Urban sketchers find community through shared love of drawing on-location

An artist displays a sketch of on a Spanish street in front of her where she is sitting at a table with a drink.

Sally Black carries a sketch book and a small case of watercolour pencils in her handbag at all times.

She's just one member of an online global community, Urban Sketchers.

The group was formed in 2007 when Seattle-based journalist and illustrator Gabriel Campanario built an online forum for people with a love of sketching to share their drawings.

Over the past decade the group has expanded to include sub groups in more than 220 cities around the world.

In Canberra a group of keen sketchers meets every month, each time in a new location.

"Recently we took our sketch books to Parliament House and after that, a local winery," Ms Black said.

A collection of drawings in sketch books from different view points at Parliament House

The Canberra preschool teacher is one of three keen artists behind the city's local branch.

"I was location sketching by myself for years on and off," Ms Black said.

"A couple of years ago I met with a couple of others to start a sketching group and after a few sessions we were part of the official group.

"It just keeps growing and we've been meeting every month ever since."

Artist sits in a deck chair to start a drawing

Visual travel diary

A sketch book with images of dinner served in a restaurant

As well as sharing drawings from group sketch meets, members use the forum to share a visual diary of their travel adventures.

On recent trip to the Spanish city of Seville, Ms Black took the opportunity to draw tapas at restaurants, quirky lounge rooms, historic buildings, and inner-city laneways.

She described sitting down to do a sketch as a "totally relaxing" experience.

"You become immersed in your environment and you get to see things really very clearly.

"If I take a photograph instead of sketch, I find I take it, walk away and don't really think about it again.

"When you sit and truly observe what you're seeing and record it on paper, it becomes a really special memory.

"A sketch gives me a really lasting connection with a place."

A sketch book with a drawing of a Spanish cafe.

Sketch book at the ready

Ms Black said members of the group shared an appreciation for the need to sketch at potentially inconvenient times.

"I do a lot of food sketching in restaurants," she said.

"When we were in Spain, the waiter would bring something to the table and I'd very quickly sketch it and then we'd eat it before the next one would arrive.

"When we went back to that same restaurant, the chef paid close attention to my drawing and timed his cooking around where I was up to."