Grab your sketchbook and come away with me to the fairytale village of Carmel-by-the-Sea! With its storybook cottages, winding lanes, and flower-draped fences, not to mention jaw-dropping coastal views, Carmel is a sketcher’s dream. Nestled on California’s Monterey Peninsula, the area offers diverse locations for plein air sketching, ranging from rugged shorelines with crashing waves, to peaceful pine forests, an 18th century mission, a world-renowned aquarium, wineries, and the harbor at Old Fisherman’s Wharf. 

Our home base will be the Asilomar Conference Grounds, just steps away from the windswept beaches of Asilomar State Beach. This designated historic landmark property offers lodging, meals, and studio space in one beautiful package, with gorgeous beaches, breathtaking ocean views, walking trails, biking, birdwatching, and tidal pools to explore. What more could we ask for? It’s a secluded getaway location that’s close to everything! 

The natural beauty of this coastal location and the sights we’ll see during our daily excursions will provide endless inspiration for sketches, and, during daily class sessions in our studio, I’ll provide the tools which will enable you to record all those amazing scenes with pencil, pen, and paint. My SketchDesigning approach will empower you to become more confident and successful in your sketching practice. 

The first step in SketchDesigning involves taking a moment or two to set intentions for every page before you begin to draw. Giving thoughtful consideration to design options and creative possibilities early on is a game-changer when it comes to creating unique and exciting sketchbook pages. As you draw and paint, you’ll continue to evaluate the way various elements work together in your sketch, and I’ll show you a surprisingly simple way to make decisions as to what to add or leave out in the final stage of the sketching process.

I’ll give you a framework of page layout options to work with throughout the week, so each person’s sketches will be a reflection of his or her own individual personality, style, and preferences. I always love seeing the amazing variety of student sketches that come out of a single lesson I teach.

And let’s not forget about borders and lettering! I’ll show you some clever tricks to make it easy to incorporate beautiful hand-drawn lettering in your sketches, and I’ll even provide custom lettering styles you can use for sketch titles. We’ll brainstorm ideas for border designs and other page design elements that reflect our surroundings, and I’ll share step-by-step demos for how to paint the subjects we’ll be drawing. Your head will be spinning with all you’ll learn as we work on a series of fun sketching projects in and around Carmel-by-the-Sea.

You’re going to LOVE this workshop, and I promise you will surprise yourself with what you create during our time together!

Workshop Schedule:
Sunday Night: Welcome Reception at 6pm
Monday – Friday: 9am – 4pm

• Sketch locations to be solidified at a later date.

*Subject to change*