Using a sketchbook as a journal to record our experiences is a very personal way to grow our creativity and skill, with the added bonus that it helps us to live in the moment and connect with the world around us.

Whether you’re travelling the world or recording the It takes the pressure away from feeling we have to paint the perfect finished picture as there is no right or wrong way to keep a sketchbook – but every page you fill will help you to develop your artist’s eye.

Art Safari tutor Claudia Myatt will guide you through the many different approaches to this joyful creative process, including:

• Sketching materials – what works in studio doesn’t always work on location
• How to select colours quickly and simplify a scene – colour mapping
• Overcoming fear of the empty page
• Using words and images together – sketching as storytelling
• The beauty of fragments – when to paint a whole scene and when to focus on the detail
• Ways of covering up mistakes and overcoming inhibitions
• Nature journaling and urban sketching
• Creative doodling and the patterns of nature
• Developing your own style

We will send you a list of recommended materials (though you are welcome to start with whatever you already have) and full details of the exercises given in the workshop.