Rach Faulkner has always created, drawn and painted her way through life. Sketching is as natural as chatting to her, in fact, her favourite thing is to chat and sketch at the same time. Lee Allcock caught up with Rach as she begins her career in live sketching.
Tell me a bit about The Live Sketcher and the work you do…
I travel to different events, celebrations and locations to sketch the action. A lot of the time I’m chatting with guests as they watch me work, so it’s part visual art, part performance art. It’s great for creating a unique event legacy and it’s also useful where photography may not be possible for safeguarding reasons. If I’m at a longer event, it’s possible for the statement sketches to be made into an event storybook which really showcases the day. Live sketching is a great way for guests to engage in what’s happening around them and is a fabulous way to bring people together. It doesn’t have to be a choice between sketching and photography either – they work really well together.
Tell me a bit about yourself, your background, and how you got into live sketching…
I’ve always sketched as long as I can remember – all of my schoolbooks were covered in doodles inside and out. For the last few years, I’ve worked on commissioned portraits around work but I’ve now migrated to art full-time, continuing to work on portraits, but I’m also a printmaker and painter. In the summer, I went to Spennymoor Mural Festival and had my sketchbook on me. I started sketching what was going on and ended up sketching right throughout the week. I really loved capturing the movement of the muralists as they worked across really large spaces. One of my favourite parts of that week was interacting with all the visitors and swapping stories. With encouragement from the Festival team and friends, The Live Sketcher was born. With great support from friends and family, The Spennymoor Mural Festival and the Billy No Mates crew, a very encouraging local co-working group I go to, the business has really started to take off – and I’m enjoying every moment.
What have been some of the most memorable events you have worked on and why?
Definitely The Spennymoor Mural Festival and not just because it was the first – the atmosphere was fantastic and it was great to be part of a community of creatives coming together in one space. For similar reasons, I’d say the No More Nowt rebrand launch last month as it was such a privilege to be there at the start of something new. I really enjoyed sketching at an author event in Durham at the fabulous independent bookshop, Collected, run by owner Emma Hamlett, as books and pictures are a perfect combination.
What has been the most difficult event you’ve worked on and why?
I was asked to sketch a boat trip in the North Sea which definitely had its challenges. Aside from the movement of the boat, I had to think about where to balance the palette, but luckily, the weather was very kind to us that day and I came away with a sketchbook full to the brim.
And finally, how can people acquire your services?
The easiest way to contact me is via email at info@thelivesketcher.com and anyone considering live sketching at their event check out my work at thelivesketcher.com or on Instagram @thelivesketcher. I can work with different budgets and requirements, so it doesn’t matter if your event lasts for a couple of hours or a couple of weeks.
For further information, head to thelivesketcher.com.
