Old Montreal and old Santa Fe

After an appointment in Old Montreal, I had a few minutes to sketch before I had to move my parked car. A park bench, flanked by two colourful planters, caught my eye. After I had drawn the planter on the left, and had just started drawing the edge of the bench, a guy in a bright orange t-shirt sauntered over and sat down to catch some of the morning sun. What a gift! I quickly sketched him in and continued moving across the page. By the time I had drawn the other planter he was gone. Drawing time: somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes. Pen: this one. Colour added at home.

I love drawing in cities, and this past May I had so much fun drawing people (and other things) on the plaza in Santa Fe. That’s why I’m so excited to go back there next April with my co-conspirators James Richards, Uma Kelkar and Paul Heaston, with whom I recently taught at the MISA campus on Madeleine Island, Wisconsin.

The Urban Sketching Southwest Retreat is a five-day, sketching all day long type of workshop. You’ll get to spend a full day with each instructor, and there will also be lots of time for socializing with other sketchers, exploring the city and enjoying the regional cuisine (like my favourite green chile salsa). If you’ve never visited Santa Fe, here’s your chance. The city of mostly adobe structures is compact and walkable, with the most remarkable concentration of galleries devoted to art and Southwest culture I’ve ever seen. The dates for this workshop are April 17-23, 2023, and I have a feeling this will sell out quickly. Have a look at the workshop descriptions here.