The Joy of Sketching

Date & Time: July 11, 2024 - 9 am - July 12, 2024 - 4 pm EDT

Location: Franciscan Life Process Center, 11650 Downes St., Lowell MI 49331

This workshop will be all about sketching for the pleasure of sketching! It will encourage participants to notice the extraordinariness of the everyday world by sketching just about anything, anywhere and anytime. We’ll work on this by focusing on sketching small and emphasizing the act of sketching over the sketch.

A variety of techniques for working small will be presented using pen, watercolor and water soluble pencil. We’ll also give some consideration to composition, perspective, color and subject matter but the primary focus will be on sketching for the joy of sketching. Sketching as a way to pay attention and “see” more by sketching!

To make sure everyone has similar materials to work with, please bring $50 for a kit that I will put together complete with a small watercolor sketchbook, waterbrush, small watercolor palette with professional quality watercolor paint, waterproof pen, water soluble pencil, sharpener, small light duty sketchbooks and a case to carry everything in so that you always have your kit ready to go with you because you never know when you’re going to have an opportunity to sketch!

Learn More

A Variety of Sketchbooks from

the last 30 years

Works from Mancuso’s 30-year collection of sketches explore the miracles of the ordinary

GREENVILLE, Pa.-- Works from Bill Mancuso’s collection “The Pleasures of Sketching” will be on display in Thiel College’s Weyers-Sampson Art Gallery from Oct. 25 to Dec. 8.

Mancuso will host an artist talk at 2 p.m. Nov. 10 in the gallery which will be followed by a reception at 2:30 p.m.

Mancuso’s sketchbook drawings were done over 30 years. According to Mancuso, “working small allows me to sketch more, to see more, to explore and discover more about the world around me. Through the years I’ve come to deeply appreciate sketching and realized that, for me, it’s OK to sketch just for the pleasure of it. Sketching doesn’t have to be a preparation for something grander, nor does it have to be a competitive sport. It’s OK to sketch just to enjoy and explore the world I live in, to pay attention, and to notice what I notice.”

He cites a quote from Frederick Franck, author of “The Zen of Seeing,” as his eloquent inspiration.

“I have learned that what I have not drawn, I have never really seen and that when I start drawing an ordinary thing, I realize how extraordinary it is--sheer miracle,” Franck said.

Mancuso earned an undergraduate degree from SUNY College of Brockport where he studied painting and drawing with Robert Marx and ceramics with Bill Stewart. He has a graduate degree in drawing and painting from the University of Buffalo where he studied with Harvey Breverman. He also spent nine years teaching at Thiel College.

Weyers-Sampson gallery hours when class is in session are

12:30-2 p.m. Monday;
10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Tuesday;
9-11 a.m. and 1-2 p.m. Wednesday and Friday; and
11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday.

Gallery exhibits are free and open to the public. The public also is invited to the gallery talk on Nov. 10.

For more information to schedule an appointment, contact Professor or Art and Curator of Art Sean McConnor

https://www.thiel.edu/academics/departments/art/weyers-sampson-gallery

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ywd14sEQXbk

About this event:

Consider for a moment the idea that when someone puts pen, pencil or paint to a surface, they are about to create an illusion, an act of making something appear where there was nothing before, a bit like Magic! Sketching is like that, and it’s something I believe anyone can learn.

Also, if you already enjoy sketching but would like to find a way to do more of it, to fit it in to the nooks and crannies of life, I’d like to suggest there is no better way to sketch more often, or to learn how to sketch, than working small, with a simple set of materials.

This workshop will be about enjoying and loving the experience of sketching, about developing a way to get pen, pencil or brush to paper sketching virtually anything, anywhere, and anytime. We’ll consider a variety of techniques for how to do this and address such issues as composition, perspective, watercolor, diverse subject matter and materials.

To ensure we all have access to similar materials for the workshop, I will bring each participant a small sketching kit ready to go with paint, waterproof pen, water brush, water soluble pencil, small watercolor sketchbook, mini sketchbooks and a case to hold it all. Please plan on bringing a materials cost of $50 to the class.

This class will emphasize enjoying the experience of sketching and how sketching helps develop our ability to really “see” and appreciate what it is we’re sketching. The thought being the more you sketch the more you notice, and the more you notice, I would suggest, the richer your world becomes. As the poet Mary Oliver has said, “To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.” Consider sketching as a way to help notice what you notice, and to pay attention to how extraordinary the world is wherever you are.

Date and Time

Thu, Aug 17, 2023, 9:00 - 4:00

Fri, Aug 18, 2023, 4:00 - 4:00