The Art and History of the Sketch

The Newark Valley Historical Society will sponsor a workshop in Nature Sketching with artist Carrie Dru Tornatore on May 5, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Bement Billings Farmstead Museum located on Route 38 in Newark Valley. The cost is $45 for non-members and $40 for Newark Valley Historical Members, and workshop materials are provided. Register by April 18 with Leslie by calling 642-5412. 

So you say you have unlined journals to fill and don’t know where to start? How about a workshop that starts you on the road to doing quick sketches from nature. 

Let Carrie Dru Tornatore, professional artist and instructor with 40-plus years guide you to explore a simple expressive form of nature sketching.

These sketching exercises will be fun, put you at ease to enjoy and connect to your natural surroundings while recording what you see on paper. Carrie has led many students to the enjoyment of learning a skill that opens your eyes to the beauty that surrounds us.

In the relaxing atmosphere of the Bement-Billings Farmstead in Newark Valley, where Blue Bells are expected in bloom, guests will explore ways to do the following: enhance your power of observation; learn simple sketching techniques such as the “gesture” sketch; learn to express the flow and dance of nature; observe famous nature sketches in journals of the following artists: Andrew Wyeth, Edwardian artist Edith Holden, Frida Kahlo and Beatrix Potter; and come away with basic skills to record sights and thoughts in your journals 

With a Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts and a minor in illustration, Carrie has taught professionally and exhibited in galleries to include the Black Cat Gallery in Owego, where her works are currently displayed. 

She has given workshops for art groups and also offers private art lessons at her Winged Visions art studio in Newark Valley. 

She will tell you that the only thing she loves more than creating her own art work, is to teach someone, inspire someone, and to make drawing a part of their life. And sketching is a great way to start. 

So bring your favorite art tools, home made journals, crayons, whatever. Or come with only a desire to play, sketch, and enjoy nature with the provided art materials.  

The group will be working outside, weather permitting, as well as inside the Welcome Center. Pack a lunch and if it’s a nice day, bring a sun hat. 

Get those blank pages full of great memories and images as you start your journey in nature sketching. 

Nature Sketching is the last of three workshops featured in this Paper Series, which also includes Paste Papers on April 14 and Book Binding on April 21. Participants may decide to take all three workshops resulting in a handmade artists book, or take just one in the series. All three workshops are related; however each workshop may be enjoyed and registered for separately.

To learn more about Newark Valley Historical Society workshops, visit www.nvhistory.org.

This program is made possible, in part, with public funds from NYSCA-Decentralization Program administered regionally by The Arts Council of the Southern Finger Lakes.