Travel Sketching

Name: Travel Sketching
Start: 2026-01-07T10:30:00-06:00
End: 2026-01-07T12:30:00-06:00
Location: Oak Park Main Library

Schedule

Wed Jan 07 2026 at 10:30 am to 12:30 pm

UTC-06:00

Location

Oak Park Main Library | Oak Park, IL

Join the Near West Sketchers and USk Chicago member, Amy Gowans, and leap into the idea of travel sketching.
How do I plan ahead for travel sketching? What supplies should I bring? I'm nervous about sketching in public. What if I’m traveling with non-sketchers?
We will tackle these challenging questions and also create simple travel sketches that will inspire you to begin travel sketching in the new year.
Please bring a fully charged phone (photos will be emailed to you at the workshop), your usual sketching supplies, narrow washi tape (optional), and a willingness to learn.
A Little Bit About Amy:
Amy is a passionate local and global urban sketcher, dedicated to capturing the world one sketch at a time. With a sketchbook always in hand, Amy finds beauty in the everyday — from bustling cityscapes to quiet neighborhood corners — using ink and watercolor to tell visual stories of place and presence. Amy has traveled solo, with sketchers, and with non-sketchers. She has sketchbooks from Chicago, Michigan, San Antonio, Virginia, Upper State NY, Colorado, Miami, New Orleans, North Carolina, Utah, Tennessee, Buenos Aires, Greece, Italy, Croatia, Costa Rica, Panama, and Mexico.
As an experienced instructor, Amy has led multiple urban sketching classes, sharing not just techniques, but a philosophy that sketching is for everyone. Her teaching emphasizes the calming, mindful nature of the practice, encouraging students to focus on observation and experience rather than performance or perfection.
Garage Parking (The first two hours are free). Small fee after 2 hours.