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. 

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...
Freedom

Freedom

Knowing that you have no debt, that you can pay your bills, and that you have money in the bank to spend...but you won't...is a special kind of freedom. It comes from downgrading your life, instead of upgrading it. It is about sorting and sifting through all the...

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Just Begin

Just Begin

I found it very difficult to post this first blog post. It makes me feel vulnerable and exposed. I knew that if I was going to do this, I had to just begin.

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