The Urban Sketching Handbook Spotlight on Nature

Tips and Techniques for Drawing and Painting Nature on Location

Virginia Hein, Gail L. Wong

• Publisher: Quarry Books
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9780760374559
• eBook ISBN: 9780760374566
• Topic: Kunst
• Subtopic: Kunst Allgemein

Learn how to make the most of nature in on-location drawings and paintings with artists and Urban Sketcher educators Gail L. Wong and Virginia Hein.

In The Urban Sketching Handbook Spotlight on Nature, Gail and Virginia share their secrets for getting beyond basic greenery. Presenting a variety of approaches, including detailed step-by-step examples and quick, insightful tips, this book explains and clarifies important fundamentals for composition and color and inspires unique treatments and points of view.

Whatever your skill level, you can bring nature to life on the page for urban parks as well as expansive landscapes with The Urban Sketching Handbook: Spotlight on Nature.

The Urban Sketching Handbook series offers artists expert instruction on creative techniques, on-location tips and advice, and an abundance of visual inspiration. These handy references come in a compact, easy-to-carry format—perfect to toss in your backpack or artist’s tote.

GAIL L. WONG

Shrine, Bangkok, Thailand

8" × 5" | 20.3 x 12.7 cm; ink and watercolor.

KEY I

HOW WE SEE NATURE

Urban sketching is all about visual storytelling. How we see nature, how important it is to our story, and where we focus our attention, shape nature’s role in a sketch.

We can view nature in the broad expanse of a panorama or in the microcosm of a single leaf, flower, or acorn. We can also see nature from different and unusual points of view, from high on a hill or down in the weeds. These approaches spotlight nature in different ways.

This key explores the variety of ways you can use nature to compose your story and your sketch.

VIRGINIA HEIN

Hidden Valley Tower, Joshua Tree National Park, California, USA

12¼" × 9" | 31.1 x 22.9 cm; pencil and watercolor.

This towering rock, popular with climbers, dramatically juts above surrounding boulders against a vivid desert sky.

Roles Nature Plays in a Sketch

Nature can be the main character, the setting, or create a frame in your composition. What role it plays is up to you.

The giant century plant grabbed Virginia’s attention to become the main character here, with the palms receding into the background of this scene. Well-known in its native Southern California, this succulent is the focal point of the sketch.

VIRGINIA HEIN

Santa Monica Palisades, Santa Monica, California, USA

16" × 12" | 40.6 x 30.5 cm; pencil and watercolor.

Where is your story taking place? The setting creates the context of the story you want to tell and establishes where an event is taking place, as seen in Gail’s sketch.

GAIL L. WONG

Bellevue Invitational, Bellevue, Washington, USA

5" × 8" | 12.7 cm x 20.3 cm; ink and watercolor.

Framing a view creates a sense of depth, a hereness and thereness. Duane uses the tree very effectively as a framing device to focus our attention on the view of this historic church.

DUANE BLOSSOM

On the Turquoise Trail, Cerrillos, New Mexico, USA

12" × 9" | 30.5 × 23 cm; ink and watercolor.

The Main Character

How do we make an element of nature the focus and main character in a sketch? These two sketches show us different approaches to creating a focus in a sketch and highlighting the main character.

VIRGINIA HEIN

The Library Tree: Moreton Bay Fig, South Pasadena, California, USA

23" × 8¼" | 58.4 × 20.9 cm; pencil and watercolor.

Although Virginia’s sketch has many elements, the big Moreton Bay fig tree is the main character. As a town landmark, it serves as a meeting place on a prominent corner. Placi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Keys
• Gallery
• Challenges
• Contributors
• Acknowledgments
• About the Authors
• Dedication
• About This Series
• Copyright