Earlier in the month I gave a talk and demo to the Castle Hill Art Society on Travel sketching. Needless to say, I had a ball! I love sharing ideas about how I manage to fill sketchbook after sketchbook when I am travelling and to show people that there are so many options and opportunities to sketch when you are travelling. BTW it is ‘travel’ sketching because you don’t need to leave home to do this – it is an attitude to your daily life.

You just have to THINK about it… and not expect to produce a completed masterpiece painting each time! Successful travel sketching is all in the mind – you have to think and plan beforehand, you must be thinking about sketching while you are travelling and you must make snap decisions about how and what you want to record on your page.

All this and more was explained in my talk that I gave! A missing cable meant the camera was used for the slideshow (and sketchbooks as supports!)

I showed them my kit, the all important bag and explained my 30 sec challenge: “can you get your sketchbook and pen out in 30 secs? if it is in the bottom of your bag it will never be used!”
Lots of funny expressions captured by the camera (thanks Robyn for taking these photos)

My demo was a crazy attempt at pretending I was in Rome drawing a baroque facade while my travelling companion went to buy some gelato.

This is the demo I did on the night using watercolour pencils and talking non-stop while I was doing it.

I also had done two other examples earlier in the day to show different techniques. Here was an ink version that I did – it took 5minutes

And then I added very loose watercolour over the top. I much prefer to work at a calmer pace than this frenetic splashing of paint, but if I was travelling I would prefer to have a go and sketch something rather than have an empty page and wish I had sketched that church.

And finally here is another version done at home, playing with line and colour and being more selective as to subject matter.

I shared lots of tips and examples of how I sketched in crazy situations and also showed them how I often walk the streets with my sketchbooks open… I never have time to wait for the paint to dry!

It was a great night and I am very excited that I will soon announce my first 3-day travel sketching workshop in Launceston. Details will be included in my March newsletter due out on 3 March. Subscribe below.

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