Handouts for my Symposium Workshops in Chicago

First of all, a big SORRY for being so lazy with my blog posts recently. It's a combination of having a lot on and of recent bursts of good weather. Well, aren't you the same? How hard is it to lock yourself inside with the computer when it's lovely sunshine outside? My suntanned face is a bit of a give-away!

So, excuses over, I though I'd show you what I have been up to over the last couple of days. Yes, I know I promised to show you more of my sketches from the job in Brighton, but that can wait for next time.

My trip to Chicago is getting closer and closer - the Urban Sketchers Symposium is at the end of July, but I fly on the 20th. I suddenly realised this week that I needed to get my workshop fine-tuned. I am teaching a 3-hour workshop called Rhythm & Blues: the relationship between colour and line. I teach the same workshop 3 times over the 4 day symposium. All the workshop instructors create some sort of hand-out for participants. In past years, I have actually had them printed to take with me but, apart from the expense, that's potentially 57 students, so a lot of weight in my case.

So this time, I have taken a leaf out of one or two other instructor's books and created my handout as a PDF, which I will email to all my students in advance, so they can print it out at home. Much easier all round. Plus, it means that, if students lose their handout in all the excitement of Chicago, they can print a fresh one when they get back home. It also means I can make it as long as I want, with lots of sketch examples to illustrate what I'm asking people to do. This year it has run to 4 pages of A4. I'm really pleased with how it's turned out!

Actually, I hadn't a clue how to create a PDF 2 days ago, but I put a post on Facebook, asking for help, and loads of my lovely e-friends came out of the woodwork to help. Turns out it's easy, once you know what to do.

Having got that out of the way, I immediately feel better prepared and far less panicky when I think of the trip, so it's possible to look forward to it properly, as I sneak back downstairs into the garden...