Lately, I’ve been blogging about my efforts at urban sketching. According to Google, “An urban sketch is a drawing created on location, indoors or out, capturing what the sketcher sees from direct observation. Urban sketchers use any kind of media to tell the story of their surroundings, the places they live, and where they travel.” I’ve been watching artists who do urban sketching on YouTube, and recently decided that I had to give it a try.

I told my husband Joe all about urban sketching, about how inspired I was to try it but too timid to go somewhere public and do it alone, and he generously offered to come along and sketch, too.

A couple of weeks ago I posted a blog about our first urban sketching experience (The Magic of the Blending Pencil) in Yorktown, Virginia.

I began to get nervous once we got there. I was convinced that this little experiment would tank—sketch outside? In public? With a fountain pen like my favorite Youtube artists, with no ability to keep erasing and redrawing like I’m used to? What was I thinking?

We found an empty bench on the path along the river and sat down. I started babbling about the weather, the scenery, the people…anything but urban sketching. But as I was talking, Joe pulled out his sketchbook and pen and started sketching the big bridge that dominates the scene.

I love that he can just start doing just about anything without worrying about what-ifs. And I began to realize it would be pretty pathetic if I, the one who had talked so determinedly about doing this urban sketching thing, was the one who went home with an empty sketchbook.

So I began sketching the bridge, too. Considering I was sketching in pen, in a public place, and of something I would never have dared to before (there is a lot of structure to a bridge), I was surprised and fairly happy with how my sketch turned out.

A couple of days ago I posted about another sketchbooking adventure of ours, this time at a marina in our hometown (How Sketchbooking Allows me to Let Go and Just Create).

Our latest foray into urban sketchbooking took us back to Yorktown, where we sketched at the Watermen’s Museum. It was closed that day, so we ended up walking around to the back to draw a workboat called “Miss Nancy.”

I’ll admit, I started with pencil this time—this was the most complicated scene I’ve attempted in my sketchbook yet. When I got home, I drew over my pencil lines with ink.

Then, referring to the photo I took while I was there, I used my watercolors (Winsor & Newton Cotman travel set)…

…and finished with my Prismacolor colored pencils.

I’m convinced that Joe’s example of “Just Do It” has given me the inspiration I’ve needed to push past my insecurities and just do it, too.

In my last blog I said that I’d ask Joe if I could post one of his sketches. I did and he said yes, and below is his sketch of a boat at the marina in our hometown. I love the vivid colors.

I’m really happy that my husband is now also my art buddy. His enthusiasm and can-do attitude are inspiring me to draw and paint things in places I never would have dared to on my own.

I can’t wait to see where we go “arting” next.