Ian Fennelly’s Urban Sketching workshops are about looking carefully at a subject and taking time to notice things. They are broken down into 5 steps, and each step uses different materials.

Ian’s workshop is about how you can go deep into the process of observing and recording, and through this find happiness in noticing the small details. 

The more you look, the more you see is very much connected to the character and beauty of Madeline Island with its rich variety of fascinating subjects. These can be hidden in the woods, or tucked behind a building, stumbled across in a field, or parked at the ferry dock. You need to take the time to notice them, and through recording the ordinary, you find beauty in the small details, which makes the process of urban sketches so rewarding. 

On Madeline Island, we will sketch the crumbly vintage cars and trucks abandoned in the woods, the rocky coastlines peppered with pebbles and roots, cute harbor towns with signs and seagulls, and iconic deep red barns dripping with inspiration framed by a fence and sitting next to a windmill.  All the workshops are broken down into bite size chunks of activity, clearly explained and demonstrated so everyone can realize their potential.