Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Meet the Sketchers: Laurie Wigham

I've been meaning to post something here for the last year, but could never figure out what to write for an introduction. However I just wrote one for the flickr USK group, so I'll use that here too.

After several decades doing illustration on a computer, I rediscovered sketching 4 years ago at one of John Muir Laws' workshops in the Sierra. Trying to keep it going back in the city, I formulated a "5 Minute Rule" for myself: whenever I'm sitting still for more than 5 minutes with nothing to do, I have to pull out my sketchbook and draw whatever's in front of me.

That's been good, but I found myself wanting to go on sketching expeditions with other people, so about 18 months ago I set up a Meetup group and picked what seemed like a good name to describe what I wanted to do: Urban Sketchers. When I discovered there already was an Urban Sketchers organization, I polled the membership for a new name and we ended up with "SF Sketchers".

We go out almost every weekend, usually in San Francisco but sometimes venturing farther afield in the Bay Area, and the group continues to grow rapidly. I think there are a lot of other people out there like me who are longing to get away from their computers and reconnect with the physical world through art. The group has also been a great way for me to make new friends and connect with other artists around the Bay Area--including the real Urban Sketchers group. I look forward to posting here more often.

- Laurie Wigham

1 comment:

  1. where are we meeting tonight?

    douglas beckstein
    doug_beckstein@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete

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