Art Lesson 21: Sketchbook Flip-Through

Take a look inside my sketchbook

This week, I thought I’d share a flip-through of a sketchbook I finished. This is a Stillman & Birn beta sketchbook, and I used watercolor, colored pencil, ink, and markers.

This is my “around town” sketchbook, which is to say that I take it with me when I’m actually leaving the house to go somewhere to sketch. So there’s lots of drawings around Portland, a few short trips out of town, and you’ll see several spreads from my meet-ups with Portland Urban Sketchers.

Which reminds me…if you’d like to get together and sketch with some like-minded people, look for an urban sketchers group near you. These are relaxed, informal gatherings of people who like to get together and draw the world around them. You can learn a lot from hanging out and sketching with other people and watching what they do. You’ll also get to see the kind of cool gear and art supplies people use. You might also find out about local art workshops, and who knows, you could even make new friends! And if you’re traveling, you’re always welcome to meet up with the group in whatever city you happen to be in. We love it when people join our Portland group from somewhere else in the world.

The international Urban Sketchers organization also hosts an annual symposium somewhere in the world, and they put out a newsletter to let you know about other workshops and happenings. This was all founded by

Gabi Campanario

, who is right here on Substack at

On the Spot

writing about all things urban sketching. His book, The Art of Urban Sketching, is what got me into sketchbooks.

OK, so here’s a look at what I’ve been up to: