Introduce Yourself
Where do you live and what do you?
Have you done much sketching before or are you just starting?
What are your other creative pursuits?
Please include a link to your Flickr account, blog, Facebook page, Instagram, Tumblr etc.
So I’ll go first…
I’m Liz (I think you all know that!)
I live in Sydney, Australia. I’m an architect by profession and worked 20 years on a range of residential and commercial developments, specialising in media projects. I’ve always drawn as part of my work but in 2007 discovered watercolour and started my first daily sketchbook. I haven’t stopped sketching since!
I’m very interested in architectural history and theory and drinking tea out of fancy china teacups… but I’m guessing you all know that too!
You can find me on: Facebook, Flickr, Google+, Instagram and Twitter using the buttons under ‘Connect on Social Media’ in the footer of this website.
Now it’s your turn…
Hi, I’m Zoya from Bendigo, Australia. I used to sketch occasionally. Left my IT job almost 7 years ago to look after my children and tried lots of different crafts before coming back to drawing and painting with watercolour. About 2.5 years ago I started sketching almost everyday, though sometimes I only manage a quick few minute scribble in the whole day.
Hi Zoya, Bendigo is a lovely city. I am in Melbourne, so we are almost neighbours!
Hello. I am Ellen and live in Baton Rouge, LA. I am also an architect and so happy that I “met” Liz on Sketch Book Skool. Excited to take this course and learn new things. My biggest obstacle to sketching is taking the leap to start a drawing. Once I get past that, I’m often surprised by the results! I love to draw and paint buildings – especially old ones.
Welcome, Ellen. I lived in Baton Rouge for a year, attending LSU. Interesting buildings to sketch on campus. Looking forward to seeing your sketches.
Hello! I’m Cookie. I’m a naturalist (a gal who has always looked under rocks). I have worked as a Park Ranger for 30+ years; currently working in Big Bend National Park in Texas (USA).
I have always loved art, but never felt I could jump in and play until I discovered illustrated watercolor journaling. And, boy was I hooked! I love learning new techniques, and looking at others sketchbooks. And I love Liz’s style easy fun-loving style!
Hi Cookie! I am also “naturally curious”. I have been nature journaling for the past several years and having lots of fun learning more about sketchbooks.
Hi! Margie here from Juneau, Alaska. I also heard about you, Liz, from Sketchbook Skool. I loved seeing your techniques in those videos and would like to learn more from you. I’m a retired schoolteacher. So, along with volunteering in schools and used bookstores, I am trying to develop a daily art habit! Along with keeping a watercolor sketchbook, I enjoy quilting, oil painting, making music and reading.
Hello to so many people, I’m another Aussie, I’m from Perth in Western Australia. I’ve been quilting for a while and came across Sketchbook Skool through that. That was my introduction to sketching and I really enjoyed it and am now looking forward to this course. I must say tea cups and building were a challenge for me.
I’m hoping with practice I will improve. I’ve never put anything onto the computer so this will be a big challenge to me as well.
Hi Everyone! I’m Michelle and I live in Madera, CA–which is smack dab in the middle of California and the Central Valley. I’m left brained by day–I run the Medical and Regulatory Division for the largest workers’ comp insurance carrier in the state. By night, my right brain prevails. I was creative as a kid–but for whatever reasons, abandoned most creative pursuits as an adult. About a year ago, the need to create took hold again with a vengeance. I’ve done a little sketching, some watercolor, a bit of art journaling, and most recently, learned all about using watersoluble pencils in Dion Dior’s wonderful class. I’m really looking forward to learning all I can about sketching, and seeing all the wonderful work we create.
Hi! I”m Lin Frye … I’m retired (YEAH!!) and before that taught horticulture and ran a small arboretum. I’ve been painting watercolors for nine years and kept a ton of journals, but my sketching skills have been neglected are in great need of work! I teach watercolors at my senior center (only community center in my small rural community). I really want to improve my sketches — especially in the area of people and buildings! I have a flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/linfrye and facebook http://www.facebook.com/lin.frye.56 and a blog http://viewfromtheoak.blogspot.com. I’m excited to be here and continue sketching and journal keeping!!
Forgot to say — I live in a small community outside of Raleigh, North Carolina .. Lin
Hi Lyn!!! Yay! Kate here!
Hi Lin, It’s Jules from the FB AJW group here. Lovely to see you !
Hi Lin! This is Pat Catucci from Sketchbook Skool, EcoGeek’s Journal from Flickr, etc. Nice to see you here!
Hi Lin, good to see you here.
Hello, I’m Kathy and I live in Idaho’s Treasure Valley. I began keeping a sketchbook only 8 months ago when I started Sketchbook School. I am recently retired and excited to take this foundations course. I am hoping to improve my sketching ability and to explore urban sketching. I love to draw people and buildings and am looking forward to learning new things and improving my beginning skills. I also love biking, cooking and landscaping.
Hi Kathy D. I live in Boise. We should meet for sketching. I also bicycle.
Hi Kimberly,
I’m Theresa. Found you as I was scrolling through the introductions. I also live in Boise. Another friend from Meridian and I are taking the class. So there are at least 4 of us in the Boise area. Look forward to meeting and sketching together.
Hi Kimberly. I’m Theresa and I also live in Boise. I know that there are 4 of us taking the class from the Boise area. Hopefully, we can meet and sketch together. This may be a duplicate message. Trying to get the flow of this method.
Hi Kathy D,
I’m Theresa. Found you as I was scrolling through the introductions. I also live in Boise. Another friend from Meridian and I are taking the class. So there are at least 4 of us in the Boise area. Look forward to meeting and sketching together.
I am Winna or E J Mordasky…I live in Stafford Springs Ct. USA…Mother of 5, close to 80 years on this earth, been an artist always, taught mostly acrylic painting for over 30 years and retired at 70…now my life is my sketchbooks and what a blessing that is..I have a flickr site and am on facebook…I am happy to see the Captain is in this class, too….
Hello, Flickr friend! I’m glad to see you are a classmate here!
RJ (artstudio309 at flickr)
Hi Winna, I am always glad to see you!
Hello everyone, my name is Kay and I live in Sydney, Australia. I have been fortunate to join in one of Liz’s classes in person. She is so enthusiastic about teaching and I am sure that we will all enjoy the class. I am a recent convert to sketchbooks, mainly trying to use them as a way to document my ideas for textile art, but also places I have visited. I am a teacher by trade, a quilter by passion. I, too, was a Sketchbook Skool student and I am SO happy that Liz is now doing her own online classes.
Hi, I am Ellie. I live in Portland, OR. Kay French is my dear friend, we went to art school together (PNCA) a long time ago. Kay got me into SKS “Seeing”. It is good to be drawing again.
Hi Ellie — I am also a Portlander!
Hi Ellie,
Oregon is well represented! I am south of you in Lyons, not far from Salem!
Hi Ellie, Kate and Carmel
Hi there!!
Hi, I am Hillary Barnes and I live in New Zealand. I like creating things and I am full of questions about everything. Born 1946, so old enough to be eccentric. I am on facebook, instagram, pinterest, etc and have run a blog for 10 years.
Really looking forward to this challenge with Liz.
Hello! I am Jean and I live in the sky on the 20th floor with a view of New York City in the distance. Also, I ride my horse several days a week in the beautiful Ramapo mountains. While I am very excited about this class, I must warn you that I am a beginner to this kind of work. I do design and stitch needlepoint, and I am looking forward to stretching that to a new direction,
Hi, I’m Leslie from Perth in Western Australia. I took up sketching when I realized it was too difficult to always carry an SLR camera, or pull out acrylic paints, or crafting gear to get a creative fix. Small kits consisting of a sketchbook, permanent pen, tiny mint tin with watercolours and a waterbrush are stashed everywhere so I can capture precious and fleeting memories on the go. I find myself sketching multiple times a day and just staring at unfinished larger paintings that seem to need a lot more time and dedication. I discovered Liz’s blog a year ago, joined Sketchbook Skool and am so excited to finally have ongoing lessons with Liz.
Hi, I’m Cerena and I live in the wheatbelt of West Australia.
Nice to meet you
Hello! I’m Susan, a single mom of a dozen children, living in Olathe, KS. I chase sanity with art, photography, writing and triathlon, and am *really* looking forward to Liz’s course! I blog @ http://www.joyfulmomofmany.com
Hi to Susan! This is Patty from Pennsylvania. My grandmother was born in Olathe, KS. She went to the Kansas City Art Institute. One of her fellow classmates was a little know guy by the name of Walt Disney.
I’m Carrie from California’s Central Valley (but an Oregonian most of my life). I started drawing only earlier this year and discovered how satisfying it is to create on paper. I’ve been a Sketchbook Skool student for Beginnings and Seeing and have loved the experience and exposure to all sorts of other wonderful creative people. I’m looking forward to joining Liz and all of you for this class!
Carrie are you living near Portland now? I’m in Portland, and looking for other people near me! Kate
I live in Hillsboro and am looking for sketchers close to me! :o)
Hello, I’m Dori and I’ve drawn my whole life. I studied art in college and worked as a graphic designer for 10 years. Then went back to school and got my masters in psychology and worked as an art therapist for 10 years. Now I am self employed doing a variety of design work. I am really excited about this class and hope to develop a daily sketching practice. I can be found here:
http://dorimelton.com/
http://instagram.com/mzdori
https://m.facebook.com/dorimelton
Hi all!
I am Lynn Green and I live in Bellevue Nebraska,USA. I am currently working as a graphic designer. A career change from Interior Design/Architectural drafting field for over 25 years. I really love to draw and the career change was a step to more creative drawing instead of technical drawing. I love Liz’s style and enjoyed her Klass in Sketchbook Skool. I am trying to break free of the technical and precise drawing that I did for years into a more spontaneous loose expressive style. I started my own blog, paintspensnpencils.blogspot.com as a way to push myself to get going and drawing. I am looking forward to this class to help with that IC that keeps me from accomplishing that!
Hi to all these lovely people from all over the world! I’m looking forward to not only sketching but learning more about other parts of the globe. I live near San Diego CA, USA with my 12yo and 10yo, husband and cat and lots of birds, 2 tame and the outdoor population that visits my feeders. The cat stays inside and watches – I call it cat TV. Can’t wait to get started! Justine
Hi, I’m Bobbie, and I live on the central coast of California. I love travel, art, yoga, and have always wanted to sit in a cafe and draw what I saw. Now that I am retired, I plan to do just that……. and am hoping to learn how by taking this class. I love Liz’s approach, and her use of watercolor. I am an Urban Sketchers groupie, and definitely a beginning artist-in-process!
Hi Bobbie!! I’ve never met anyone else from the central coast in online classes before! I’m near SLO!! I am also a total Urban Sketcher groupie (great phras)!!
Hi, I’m Pam from Melbourne Beach, Florida near the Space Center. I am excited about this class and learning from Liz! I share many of her same interests and am so happy to have her as a resource. Can hardly wait!
Hi…Jane here. Have lived on both coasts…and chasing grandchildren, I’ve wound up here in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. Have taken 2 Sketchbook Skool classes and have absolutely loved hearing from and seeing the work from around the globe! Looking is mostly still what I’m doing. Being a former art student…my efforts do not meet my expectations. However, I do love watching everyone else’s progress!!
Hi, I’m Leeanne from Brisbane, Australia, a retired Microbiology technician. Discovered Urban Sketchers last year which lead to Sketchbook Skool. Have wanted to do a workshop with Liz for a while as I admire her style and enjoy the teacups. Would like to be able to sketch faster and looser. My other interests are ukulele and learning Japanese.
Hi, My name is Mary and I live in St. Michael, Minnesota. I worked as an oncology nurse for 47 years and have been blessed immeasurably by the experiences working with cancer patients and their families. I am new to sketching and drawing but pulled to enter into and experience the wonder of it. I feel blessed to be a student in this class. Thank you so much. I am on Pinterest and Facebook as Mary Brunk.
Hi Mary, It’s Michelle from Dion Dior’s Water-soluble Pencils class! So nice to find a friendly name taking the Sketching Now course. Looking forward to seeing our work progress. Have fun!
Hi, my name is Katherine and I live in Sydney, Australia. I met Liz when she was guest tutor at a sketch class I was attending a while back. She was so helpful and nice and explained things so clearly to me. I share with Liz an interest in buildings although I find they are not easy to sketch! I started travel sketching about two years ago and really enjoy it. My other long-time passion is quilting. It’s very nice to meet you all and I’m looking forward to starting class 🙂
Hi Katherine, nice to meet you. I also live in Sydney, enjoy travel sketching and am a quilter. Kay
Hi Kay, nice to meet you too. What style of quilting do you like? Originally I wanted to learn to draw to try and design my own pictorial quilts, but when I started sketching I found I enjoyed sketching for sketching! Katherine
Hello, I am Janette Meetze and I live in Bixby, Oklahoma, USA but I am originally from Florida. I am a retired art teacher who has started a little business and am spending as much time as possible with my creative inclinations which include sketching and tapestry weaving. Art history is also a particular interest of mine. I “met” Liz in SBS and discovered an interest in sketching architecture that I never knew I had and would love to grow my skills for sketching on the spot.
I am on Facebook and Flicker and write two blogs, one on sketching
http://www.jmeetzestudio.blogspot.com
And one for tapestry weaving
http://www.jmeetzestudiocommonthreads.blogspot.com
Hi Janette. Nice to see you!
My name is Kate and I currently live in Portland Oregon USA. I started adult life as an architect and was an avid journaler then. I turned to art in my 30’s, acrylics mostly. 15 years ago i was able to take my painting talents into the field of object conservation (restoring museum items.) I missed painting and decided to change to watercolors so I could keep a permanent studio set up (space is smaller) and love them. I’m an urban sketcher, and Liz reminded me of the reasons I loved architecture — drawing it, which no one does anymore. I am looking forward to this class!
My art blog is http://dkatiepowellart.me/ and my flickr name is https://www.flickr.com/photos/120749307@N06/
Yes, it is good to see you here! I do make it up to Portland. We have boat on the Columbia.
Carmel
Hi!
My name is Barbara and I live in Chicago, IL, USA. I’ve been a graphic designer since it was called commercial art and cut and paste was really cut and paste. I, too, am a great admirer of Liz’s work and hope to learn how she sketches so fast and with such dedication! I contribute to two blogs, barbaraweeks.blogspot.com and urbansketchers-chicago.blogspot.com. Drawing Breath is my flickr presence. I’m really looking forward to this class.
Hi, Cyd and Cathy,
Another Chicago suburbanite here. I joined this class, in part, to get that extra push that comes from working with others towards the same goal.
Look forward to seeing your work.
Ah, the perils of unfamiliar social media interface, iPad mini, and end-of-day eyesight…
Barbara,
My message to you was how nice it is to see you in this class. I love your work on the Urban Sketchers Chicago site and look forward to seeing it here as well.
Marjorie
Thank you!
It’s good to have so many here representing the Chicago area!
Hi everyone, I am Capt.Elaine from Charleston SC USA, I’m a United States Coast Guard licensed boat captain. Usually called a 6 pack license I can take 6 paying passengers for a boat ride. I’m a grandmother and a cancer survivor… and finally a sketcher. I started keeping a sketchbook after my cancer surgery and draw something every day. I’ve admired Liz Steel for a very long time, enjoyed her sketchbook skool klass and now I’m ready for 12 weeks of Liz. I’m CaptElaine on flicker and my blog is here http://captelaine.blogspot.com
I am a member of your club. I started doing drawing waiting for appointments or in the hospital.
Hi. I’m Priscilla in San Ramon California. I learned about Liz through her class in Sketchbook. I love her approach to sketchbook drawing and I’m looking forward to learning more from her and fellow classmates.
Hi Priscilla,
I am Lori Rhodes and live next door in Pleasanton.
Hi Priscilla, nice to see you here.