Urban Sketchers Symposium 2019 in Amsterdam!!!

Happy New Year!!!

And what a great year it will be! 

Just announced, this year will be the 10th Annual global Urban Sketchers Symposium. It's an amazing event to attend, as there is sketching going on 24/7, talented people from around the world to meet and sketch with, and of course the opportunity to sketch in beautiful Amsterdam.

I am truly honored and so thrilled to be teaching at this year's event, a workshop called "Towers are like Wedding Cakes and other "ah-ha" moments"! I'll be sharing some of my favorite sketching tips... 

"did you know that towers are like wedding cakes, stairs are like wedges of cheese, and arches are definitely not horseshoes? Some of my favorite and fun sketching “ah-ha” moments have to do with relating architecture in perspective to other things we see and experience every day. I often use these concepts when teaching, as these metaphors can help us to demystify some of the complex forms we see in order to understand and draw them better...and it will be easier and more fun!"

To review info about the symposium and the line up of workshop, go to: 
Symposium Info Here

Registration for the symposium opens up February 2. Set up your account at Eventbrite now, then be ready. Set your alarm and register the second online registration opens!
Fingers crossed!


In addition to the symposium, there is so much going on... an insane amount of day job illustration work, nights and weekends spent working on a new book to come out in the Fall (yay!), workshops in Spain in May (spots are still available in Session One), Draw Civita Workshop in June (full, but there is always next year)...whew.

Here is wishing everyone a wonderful, creative, happy and healthy 2019! CHEERS!

(sketch at the top is The Ridderzaal and Binnenhof in Den Haag, The Netherlands. Sketched while sharing a bench with USk Den Haag member Marlene Dambrink. What a great afternoon it was!)

Workshop March 4-5-6, a few spots still open!

I do love teaching sketching and feel I'm on something of a mission to teach perspective...as so many people are afraid of it, but really it is SO EASY when you know what to look for!

To that end, I am teaching two workshops here in Seattle. The May workshop promoted through Urban Sketchers is full with a short waiting list, but virtually the same workshop March 4-5-6 is wide open!  So if you are interested, please let me know ASAP! A percentage of your tuition for both workshops will go to UrbanSketchers.org.

The Good Bones workshop teaches one day of perspective basics (you'll learn how to start a sketch, the first lines to put on your paper in three simple steps) and a second day of watercolor basics.  

In the morning, we meet in a classroom at the famous Pike Place Market, and in the afternoon, we apply what we learned by sketching out in the Market!  It seems to work really well.
The third day is technically optional, but it's a great thing to do as it's the day where the perspective linework and the watercolor come together when we sketch at the lovely King Street train station in the International District here in Seattle. Then, we can go for lunch at Uwajimaya!

Cost of the workshop is $200--and it looks like I'm buying everyone my favorite sketchbook, the Pentalic Aqua Journal...a party favor!

If you are interested in joining the workshop, please contact me asap at stbower@comcast.net.

And I will be teaching in Italy this summer (that workshop is full) and in Manchester at the USk symposium, a workshop called "Soaring Spaces" that encourages you to Look Up!! Symposium workshops should be posted very soon...

THANK YOU!!