They came, they saw and they sketched our city!

Finally after a 2 year wait the 4th USKUK Annual Event took place in Leeds from the 9th to the 11th of September. The event was sponsored by Leeds Inspired and Leeds City Council with generous additional support provided by some of the biggest names in the art materials market. The weekend was organised by myself and Louise Garrett with help from Mohan Banerji and Gina Glot.  And there was quite a lot more involved in organising than I originally thought including sponsorship, venues, insurance, risk assessment, health and safety, social media and print production. I also  designed the logo and all the printed materials as well as wrote the programme text and illustrated the sketchcrawl maps.

Our team of volunteers ran sketchcrawls and helped things run smoothly at the hub in the Royal Armouries. Thanks Amy Thraves-Connor, Richard Towers, Roger Carter, Eleanor Merson, Sarah Ackers and Robert Cherry.

The weekend got off to a soggy start with monsoon like downpours interrupting our Friday afternoon sketchcrawl at Leeds University campus. Despite this the 60 or so sketchers carried on sketching. Some finding shelter one sketching from under an umbrella and declaring ‘I’ve sketched in worse conditions’. Even so the evening’s Drink and Draw at Trinity Kitched proved to be a welcome relief.

Photo by Fatina Siyuan Qian

Saturday started with an urban sketchers feeding frenzy at the free Goody Bag collection. This was followed by sketchcrawls, a couple of workshops one by Pat Southern Pearce, a mini pop-up exhibition with a spot prize draw and a Drink and Draw at Leeds Playhouse.

Millennium Square on Sunday saw us witness and record the Proclamation of King Charles lll as we sketched around the impressive Civic Hall. We also had our photograph taken by the police. One of whom kindly took the obligatory group photo on the steps of the museum. The afternoon saw us descend on Granary Square where they were greeted by a life sized Spinosaurus dinosaur. The last one remaining from the recent dinosaur trail and a gift for an urban sketcher.

Judging by the many positive comments we received in person and on our Facebook page the weekend was a great success and the ideal way to show off our city one drawing at a time.