Drawing at Summer Festivals
Capture your summer fun
I’m currently offering free life coaching sessions around sketching. These sessions aim to unleash more flow, ease, and mindfulness in your creative life and career. I would love an introduction to someone you know who is looking for this:
Apologies on the long gap between newsletters. Between Fourth of July and my birthday at the beginning of July my days have been filled with celebrations recently. This also seemed like an appropriate day to get off a newsletter as today is the 2-year anniversary of Sketchy Traveler😊 Thanks to everyone who has been following along on this adventure. It has been so exciting to see that so many people are interested in how to begin drawing and building community.
With so much celebration in the air it seemed like a perfect day to talk about drawing at festivals and celebrations. An advantage of summer in the city is that every weekend seems to feature some sort of festival or event, from music festivals to fairs and rodeos to special interest events.
Timed Drawing and Figure Drawing
Festivals and parades are great opportunities to practice figure drawing and timed drawing. People are in constant motion, and you often have only a brief moment to capture them. This removes the temptation to keep drawing after a timer has wrung. This also helps to keep us from thinking about what some looks like and capturing how it actual looks. Keep it simple and don’t get to caught up in details.
Parades in particular are a great place to practice timed figure drawing. In Portland, OR there are multiple parades for the Rose Festival throughout May and June for example, culminating in the Rose Day Parade in June. Last year I had a chance to drawing at the parade in the St. John’s neighborhood and capture clowns, Rosarians and the local Representative.
Finding Your Sketchbook
The wonderful thing about drawing at markets and festivals is that there are plenty of opportunities to take a break from drawing and stretch your legs and back. These summertime events are inevitably full of vendors selling a wide range of arts, crafts, and food. While I certainly enjoy a festival snack, one of my favorite things to find at markets are sketchbooks. You can often find some unique and one-of-a-kind sketchbooks at summertime markets.
One of my favorite recent notebooks came from Sarah O’Grady at the Eugene, OR Saturday Market. The compact little sketch book was a perfect size for 5-minute watercolor sketches and had a tough cover that stood up to being constantly justled about in my drawing bag.
Meeting a Drawing Friend
Markets and festivals can also be a great place to meet artists and craft people. People are there to talk about their work and share their crafts, so this is the perfect space to be curious and meet people. A good place to start is doing an initial walk through of the market with an eye for things that resonate with you. Then take a moment over a drink or food to consider what in the market is really calling to you. Return to that booth or spot and remain open to the conversation or exchange that you experience.
Logan’s Updates
Next week I am heading to SketcherFest in Edmonds, Washington. Looking forward to seeing other sketchers, artists and people excited by building urban communities. It would be great to meet or say hi if you are in the area. I will also be drawing around Seattle next week.
If you are in Corvallis next week, the Corvallis Art Walk is next Thursday from 4pm to 8pm with numerous stops in downtown Corvallis. In the Core Gallery, we are featuring landscape paintings by Greg Larson. A great opportunity to see some art, go walking and practice drawing.
We are always looking for people to feature in the Core Gallery. Let me know if you are in the Corvallis area and interested in showing your work in a beginner-friendly gallery space.
Thanks for Reading
It is an honor to have some many people interested in learning more about art, drawing in public and building community. Reading only takes us so far on the journey to building thriving practices and communities.
What is a next step you could take after reading this email today?
