Notes from Nola Noreen!
Looking for some sketchy inspiration?
HOW TO USE THESE NOTES: These notes are dynamic. I’ll post a note and return later to add an additional sketch or a link to another post, as they are completed. It’s almost more of a bulletin board in that regard.
An Artist’s First: What Just Happened To Me
This was a first for me! I have a great urban sketch in my collection titled Sourdough Bakery. It's an adorable little bakery with the best sourdough cinnamon buns you have ever had in your life. The building itself is charming and rustic. My sketchy side-kick and...
Art Storefronts Review Of First Month (I Sold Art!!)
I will lead with what you all want to know…did I sell any art? The answer is YES!! The original above is gone from my inventory AND I have had a collector (who is well aware that prints are available) ask if I would create another original of the same building for...
Why I Chose Art Storefronts (For Better or For Worse)
For better or for worse, artists need to be online these days and that's why I was looking at Art Storefronts. I am probably the most left-brained artist you've ever met. I've spent many more years running businesses as a Chartered Professional Accountant (with a...
5 Interesting Places To Urban Sketch (That You Haven’t Thought Of!)
Looking for interesting or undiscovered places to Urban Sketch? Here’s a handful that you probably haven’t considered, but should! Sketchy Location #1 - Legislative Library Legislative libraries across Canada are quiet but powerful research hubs that exist to support...
Sketchy Story Behind Dawson City Radio’s Urban Sketch
My Sweetie and I visited Dawson on our honeymoon in July 2025. We travelled from the Atlantic Coast across Canada in Vinny VAN Go, our mini-van converted for camping. Up the Dempster Highway we went to Inuvik and got married in the “igloo church”. Just the two of us....
Rebel Urban Sketching? Using Reference Photos
Urban Sketching has official rules. One of those rules is that you must sketch onsite from direct observation. Great rule...but what about reference photos?There are 3 times that reference photos and urban sketching are perfect companions, in my opinion. 1. When...
Rebel Urban Sketching? NOT on Location
This sourdough bakery located in Carcross, Yukon, was NOT sketched on location. It was sketched a full 8 months after I visited it from a reference photo. REBEL URBAN SKETCHER? To be an “official” urban sketcher associated with the non-profit organization that...
Is Your Town Too Boring to Sketch?
I just saw a post in an urban sketching Facebook group that I participate in from a gentleman who said he couldn’t find anything interesting to sketch in his hometown. His hometown was Calgary, Alberta. What?!? I live in small town Canada (population 397). It was...
Must Have Coffee Stop For Every Canadian Road Trip (Nope – it’s not Tim’s!)
From Fredericton, New Brunswick to Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories (and back) the coffee shops you won’t want to miss…and other attractions along the way.