Open for Art 2026: Love your sketchbook

Wendy has been filling sketchbooks for many years and has experimented with different media - capturing daily observations, experiences and most importantly play!

Wendy will share examples of her mixed media sketchbooks, showing a range of approaches to developing and maintaining a sketchbook habit to get you inspired.

There will be time after the talk to get stuck in, creating some backgrounds to get rid of the dreaded blank page in your own sketchbook!

Bring along your own sketchbook and any materials you wish to use, for example, pens, pencils, glue stick and a few recycled papers (envelopes, tickets, lists).

The emphasis is on enjoying the process and being free to explore and is suitable for all abilities.

This workshop is for adults.

All the events at the Open for Art Festival are free to attend, there is an option to add a donation to help support the festival if you would like to and feel able to.

If you can no longer attend please let us know as places are limted and we can offer your space to someone else.

About the artist

Wendy studied textiles at art college and has returned to developing her art practice in recent years. Her sketchbooks are a key part of this journey, documenting the mixed media layers she loves to use, often incorporating paper ephemera, text and stitch.

Her work celebrates the little joys to be found in the everyday, from local landscapes and buildings to a mug of coffee. She is a chapter admin for the Reading group of Urban Sketchers and is a teacher and Art Leader in a local primary school.

OPEN FOR ART

19 JUNE - 28 JUNE 2026

REFLECT This year marks 10 years of Open for Art — a decade of artists, makers, communities, ideas and shared experiences in Reading’s largest town centre creative festival. As we celebrate this milestone, our theme invites everyone to pause and consider how creativity emerges from people coming together — experimenting, making, and reflecting. Our theme for 2026 is REFLECT.

For 10 days, we’re inviting Reading to slow down and seek out pop-up art in shops and businesses, encounter artists as they work, take part in creative sessions, and join conversations about how reflection shapes artistic practice.

Come and REFLECT with us this summer.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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