My sketching weekend in New Plymouth

This past weekend was pure creative bliss as I joined "That Weekend in New Plymouth" with Urban Sketchers Taranaki. I packed my minimal sketching kit from ArtTools (more on that in a future post) and spent three glorious days drawing alongside nearly 30 fellow sketchers from across New Zealand.

The joy of urban sketching community

First, I have to say how brilliantly Urban Sketchers Taranaki organised the weekend. They curated a perfect selection of sketching locations throughout New Plymouth, each offering something unique to capture. The mix of architecture, coastal views, park-surrounds and urban landscapes inspired everyone to draw, regardless of their preferred subject matter, medium, or experience.

What made the weekend truly special was connecting with sketchers from across New Zealand including from Wellington, Lower Hutt, Hawkes Bay, Taupo, Tauranga, Auckland, and of course, the local Taranaki artists. There's nothing quite like the energy of sketching with people who understand what the dealio is.

What I learned during my New Plymouth sketching adventure

1. Join your local sketching group

I've always known this, but the weekend reinforced just how enriching it is to sketch with others. Watching different approaches, sharing techniques over, and the friendly conversations between drawing sessions all add dimensions to the experience that solo sketching just can't provide.

Especially when you're feeling creatively stuck, there's nothing better than surrounding yourself with fellow sketchers to reignite your enthusiasm. I came home with renewed energy and several new techniques to try after seeing how others approached similar scenes.

2. You don't need tons of equipment

My personal sketching revelation this weekend! Okay so I’ve known this for a long time, even when I’m hauling my hefty backpack from pillar to post with materials I have never and will never use. I noticed the sketchers whose work I most admired often had the most straight-forward kits.

I also picked up some clever storage ideas from other sketchers – repurposed cosmetic bags, custom easels, and even the sleeve to protect a palette made from the leg of an old pair of jeans I'm definitely going to copy!

3. Test your colour before committing

Keep a small scrap of paper handy to test colours before applying them to your sketch prevents those "oh no!" moments.

This simple habit ensures:

• The colour matches what you envisioned

• The intensity is appropriate

• The water-to-pigment ratio works for your needs

This works for medium other than watercolour too.

After watching a fellow sketcher tap his brush against the scrap of paper before committing it to his page, I realised how this simple habit could have saved me in so many past experiences of too much pigment on my brush.

4. Have courage to share your work

The "Throwdown" (where everyone places their sketchbooks on the ground for a group viewing) is a core part of drawing with an Urban Sketching Chapter. Placing work next to sketchers long admired on Instagram can make you feel pretty vulnerable.

But the warmth and enthusiasm with which everyone viewed each other's work reminded me why this practice is so valuable. Every perspective is valid – some sketchers captured precise architectural details, others conveyed mood through loose washes, and some told stories through their compositions.

5. Draw every day

Perhaps the most important takeaway, reinforced by every conversation with sketchers whose work I so admired was that they draw daily, without exception.

A consistent daily practice builds the neural pathways and muscle memory that enables confident, expressive mark-making when next you need it.

I'm renewing my commitment to daily sketching, even if it's just five minutes with a ballpoint pen on a receipt while waiting for my coffee to cool down. No fancy materials required – just the discipline to put pen to paper every single day.

Question: Is it Liz Steel who draws the same house across the road every morning? or did I dream that?

Coming home inspired

My drive home concocted this blog post. I was tired and satisfied with a wonderful weekend. The weekend was a test of sorts, to determine what to concentrate on before going to Poland in August for the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Poznan.

I came away with a list of weaknesses I need to work on if I want to get the best out of the Symposium - not the least of which is an improvement to my physical fitness. Drawing for three days takes some energy, that’s for sure.

Huge thanks to Urban Sketchers Taranaki for hosting such a wonderful weekend.

If you're curious about urban sketching, I can't recommend it enough as a way to see the world more deeply, connect with like-minded creatives, and build a regular creative practice. Most cities have local chapters that welcome newcomers – no experience necessary, just bring a sketchbook and something to draw with! check the Urban Sketching site to see if there is a chapter close to you, as well as some resources and inspiration to get you started.

From BTS to Geopolitics

Remember those halcyon days when I discovered BTS? Rabbit holes of dance videos, learning the members’ names which wasn’t easy because of their ever-changing hair colours, and the late night deep-dives into K-pop business culture and the costs of becoming an Idol in South Korea.

Here we are again but these days are more bleak. I'm becoming obsessed with the Russia-Ukraine conflict, NATO, and American foreign policy. What the actual flip?

Hi Michelle, what did you do with Old Michelle?

I asked myself this very question while tearing into an Amazon package containing Jonathan Haslam’s Hubris: The Origins of Russia's War Against Ukraine and Jeffrey D. Sachs' A New Foreign Policy this afternoon. Neither are anywhere close to my wheelhouse.

Living in New Zealand can feel disconnected from global affairs most of the time. That distance is only an illusion, of course. The decisions made in the rest of the world do ripple down to eventually lap at our shores. These bees get in my bonnet – like Trump's plans that include Antarctica for drilling for oil and digging up rare Earth minerals, or worrying about my retirement investments nose-diving during this geopolitical upheaval and potential World War when my retirement is on the horizon and being welcomed with open arms.

So here I am, trading my BTS Army Bomb (if you know, you know) for highlighted passages in my newly acquired serious books.

My fixations might say less about what interests tickle my fancy and more about how I always want to dig deeper, seeking systems under surface, even if in unregulated bursts of energy.

Or maybe I'm just old and cranky.

Has your obsession focus shifted dramatically with what’s going on? Or am I the only one who is more and more swapping popular culture for politics?