Uganda’s landscape and wildlife in watercolor and pencil “I traveled to Uganda to make one of my dreams a reality: to witness the mountain gorillas.” —Joan León Hot off the press! Barcelona-based sketcher Joan León, the author of Ilustrando Sudamérica*, takes us…
Hello readers,Here’s a new bulletin of sketching and reportage news. If you like what you read, please share so others can learn about On the Spot and Sketcher Press.Behind the scenes at a London hospital“Vital Organs” is a newly-released 48-page publication collecting the gripping reportage drawings made by Mereida Fajardo at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital […]
From the Ballard Locks to the bell, an illustrated tour. The Seattle Times, March 26, 2024
Hello readers,Some housekeeping:On the Spot has a new tagline: the Magazine of Reportage Illustration. This slogan better reflects my original goal for the newsletter: to create a reader-supported publication that pays artists for articles of compelling visual storytelling. In light of the new tagline, “Sketching News Roundups” are now called “Reportage News.” These posts will continue to […]
The guest of my January Live Zoom was Marielle Durand, an artist, author and urban sketcher based in Paris.Durand belongs to a very small group of artists who holds a special pass to draw inside the French Parliament, where she has been documenting political debates since October of 2022.We talked about many things during our 75-minute conversation, […]
Hi readers,It felt good to kick off On the Spot in 2024 with a contributed article by Houston based artist Judith Dollar.Next, I announced this Thursday’s Artist Talk with Marielle Durand (Are you in?).And now it’s time to review some compelling reportage that caught my eye in the past few weeks.Rolf Schroeter’s protest artYou may have seen the news: Marches […]
French artist Marielle Durand has been sketching for more than 20 years, but when she started her career as a professional artist she never imagined the job would open doors like the ones that lead into the French Parliament.Since October 2022, Durand has belonged to a very small group of artists allowed to draw the political debates […]
First sketch of 2024 during a family walk to Point No Point Lighthouse on the northern tip of the Kitsap peninsula. Beautiful January day. Micron PN on #hahnemuehle pocket size travel journal.
Dear subscribers,It was a pleasure to host Irish-American artist and scholar Louis Netter during our December Live Zoom.Netter’s upcoming book, “Reportage Drawing: Vision and Experience” promises to be a must read for any artist and sketcher who wants to harness the full potential of observational drawing. The book is the culmination of the academic research he conducted […]
Hello readers and welcome new subscribers,I’m glad you are here for another fresh batch of sketching news.Niki Groom at ‘Peace Feast’Art by Niki GroomCommunity events offer great opportunities for reportage. In Bristol, England, local artist Niki Groom was commissioned to document Peace Feast, a multicultural evening of food and music held at Refugees Welcome North Somerset in late November.Art by […]
“If you run the scanner over this one, it would probably come up as a bottle cap,” said Bob to his detectorist pal Mike. It was very nice to chat with these fellows after drawing them on my pocket sketchbook.…