SUMMER 2025 ~ PORTLAND, OR
USk Workshops
Sketch your world this summer!
Join us for our 9th season of Urban Sketching Workshops in Portland— on-location drawing series. These workshops are a chance to develop your drawing skills, meet fellow sketchers, and see your city with fresh eyes.
What to Expect:
In-person workshops set in iconic and lesser-known spots around Portland
Live demos, drawing exercises, group and individual feedback
A handy booklet for each workshop, packed with examples and key takeaways
Fun, challenge, inspiration in the company of like minded sketchers
Who Can Join:
Ages 13 and up
All levels welcome—beginner to advanced. The workshops are designed to meet you where you are at in your sketching journey.
Artists, hobbyists, urban explorers, or anyone curious about drawing on location
Pricing & Registration:
$55 per workshop
Save by registering for 5 or all 8 workshops at once
Special discount for participants 30 and under: Only $25 per workshop with code 30UNDER
Workshop Details:
All sessions take place in or near Portland
Participants will receive meeting location and materials list several days in advance
Taught in person by Rita Sabler, with a focus on real-world urban sketching
Cancellation Policy:
Cancellations are subject to a $20 processing fee
Refunds available if requested at least 10 days before the workshop date
or by the end of the day of the first workshop in a multi-session package
Download the list of art supplies and materials for the workshop
Questions?
Contact us at urbansketcherspdx@gmail.com
Sunday, June 8, 2025 from 9am to 12noon
Location: NW Portland, OR
Instructor: Rita Sabler
When out and about urban sketching you won’t always have several hours hours at your disposal—but that doesn’t mean you can’t capture the place in a quick, playful way. In this workshop, we’ll explore expressive architectural vignettes with a focus on linear perspective. Join us to learn how to distill complex scenes into playful sketches that are both efficient and full of character.
Saturday, June 14, 2025 from 9am to 12 noon
Location: Downtown Portland
Instructor: Rita Sabler
Every location has its own unique color story—shaped by light, time of day, season, and atmosphere. In this workshop, we’ll explore how to identify and mix the true colors of a place to better express its essence. Using limited palettes and a focus on subtle color nuance, we’ll learn how to communicate mood and setting. You'll gain practical tools for working with watercolor—balancing freedom and control to avoid overworking, and learning how to let the medium shine without turning your sketch into a coloring book. This is about making your colors work with your drawing, not just sitting on top of it.
Sunday, July 13, 2025 from 9am to 12 noon
Location: Downtown Portland, OR
Instructor: Rita Sabler
One of the common self-critiques coming from sketchers is that they don’t know what elements to include in their drawing and that the end result looks flat despite a lot of effort. In this session, we will address both of these issues by learning to show elements that convey depth and dimension. We’ll focus on what to include and what to leave out when you are designing your sketch. How to think about color, relative scale, and picture planes creating a natural sense of depth that pulls the viewer into your artwork. We will experiment with distance cues to discover ways to bring drawings to life. This session will feature hands-on exercises to practice each point in isolation.
Thursday, July 3, 2025 from 5pm to 8pm
Location: Pearl District
Instructor: Rita Sabler
This workshop will address one of sketchers’ major headaches–drawing people in motion. Drawing convincing human postures and gestures requires one to rely on a solid visual vocabulary of people in specific circumstances. We will explore shortcuts for drawing people by creating a vocabulary of gestures , so next time you are see a crowd of people you calmly pull out a sketchbook and say to yourself “I can do this!”
Saturday, August 16, 2025 from 9am to 12pm
Location: Oregon City, OR
Instructor: Rita Sabler
What do you do when faced with a complex panorama–landscape, buildings, vegetation all coming together in a perfect view? In this workshop we will explore strategies for identifying the key elements that define the landscape and prioritize them in our drawings. Come and discover shortcuts for rapidly capturing the essence of a panorama, from simplified shapes and gestures to shorthand notations for complex elements like buildings, foliage, and terrain.
Saturday, September 13, 2025 from 9am to 12pm
Location: Northwest Portland
Instructor: Rita Sabler
North Portland neighborhood hides little architectural treasures full of whimsical detail and personality. Using this historic neighborhood as our playground, we will break down the complexity of drawing buildings and then take it a step further. In this workshop we will learn how to inject your architectural drawings with personality, exaggerated details, while taking risks and creative freedom.
Sunday, September 21, 2025 from 9am to 12pm
Location: Peninsula Park
Instructor: Rita Sabler
Trees are a vital element to the health of any urban setting. They filter light, create intricate textures, and mark seasonal changes. Yet, drawing natural looking greenery could be challenging–some sketchers complain their trees look like over-stylized heads of broccoli, others get lost in the overwhelming complexity of vegetation. We will learn how to capture different elements of a tree and how to use color and shading to make sense of light and shadow to imply urban forests.
Saturday, September 27, 2025 from 9am to 12 noon
Location: PSU Farmers Market
Instructor: Rita Sabler
Sketching a person engaged in activity not only creates a visually captivating scene but also instantly transports viewers into the heart of a narrative. In this workshop, we'll delve into the art of finding and drawing characters that feel organic, alive, and relatable. We will explore strategies for showing movement from capturing the flow of fabric and hair to implying motion through dynamic posing and composition. We will be covering realistic proportions, gestural drawing, and tricks for showing movement and personality.
Save money by registering for more than one at a time. Pick 5 workshops that work for your schedule and budget or sign up for all of 8 to get a full menu of topics.
Student Testimonials
I love Rita's unique approach to teaching Urban Sketching, especially her emphasis on value and how to simplify. I experienced many "now I see moments" and thoroughly enjoyed her course.
-Kirk Haupt
Rita is an amazing teacher!! She is unbelievably supportive and encouraging! I could really feel that she wanted me to succeed and more importantly to enjoy the process and learn to sketch what I wanted to sketch!!
-Janet M
“I want to thank you for a wonderful experience this morning, it was the highlight of my week! Your instruction and your process are so clear and "do-able", they give one confidence to just go.
Thank you for your insights and your very clear instruction. Your paintings have a friendly accessible quality that makes one think "I can do that too!". And the handout is genius. I look forward to taking another class with you.”
-Liz Williams , Portland, OR
“The online class I took with Rita Sabler was my favorite activity of the year. I have a degree in studio art from 25 years ago, but having worked in a different field, my drawing and painting became rusty. Rita’s online class was a crash course, helping me to remember perspective, composition, tonal values, storytelling, drawing, and seeing. She demonstrated ways to prepare and complete a sketch that I wasn’t taught in art school.”
- Jen, Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, Canada
This is a thorough, well-taught and organized course which I would highly recommend for both beginners and experienced urban sketchers alike to learn and practice basic techniques & improve skills in an supportive environment.
“I really enjoyed the logical approach to the “Fundamentals of Drawing Urban Spaces.” The instructor explained the steps of the process we need to complete in sequence, emphasizing that troubleshooting practice makes the difference in the final drawing we do. Thank you for sharing your valuable sketching knowledge and experience!”
-Diane Mills, Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada
“Rita’s passion for capturing places and the people shines through in her approach to reportage urban sketching and her generosity as a teacher. Classes were well organized and suitable for beginners and those with experience. Daily class topics were sequenced to build skills so we could tackle increasingly complicated scenes over the week. I had a lot of fun and came away with new skills and a good sense of where to focus on my own to keep improving. If you’re hesitating — Don’t!”
— Maureen, Portland, OR
“Rita is an excellent instructor - very knowledgeable, organized, supportive and fun. She generously shares techniques and tips. She's a great role model for sketching anywhere, anytime, too! I learned so much from Rita and highly recommend her.“
Tamara W.
“An unexpected "gift" of this course, was being retaught how to really look and observe life all around me. I look forward to attempting more urban sketching as the weather improves! Thank you for everything, Rita!”
-M.P.
“Rita Sabler is an excellent instructor, super helpful and inspiring. The course was really enlightening, she made difficult concepts very simple to understand. I learned a lot from her drawing process and her feedback every week.I am so glad I decided to take this course. I would highly recommend it!”
- Marisol Pastrana, Italy
“Rita Sabler makes the problem of simplifying the chaotic visual scene easy to follow. No one has taught me that so clearly. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks!”
-Thia Bankey, Portland, OR
“Really enjoyed the class and appreciated the feedback. I thought Rita Sabler did a great job of explaining in a way that was accessible and understandable to me - a beginner - even though she also needed to present in a way that was also good for the more experienced class members. Thank you!”
-2024 Fundamentals of Drawing Urban Spaces Student
“Rita was an excellent teacher! Her enthusiasm for urban sketching was contagious, as she patiently met each participant at the skill level where they were at. After the week-long course, I am no longer scared to tackle difficult urban scenes, particularly panoramic city views. The lessons learned from the week will continue to propel my urban sketching skills forward!”
— Kat, Guanajuato Workshops participant
“I learned SO MUCH from Rita’s course! I was new to sketching, only about 4 months into it, when I took her course. The course organized very basic, though imperative, concepts of sketching technique all in one place for me. I have no doubt that I will enjoy sketching even more due to the course minimizing frustration in my learning. It would have taken me YEARS to figure these concepts out otherwise. Honestly, I probably would have given up before ever feeling very accomplished as a sketcher, without Rita’s course. It is worth every penny! Thanks Rita!”
-Ellen
“I was impressed and pleased at how quickly the instructor responded to my questions. She quickly understood what the question was about and then answered it clearly. Not all teachers do that. A lot of instructors let themselves be de-railed. As a teacher, Rita Sabler is a Gem!”
-Student from Lantzville, BC
“Drawing architecture and complicated scenes has always been a challenge for me - something always seemed wrong in my sketches. Rita’s “Drawing Cities'' online course equipped me with valuable know-how and suggestions for a process which gave me confidence to sketch even the busiest surroundings.”
- Martina, Germany
“Rita is approachable and relatable, and she teaches with focus and patience. She has a talent for selecting what is good about a student’s sketch, and she suggests tweaks to make future sketches more successful.”
- Jen, Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, Canada
I was not new to urban sketching or a beginner sketcher when I signed up for this course, but I struggle with where to start when sketching a big scene on location and I feel like I sketch very tight and controlled, which frustrated me. This course gave great tips on how to approach a scene and not feel so overwhelmed. Over the 7 weeks I could feel my approach to sketching really loosen up. I loved the tips Rita shared and really feel grateful for the skills I learned.
-2025 Fundamentals of Drawing Urban Spaces Student
50 Shades of Grey–Tricks for Showing Depth and Shadows
Creating rich darks and using a wide range of values is one of the best ways to increase the drama and “organize” your composition. This workshop will teach you how to look creatively in dark shadows and grey walls producing sketches that are bursting with color, life and personality despite the grey subject matter.
Learning Goals: creative use of watercolor, mixing techniques, textures, architectural drawing
Level 2 - 3
Visual Storytelling for Urban Sketchers
We all love drawings that are not only beautiful to look at but also tell a compelling story. How do you infuse your work with meaning that is universally understood? Successful visual reportage requires familiarity with your subject, research, and time for extensive exploration. How do you tell a good story as you witness it happen in front of you with limited time and tools while standing in a crowded place? This workshop will introduce you to the key ingredients of a visual story and teach you easy to follow recipes to put together one of your own.
Learning Goals: Learn quick techniques for visual storytelling on the go, learn to zero in on the most important, people drawings, techniques for capturing action
Level 2 - 3
Drawing Water: Ripples and Reflections
Rivers, lakes, and bays make for a perfect urban setting on a warm summer day, but how do you capture this liquid perfection and everything that is reflected in it with mastery and ease? In this workshop we will enjoy a beautiful morning by on a shore learning how to convincingly portray water and objects that are reflected in it.
Learning Goals: watercolor, glazes and washes, drawing water, implying reflections, splashes and ripples
Level 2 - 3
People on the Move
This workshop will address one of sketchers’ major challenges–drawing people who are on the move. Drawing convincing human postures and gestures requires one to rely on a solid visual vocabulary of people in specific circumstances. We will explore shortcuts for drawing people and build a vocabulary of gestures , so next time you are drawing dynamic subjects you won’t throw in the towel before you even begin.
Learning Goals: Human anatomy, vocabulary of gestures, speed sketching
Level 2 - 3
Urban Tree Canopies
Trees are a vital element to the health of any urban setting. They filter light, create intricate textures, and mark seasonal changes. Yet, drawing natural looking greenery could be challenging–some sketchers get lost trying to draw every single leaf, others struggle with drawing convincing canopy shapes. We will demonstrate how to capture different elements of a tree and how to use color to make sense of light and shadow to imply urban forests.
Learning Goals: Effective use of texture, watercolor, shadows, color casts, learning to draw trees
Level: 1 - 2 - 3
Plan like a Turtle, Sketch like a Rabbit: Developing your Drawing Strategy
A lot of times we are so concerned with what we are drawing we forget to pay attention to how we are translating what we see onto a page. Strategically planning your sketch is something that all successful artists do before they make their first mark. In this workshop we will learn various approaches to composition and how applying these principles can solve a lot of issues for you in the process: relative size, what to include and what to leave out, choosing the layout, “finishing” the edges, and how the overall shape of your drawing is an important ingredient of success.
Learning Goals: rules and principles of composition, working with thumbnails, strategy, planning
Level 1 - 2
Step by Step Guide to Drawing a Typical Street
Typical American street consist of predictable elements: sidewalks, buildings, trees, cars parked along a curb, pedestrians, and urban furniture. In this workshop we will learn how to place all of these elements accurately from a one point perspective in a step-by-step fashion making sure that all of the elements are proportionate and consistently adhere to the perspective grid.
Learning Goals: one point perspective, street elements, proportions, architectural drawing, putting it all together
Level 2 - 3
Quick and Easy Vignettes of Urban Spaces in Perspective
In this workshop we focus on capturing urban settings on the go. Using playful vignette sketches that emphasize linear perspective we will demonstrate that one doesn’t need hours to grab the essence of a place successfully.
Learning Goals: linear perspective, quick thumbnails, ability to simplify complex scenes, capturing the essence of a place
Level 1 - 2
Draw Less, Show More: Sketches on a Budget of Time and Effort
Urban sketching doesn’t always allow for many hours of leisurely drawing outside. Often we have to capture the scene before we have to run off or conditions change. This workshop will focus on how to make sketches that feel finished and interesting but also quick and spontaneous–without feeling rushed or resorting to speed sketching. We will practice on what to draw and what to leave out, how to maximize the power of every stroke that you make and what tools to use.
Learning Goals: quick gestural sketching, decision making, tools, doing more with less
Level 1 - 2