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We went on a vacation, partly to visit my son, Brian, in Punta Gorda, FL, then to Key West for two days. Of course, I took the ‘bag’ along. You never know what will appear.
Because I do palm trees badly, I tried twice. ‘Running’ the pen line makes all the difference between success and ‘blah’. Brian’s community pool provided the other sketches. The architecture was overwhelming. Put in just enough to get the idea. It doesn’t even matter if the parts don’t fit together. You get the idea. It is a gorgeous pool, but I never made it in. The sketching was too much fun. The woman with sunglasses was in a perfect pose until she realized I was sketching her. Then she twisted her left leg into an impossible position and looked pretty hostile. If I’d asked her for cooperation (tell you how in the next blog), she would have probably maintained a great pose. I was running out of time and couldn’t resist catching this one. We finally have news of the next PBS Pocket Sketching show. Season 3 will be released to stations on May 18th. Please phone your local PBS station to ask for it to be broadcast in your market. The 13 Episodes of PBS Season 1 are available for digital download from our website: www.pocketsketching.com/workshops WORKSHOPS Tohono Chul Park in Tucson has just announced the Refresher workshop, April 13, 14, 15. The first day is a great review of the Basic class and the next two days are just plain fun new stuff. Register here: https://tohonochul.org/upcomingevents/classes-lectures-workshops/ The last workshop of this season is the Teacher’s Workshop, April 23 through 28. If you are thinking of teaching, join us. It has everything I know about doing and teaching Pocket Sketching. You won’t believe how rewarding it is to help people learn to be creative and sketch, especially when they thought they could never do this! It’s an experience that has kept me teaching for over 15 years and still loving the reaction of others. For detailed information about all aspects of this workshop visit: https://www.pocketsketching.com/teachers.html As I’ve been so tied up with my brother’s estate for 13 months, I haven’t lined up any more workshops and probably won’t schedule any until next Fall, at the earliest. We will be filming the next PBS show at WGVU in Grand Rapids, MI during the summer.
 New Facebook Page for a New Year page https://www.facebook.com/PocketSketchingWorkshops
Back from Lake Chapala, Mexico We got into Tucson at 2:30 AM after 3 plane changes in Dallas because of faulty equipment. I was so lucky! My diarrhea and cold didn’t start until just after we walked in our door. Great break to be home when you feel lousy. The last mango I scarfed down was likely the source. I’ll admit, it was delicious! More about Mexico later. When you are stuck somewhere, whip out your sketch book and turn a drag into an exciting time. You get to be relaxed and happy in the worst of times. All around you will be a mass of models. The ones with computers or cell phones hold still and are good to start on. Then you notice the ones you just have to sketch. One of these was totally engulfed in long hair. Because of the changes to different parts of the Dallas airport as planes were substituted, I didn’t get long at any one place to sketch. Sketching is far better than just sitting, frustrated!
Pocket Sketching® Season 3 Season Three is going through final approval. We’ve waited a long time for the release. Season Four is scheduled to be filmed in Grand Rapids the week of June 5th. I am hoping for more time outdoors on location as this whole system is designed for travel journaling. I’ve planned episodes and then thought: 'What do you want or need'? Many of you have areas you’d like covered. Email kath@pocketsketching.com with those suggestions. Title your email My PBS Wishes Happy Sketching! 
For Thanksgiving we had the fun of visiting our webmaster, Susane, and her husband Thomas (filmed our wonderful DVDs) in Salida, Colorado. On the way home we stayed at the La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe. It’s not only marvelously historic, (built 1922), it’s right in the middle of town, with every amenity, but it’s also reasonable! Some of the shops were closed when we were there, but the window displays were great. I wanted to buy two of the bears from Things Finer, so sketched them. They are warm and cuddly and just right. This is our card for 2022.
 THANKS FOR PARTICIPATING IN MY SURVEY! We had 49 replies. For reproducing PBS Season One, how would you like to receive it? 26 people chose DVDs, 18 people chose Downloads, 2 people chose a Zoom type link and 3 people chose thumb drive. We have DVDs being made and downloads are available now. Dale loads thumb drives by hand and we will have some of those (They take a lot of time to load). Check the website “store”: great gifts for yourself and friends or family who may sketch. The real basics are in Season One. Also, there are finally workshops scheduled. Check the website again. www.pocketsketching.com The first one (Basic) is in my home studio December 9, 10, 11 here in Tucson. As I can have only 7 people, do let me know if you are interested. We are moving to teaching teachers. If you know someone in your town who is a good teacher (YOU?), recommend they come to the Teacher’s Workshop. It has everything I know from the minute you walk in the room, plus everything I teach. If you teach at all, you’ll recover your investment. If you live near Tucson, come to the PaperWorks meeting on the 8th of December. I’m the speaker talking about how this whole Pocket Sketching happened and where it should go. This is an exciting club that meets monthly. Guests are totally welcome. If you do anything with paper (write, fold, paint, manufacture, Pinterest, etc. you will meet kindred spirits. They post the meeting speakers on their excellent website: PaperWorks (I Googled it and it came up) You can see me there after the meeting. What did I learn from the Tony Couch traditional watercolor workshop I just took? You carry tons of equipment, get paint on yourself, have paint under your fingernails, need a table, but it’s exciting. He demonstrates and lectures most of the 4 days…but there is so much to learn!!!! I have far more respect for the ease and portability of Pocket Sketching and still love watercolor too. It’s almost Thanksgiving: Have a delightful holiday!  I’ve been consumed by the paperwork involved with my brother’s passing for six solid months now and have ignored sketching, teaching..all that fun, exciting stuff I’ve enjoyed for 14 years. I miss the joy of having people get excited over learning to sketch!!! (I miss sketching too but understand when you can’t sketch because life gets in the way.) My solution? I’ve booked taking a workshop from that very classic teacher, Tony Couch, right here in Tucson. I need the immersion to get back into my life. Since I recommend this to others when they are blocked, I’ll let you know if it works. By the way, I’ve said in the past, “As long as Tony keeps teaching, I will too.” He’s 92 and amazing. All is not lost. I plan Tucson workshops, the next being December 9, 10, 11 at our home studio in Tucson. The maximum is 7 people. To register, email me at kath@pocketsketching.com or phone 520-318-9291. There will be more workshops in 2023, including online, Basic, Refresher and Teachers (only in-person). The schedule will be on www.pocketsketching.com soon. As we are not teaching over-the-road, if you want a workshop in your town, talk to a good local teacher and recommend my Pocket Sketching® Teacher’s Workshop. They are 5 ½ days and loaded with everything I know. It is time to have many teachers, not just me. One sketch is from the Oregon Coast which was totally in fog. I used a ‘borrow pit’ to get the dilute background. The other one is from my brother’s condo on the Willamette where we saw racing sculls practice every morning. The sketches aren’t that good, but they remind me of everything that was there. That’s the point: when you sketch you record in the computer of your mind everything you saw, and the sketch brings it back. It’s mental immersion, and the camera can’t do that.
We are filming Pocket Sketching Season Four in Grand Rapids the week of October 17th . And I get to raise $30,000 for Season Three between now and then, plus plan the next 13 Episodes. All of you sponsored Season Two, so I’m not begging, but you are welcome to contribute. I am looking for businesses that target the same market, such as retirement companies, travel companies, AARP, etc. You get the idea. If you have any contact who would like to be seen supporting an art PBS program aimed at this audience, please let me know. The sponsor’s names are shown with the episode as many times as it’s played, and we are being played nationally: WOW! Most of you are sketching: is there a subject you would like covered in Season Four? This is the planning period. I can’t leave without a sketch, so here are two more of my favorites.
Happy sketching! KathMy brother died May 24th, just before our four Northwest workshops. Teaching the four outstanding workshops was a delightful relief from all the financial and legal mess. Between workshops, and probably through July 30th, we’ve camped in his condo because much of the mess involves accounts in Portland. When I say ’camped’, I mean it. There is one pan and one water kettle in the kitchen. (The condo is on the market.) We carry a camp box on the road. It has 2 glasses, 2 cups, 2 sets of table service, paper plates…you get it. Because there’s nothing to cook with, we’re ‘forced ‘ to go out to dinner: very nice. My day begins before 6:00 AM with paperwork and goes to about 5:00. This is not my forte!!!! An amusing note: my brother never referred to anyone by name, only description, as in “the woman who lives on the 30th floor” who was a very good friend. Letting his friends know he passed is difficult. No lists with names: only phone numbers. (He knew the names). We have found and met a few of his friends and I wish I had known them earlier: great people. DO GET ALL YOUR PAPERWORK TOGETHER SO YOU DON’T LEAVE A MESS LIKE THIS! You all spend periods where you can’t sketch. Hopefully at some point frustration brings you back to being creative. Looking back over this time, I have very little to show (or maybe can’t find the sketch books in the loaded car). We’ve been to beautiful places. We’ve had fantastic people as students and they have done marvelously. Terrific way to spend the last over-the-road workshops. When we leave here, I get to sketch on the way back to Tucson, ignore the computer and the stress. It’s hard to keep working on my brother’s stuff when a break is coming. This is like looking forward to a vacation…for the mind!!! Keep sketching. ENJOY!!!! Kath PS: Here are two sketches from the trip. Coupeville is typical of the place. The Portland house was a demonstration in Oswego from a difficult setting: parts are moved around to make it work.
A change of pace: finally back to teaching workshops: YEAH!!! First one’s in Salt Lake City June 9, 10 and 11. A great opportunity to get going on sketching. Contact lucia@workshopslc.com, 801-997-8902. The weather will be perfect and the scenery is awesome! Next is Oregon Society of Artists in Portland, June 24, 25, 26. This workshop will combine beginning with advanced technique and will be loaded with new material I teach in my ‘refresher’ class. It will take people from beginning to professional in just three days! Contact info@osartists.org or vijee@osartists.org or hannah@osartists.org.or 503-228-0706. I rarely combine everything in one workshop and this will be exciting! This workshop will include homework and notes for take-along. Coupeville, WA is home to the Pacific Northwest Art School, where I’ll teach the Basic workshop July 8, 9, 10. The location couldn’t be more beautiful on Whidbey Island. Contact lisa@pacificnorthwestartschool.org, or 360-678-3396. And last for the season and possibly for travel-teaching, is Lake Oswego, Oregon, July 15, 16, 17. This is a Basic workshop and the location is lovely. Contact shelly@lakewood_center.org, 503-635-3901. Our plans are to not teach on the road again. It’s tough hauling everything, getting it out, teaching a loaded-and-high-energy workshop for three days and haul it to the next place. In the past we did these back-to-back. This year there’s time to see the gorgeous places where we teach. We may become ‘sketching tourists’ in the future, just like you! And where have we been while not writing blogs? Like you, things get in the way for us. Christmas Day my brother fell and broke his humerus right below the shoulder. (Would you believe Medicare , with tremendous experience and wisdom, refused to pay for the ambulance because “it wasn’t necessary”? He was 87, had a broken arm and was expected to drive to the emergency room!!!! He wasn’t safe driving before he fell. Where do they get these evaluators? Surely between now and then I’ve taught and done sketches, but I can’t find them. The last month was spent clearing out my brother’s condo so it could be sold. It’s over the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. Only one morning, between 5:00 and 6:00 AM, did I find time to sketch. It was incredibly gorgeous with fog and subdued colors. Fortunately, sketches bring back memories! Point of this, he has passed, we’re in Tucson, and last night I tried a sketch at The Lodge on the Desert. It’s pretty bad, but it’s a start. Having started over before, I can say “Put up with the bad ones. Every one is a step to get back to where you were, and it’s the only way you’ll ever get there.” At one time I was very good at sketching and painting animals in motion, live. My life goal is to get back there. Attached is a watercolor done on location, I named “Flies”. (I have a pretty long way to go.) Enjoy the trip! Happy sketching!
 By your request, we now have the three Basic workshop DVDs downloadable! Susane, who has done this amazing IT work, just got it done and I bought #3 which was filmed in Sedona. Not only do I love Sedona, I looked pretty good back then! Maybe we should all make videos on vacations so we can review them years later. Do it like journaling, but with camera-video, sketches, the location and you. Anyway, the downloads are available at https://www.pocketsketching.com/supplies.html Enjoy! Sunday we begin a Teacher’s Workshop here in Tucson. In the future I want other people teaching this easy-to-learn, easy-to-teach technique. The ‘future’ is here. We are teaching 4 workshops in Oregon and Washington this summer and may not teach any other than in the Tucson area after this summer. As my brother says, “We’ll see”. Hauling all the equipment and teaching workshops back-to-back has its limits. We will schedule online workshops beginning in the Fall. I do plan to make some very short videos of things you’ve asked for, including drawing. They will be available on the website. If you know anyone who enjoys teaching art, let them know they can add Pocket Sketching by taking a Teacher’s Workshop and becoming certified. And they can own the entire business. Just ask. Here’s the weird discovery. I have ‘readers’ (glasses), on to read the screen easily. I looked out the window. Many of my people have a problem sketching trees because you can pin-point focus and so sketch leaves in trees. Try looking with ‘readers’ and sketch, leaving the glasses on. (You can lower them on your nose if inappropriate with your vision.) The glasses reduce the scenery to lights and darks with full color, but no detail. You don’t get confused because YOU CAN’T FOCUS ON THE DETAILS! I bet you have to do this only a few times to get the idea of not putting tiny detail in the distance. Both of these sketches are favorites of mine, because they are so loose but still carry the message. They were FAST too! The Live Oaks has wax in the tree tops.
If you had in mind taking my “Refresher Workshop”, there is one at Tohono Chul Park this coming week end, March 18, 19 20 with room for you! Our future plans for workshops are now totally changing after ten years of full schedules with major teaching trips each summer since Dale and I met. (He was the only man I interviewed who wanted to go with me on my business. We met on match.com.) The Refresher has one day of review, a second day of all new exercises and both new and plein air in the Park the third day. If interested, contact Karen Hayes, khayes@tohonochul.org, 520-742-6455, ext. 228. At this time, I have no other Refresher Workshops planned. The Teacher’s workshop is April 3 through 8 at our home/studio. There’s room for two more people. It’s intense, has everything I know, includes use of the Trademark, Pocket Sketching, and will allow you to teach this fun, easy-to-learn technique anywhere. Contact me, kath@pocketsketching.com, for more information. After this we have 3 on-the-road workshops, Salt Lake City, Portland, Oregon and Coupeville, Washington. Only one workshop is scheduled after that. It is a fundraiser for the Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild next October. Do you see a trend? Season Four for PBS is still a probability, and I’m learning new things to include. Let me know if you want something covered. That brings me to PBS news: Season Two was released to stations in February. It has been running in Albuquerque and Lubbock, TX, that I know of. If your station isn’t playing it, phone them and request it. If they don’t, you might try the General Manager, if you want to see it. In Tucson, it isn’t planned to begin until May 2 (when many of us are gone for the summer), and end July 18 (We won’t be here either: sort of ‘support-for-home-town-artists’, eh?) The colored sketches are from two workshops just finished. The ‘people sketch’ is from Steve Griggs’ demonstration for SAWG last night. (If you carry your sketching stuff with you, you can capture things almost instantly plein air, wherever you are!) He’s teaching a workshop for SAWG in Tucson the next two days.
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