents the process of making this book but as it says at the end, I do like the sketches I made in this and will miss them.

Here's a link to my previous book - https://sketchbookproject.com/library/19441

Sunday, 3 March 2019

RGAFriday - Experiments with gum Arabic and India Ink

I am new to RGAFridays and was intrigued by this week's session with Clare Buchta as it featured gum arabic as a masking fluid with india ink. I've never knowingly played with gum arabic and thought this would be a brilliant opportunity to try it out and learn with others.

We painted with gum arabic (Clare suggested tinting with some watercolour so you can see what you are doing) on to paper that is ok to wash - using fruits etc. as our inspiration. I took an orange half.

We were to paint the bits we wanted to stay white - everything else would stay black. We could use our watercolour brushes, or any mark making implement like bamboo sticks that Clare had given to us.

Once the gum arabic had dried (with the help of a hair dryer), we painted over it using india ink

note: do not use your precious watercolour brushes with india ink - it ruins them.

There were two types of ink at the class -Winsor and Newton which seemed to give a black/almost sepia effect and also, Talens India Ink (brought in by Therese) that seemed to be really, properly black.

We waited for that to dry and then teased the gum arabic off under the tap gently with a brush that was only for the indian ink.

My experiments are below - I used textured watercolour paper, acrylic paper (that has an almost canvas like look, and smooth watercolour paper) - once the gum arabic was washed off, I used watercolours (Joan of Art), soluble wax crayons (Caran d'ache neo II) and some markers.

On textured water colour and lots of gum arabic marks. Realised that I had forgotten to mask out the orange skin.

On acrylic paper done at the same time and so forgot the orange skin.

On smooth water colour - Messed up the marks in the segments but remembered to mask the orange skin

Again, seeing how people had used what they learned was fascinating. Here's one fab example of a pomegranate by Rosemary Harper

I looked up gum arabic section of Ian Sidaway's fantastic classes again in the watercolour course. Here's a link to the behind the scenes bit with him. Then found a few youtube videos about how you can use gum arabic to grlaze, bind, add the watery effect and promptly bought a bottle and put the India ink into the basket for later.

Yet again, the class was inspiring and am looking forward to March 15th's session with Emily Gillmor. As they say on the site: "The cost per session is £6 for members and £7 for guests. An additional small charge is made if any specialised materials are needed or a model is involved. No need to book, just turn up. Everyone Welcome!"

Sunday, 24 February 2019

Going large on an RGA Friday

I've been an affiliate member of the Reading Guild of Artists since I met quite a few of them through the Urban Sketchers Reading group. Their 89th Annual Exhibition at the Reading Museum opens on February 27th 2019. Apart from exhibiting (if you are an exhibiting member), they run events, share opportunities and have various ways of joining in. They also run RGA Fridays which are fortnightly workshops during Autumn and Spring term-times and I went for the first time to attend "Enlargement to Abstraction with Cath Baldwin"

This intrigued me as I don't draw big - the largest being A4 as that's the biggest I'll do for urban sketching. Often my sketches are in tiny sketchbooks or A5/square notebooks that can fit into my handbag or pocket. I imagined this workshop would force me to draw really big but it did much more than that and I've been thinking about the lessons from this workshop since then.

The format

There were three workbenches set up each with different materials - one with flowers and foliage, one with fruit and vegetables (including a pungent onion that had been cut in half), and one with kitchen objects (metals) and I have to admit my heart did sink at this point as I don't really enjoy doing still life exercises as it reminds me of still life at school (and this was also set in a school). I'm glad I stuck it out here though.

We were asked to draw what we saw on A4 sheets of at least two of these workbenches using chalk, charcoal and india ink and concentrating on different ways of mark making to convey texture e.g. using different angles and tools. It was quite interesting to make different marks esp using different brushes and a wooden skewer (both ends) with the black ink. She warned us we were going to rip these drawings up for use in the next part. That intrigued me and I rather looked forward to that.

Stopping and looking at our and other attendees' work was very useful to encourage/inspire us and I know that my second sketch was of more interest to me than the first.

We looked at our drawings and Cath demonstrated the tearing of our sketches. We were asked to focus on interesting marks within our sketches in order to make a collage of the details we found.

collage of torn parts from the initial sketches

Cath then encouraged us to zoom in on a part to enlarge and here's where it got really interesting. She went over why it wasn't simply going to be a magnified thickness to the lines and that we would have to look carefully at the line when enlarged as there would be textures appearing in these e.g. a brush line may seem solid but has the finer details of each fibre when inspected closely. We would have to maybe use different tools to convey the same interesting lines in their larger aspect.

This was unexpected to me but obvious once she said it. She gave us a frame to help us (though Therese did point out to me later I could have just used photos and 'zoomed' in- another obvious lesson).

area I wanted to zoom in on with frame as an aid

We then moved on to A3 pages and started on these details. And this was hard for me but also fascinating. It was correct to call this workshop "Enlargement into Abstraction" as that is what some of our works would end up like.

The largest piece (A3)

The enlargement (L) next to the original collage with frame (R)

Though I was disappointed when I realised we would 'only' enlarge up to A3, this quickly turned to relief because what I learned in the process was invaluable.

At the end of the workshop, I realised, it wasn't simply a matter of projecting on to a larger surface and drawing, as I had imagined (and even done in the past) - in order for the piece to retain its interest at a larger scale, I would have to pay closer attention to the marks that made the initial sketch interesting (including the negative spaces in the brush marks). This could even mean using different tools and techniques than the ones used in the initial sketch. Something my mind is still mulling over.

Many thanks to Cath and RGA Friday for this enlightening workshop.

Saturday, 22 December 2018

Drawing in 2018

It's been a very long year (though still with twelve months in it) - here's a selection of sketches and memories from 2018.

January
A collage at the Reading Museum for a Urban Sketchers Reading meetup. It turns out I didn't sketch that much in January so a regular meetup helps.

February
A colleague had told us about the snowdrops at Welford Park so we decided to head out there. It was gorgeous. I'd just started reading a book by Eric Sloane who did "colour drawings in black and white" so I was inspired to try to draw in black in white. If you get the chance, go to see the snowdrops there.

But I couldn't resist using colour in February because I was given a JoanOfArt sketching tin and some flowers and had bought a gorgeous Emma Bradbury vase.

Snoozing on the train (esp in the mornings) is so relatable (at least for me)

March

March was when it was OneWeek100People challenge. Despite saying I wouldn't do it again after last year, I got inspired by James Richards and decided to give it another go. I even managed to use a rapid sketch/self-portrait (a reflection in the train window) to use as my twitter profile photo.

Being as it was March, we got snow so I sketched the scene during one lunchtime.

Snow also impacted the Smart City Challenge in Reading where I was asked to live sketch
(the first event where someone had requested me to sketch)

Thanks to the lovely Urban Sketchers Reading group, I found about a course running in Wokingham with Pat Southern Pearce and decided to attend an actual workshop IRL. She introduced us to using wax crayons and when I got home I tried out some of her techniques to draw the Blade.

April
I was getting a bit anxious about trying to finish the SketchbookProject in time in April (an extended deadline!). I swore to my husband that I wouldn't do this again as he pointed out I didn't actually seem to enjoy the process. And then I bought two sketchbooks for this year - one for him (!!) and one for me (both, as yet unopened) so we can share the pain together. Hubby, when you're reading this I want you to know that you're welcome.

Late April was very sad as we lost the wonderful @declarationball who introduced us to the Whitley Pump and so much more about Reading besides. Here's a sketch at Vel which he had reviewed.

May
A couple of sketches from Cup in St Mary's Butts using the tricky KarstStone paper.

June
June sketches include a lovely battered doorway in London Street Reading .

We visited Bletchley park again after it got saved thanks to Dr Sue Black. It's amazing and you should also go.

July
The Abbey Gateway re-opened and we sketched there for Jelly's Open for Art weekend.

James Richards was doing a course and a sketchcrawl in Oxford and I decided to go along in person (his online course is pretty awesome and obviously cheaper - currently 17 quid). Oxford has many vintage, happy memories for me as well as only being a short hop on the train from Reading (apart from this particular weekend where there was a rail replacement service from Didcot). This scene doesn't convey the flies, smells and ever-present chance of being mugged when I went out into an alleyway for one of the exercises. I love how sketches are triggers for memories. All that said, it was an intense but fun course and I saw Oxford differently as this time it didn't include friends, family and places away from the crowds.

Coffee - I love sketching the coffee over breakfast.

I also enjoy capturing people and sketching people who are at work - I sketched a lady at the Karting place in Reading.

August

WhitleyPump had asked me to sketch some Whitley/Redlands/Katesgrove sketches/thumbnails for them. I went walking about and sketching one day. This was just the right moment in Cintra Park. For the rest, check out the What's On pages every week.

They had also asked me to live sketch a meeting which was a terrifying but wonderful learning experience.

September

Folding towels at Thames Lido. I can't believe she's 3 feet tall, though. We got there early for a lovely Sitelines production by Laura Mugridge and I did a quick sketch.

October

It was Inktober and the first I'd managed to do most of! I decided to really focus on ink style and also tried to make most pages not look out of place in a graphic novel - so I really enjoyed looking through the sketchbook I made of it. Here's a couple of my favourites.

The amazing Clays had requested a sketch to announce their Xmas menu and I did one for them. As I type there's a doggy bag in the fridge from a visit where we ordered with our eyes instead of our heads. It won't go to waste.

November

It is lovely being asked for illustrations to accompany pieces. WhitleyPump asked for one to go with their ode to old pubs. Read the poem by the Anonymous Bard.