Finding it hard to make friends as an adult? Try urban sketching

Three-dimensional artist Kathi Wilson of Racine was never interested in drawing, or even learning how.

She happened upon a fellow artist sitting beneath a tree at the Tulip Time Festival in Holland, Michigan. The artist explained to Wilson that she was “urban sketching” and let Wilson see what was in her sketchbook: a personal rendering of what was right in front of her.

An “urban sketch” of the view from Kathi Wilson’s seat on an Amtrak heading to Chicago on a December morning in 2024. *Photo courtesy of Kathi Wilson*

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“She showed me her tiny, little watercolor palette,” Wilson said in an interview with WPR’s “Wisconsin Today.” “She was completely self-contained, sketching these beautiful tulips, and I thought ‘Uh oh, I’m in trouble.’”

That’s when Wilson knew she wanted to practice urban sketching.

At the time, Wilson was the executive director of the Racine Arts Council. Inspired by the artist she met in Michigan, Wilson looked into urban sketching and found an international organization promoting a group-based practice with almost 500 chapters — a handful of which are in Wisconsin.

An “urban sketch” of the Gold Medal Flour milling site along the Mississippi river by Kathi Wilson. *Photo courtesy of Kathi Wilson*

“I thought, ‘I can go to Chicago to sketch because there’s a beautiful sketch group there. I can go to Milwaukee, I can go to Madison, but I want to do it in my own hometown,’” Wilson said.

So, in November 2023, she founded the urban sketchers chapter in Racine.

The people who comprise the group are all of all ages and artistic backgrounds. “We have people that are young, people that are retired,” Wilson said. “I’ve got sketching friends that are architects, and they are so encouraging to everybody. Then I have friends that don’t have anything to do with art. It’s just their passion.”

Urban Sketchers Racine gets creative with the subjects of their drawings, too. It doesn’t have to be a landscape or something out in nature.

“In winter time, there’s a lot of coffee shop sketching going on,” Wilson said.

“Sketching is whatever you want to sketch, wherever you are,” she added. “Here in Racine, we’ve sketched the lighthouse, we’ve sketched the DeKoven Center, we’ve sketched the beach, the Main Street Bridge. It doesn’t make any difference. It’s all fun to do.”

Since diving into her new craft, Wilson has also traveled and met sketchers from different areas of the country and the state of Wisconsin. There are always seasoned artists in a group, but beginners are equally encouraged to participate — if not more.

“Everybody is so excited that you’ve come,” Wilson said. “It’s exciting to have you there and meet you and talk with you, but it’s also exciting that you’re wanting to try.”

In January 2025, Kathi Wilson, founder of the Urban Sketchers Racine chapter, made this sketch of the shipwrecked S.S. Minnow in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As Wilson notes, the ship has become a tourist attraction, represented in her drawing with a human figure observing the boat. *Photo courtesy of Kathi Wilson*

At the end of every sketching session the artists share their work in what they call a “throw down.” They put all of their sketchbooks on a table or on the ground, admire each other’s work and take a group photo. At a recent group sketch outing in Minneapolis, Wilson met an artist who was new to urban sketching.

“She was deathly afraid to sketch,” Wilson said. “She brought all of her supplies with her, but she did not sketch. She did not put anything down. And I said, ‘Don’t be afraid. Just come. And if you come and you don’t want to put your sketch in the throw down, then don’t.”

“There’s zero judgment in urban sketching,” Wilson said. “There’s just excitement and encouragement.”

Urban sketchers participate in a “throw down,” where sketchers share their work after a sketch meetup. *Photo courtesy of Kathi Wilson*

Wilson brings her urban sketching materials with her everywhere she goes, just in case. She sees the world a little differently than she did before, even though she’s always been an artist. She notices more detail in what’s around her, and she’s always thinking of different ways to sketch what she sees.

“Now, I say, ‘Oh geez, look how that chimney is attached to that roof. Look at that tree’s branches and where they start. Look at the shape of your foot,’” Wilson said. “I mean, a sketch or a drawing, I’ve learned as I’ve done this, is just lines and shapes. So if you’re thinking about that, you really see the world in a different way by becoming an urban sketcher.”

Meeting new people opens her mind, too. Wilson has sketcher friends across the country, of all ages, from all different backgrounds. Wilson said the closeness she experiences with people while sketching together is astounding.

“Sketchers love to be together,” Wilson said. “The friends that I have now are more like family.”