Gail L. Wong is an architect, illustrator, educator, and urban sketcher. She has taught design drawing and architectural sketching at the University of Washington in Seattle and has also taught and lectured at several on-location sketching workshops through Urban Sketchers and at the Urban Sketchers International Symposiums. She is the coauthor of The Urban Sketching Handbook: Spotlight on Nature. We asked Gail a few questions about her creative process.

Quarto Creates: How did you first become interested in urban sketching?

Gail L. Wong: Similar to many people who maintain a practice of sketching, I was “urban sketching” for a long time prior to the term being used. It was something I did as a result of being an architect. I also taught sketching to architecture students at University of Washington. So urban sketching was a part of my practice and a habit I used to help me observe and understand the built environment around me.

QC: What is your advice for those who want to try it but aren’t sure where to start?

GLW: My first advice is to get a small sketchbook and pencil or pen and just practice sketching what you see everyday. Get in the habit of drawing. You can start with a handy pocket sized sketchbook 3x5 or 5x8. Something that is easy to carry around in your purse or back pack so you always have a sketchbook to sketch on. Start with small objects. Try to observe the correct angles of lines, shapes and proportions of what you are seeing and then try to replicate that on the page. Get a good book about drawing starting from objects….then work up to drawing spaces. When you start drawing spaces look at the urban sketching handbooks these are good books to start off with.

QC: What artists do you look to for inspiration?

GLW: Right now I am honing my water color skills and techniques. I have taken classes from and reference the following people for their emphasis on different aspects of art and watercolor. Tom Hoffman for simplication and abstraction, Yong Hong Zhong for light and color, and Cynthia Armstrong and Brenda Swenson for negative space painting and experimental landscape painting. I am constantly looking around at work of my fellow urban sketching friends but also look to different artist and how their approaches evolve over time. My work changes it is not always the same. So I am a student as well as a teacher. I think we should always be learning and experimenting. So I move from realism to abstraction and back and forth. I also like to learn from the use of different mediums. .

QC: What is the biggest challenge you face while working on a project?

GLW: If you are asking about drawing…it is pre planning a sketch getting the proportions correct on the page. Many times I just jump into sketching without setting up the sketch. Taking time to set up the sketch, the composition, is critical to getting a good sketch. If it is the watercolor, it is the tendency to try to match the color I see rather that interpret. There is so much more you can do with color. And there is so much more you can convey with color that is not specific to what you are actually seeing. . 

QC: What is the most important lesson you’ve learned from creating?

GLW: Whether it is knitting, painting, cooking or building something, the creative process brings fulfillment to your life. In the process of creating a visual piece, be willing to take a chance. Over come your fear, be willing to make a mistakes push things as far as you can and that will tell you if you need to hold back. You learn from those mistakes.

Learn more about Gail's work on Instagram @glwarc_seattle and online at glwsketchworks.blogspot.com.