BATS

The group

The November 1st trip to see the Waugh Bridge bat colony wasn't entirely a bust. Oh, somehow we missed or weren't patient enough to see the bats emerge. We certainly heard them chirping away under the bridge. We certainly SMELLED them... yeah. However,  the grand exit  I've seen in the past didn't happen. But we did make some decent sketches. And some of us just used our imaginations.

You can see Richard's imagination at work on the header. He did a lovely job rendering the bridge, Buffalo Bayou park and the surroundings. 

The exit of the bats to the west is what we imagine may have happened while we concentrated on sketching.

And here's Richard hard at work.

Another thing we hadn't quite thought of was that it would be pretty dark by the time the bats DID emerge. Not still light enough for the throw down. Thus the odd light in the group photo above.

Mike had a different solution. He completed his sketch, then made a little slit in the page from which his flock of bats emerges.

Mike

Kayoko did a couple of nice versions of the bridge.

Kayoko

Kayoko

Susan planned ahead and prepainted a page.

Susan

I spent quite a while getting the bridge just the way I wanted it, but ended up adding the bats at

home.

Chris

Here are some of the sketchers hard at work.

I must really be concentrating . LOL

And here are the rest

lined up along the side of

the trail.

Some of the group went to dinner nearby and shared their sketchbooks.

Susan and Mike

It didn't  turn out exactly as we expected, but it was still a fun sketchout.

Follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. And feel free to join us at the next sketchout.

October in Galveston

Our group

Once again, Urban Sketchers Houston went to Galveston for our October sketchout. As you can see from Jeff's sketch in the header, the sight of the Carnival cruise ship peeking through the older buildings on the Strand was an irresistible sketch subject. Here's Francisco's take.

Francisco

Here's another take.

Not sure whose this is??

And then I tackled this as well.

Chris

We started the day, however, on Post Office street for a short warmup in the area.

Lucia at the Mod coffee

Richard at the Mod coffee

Martha and Joel drew a local church.

Martha

Joel

Here's our first throwdown.

Our first throwdown

From there, we moved on to the Strand. People wandered all up and down the street sketching.

Bruce

Mike S

Rachel

Heather

Andrea

Veronika

Judith

Chris

Martha

Peter

Tanya

Jeff

Lucia

Veronika

Here's our throwdown from lunchtime.

throwdown at the arts center

Next we all went to the waterfront. Some people drew boats. Some chose other subjects.

Francisco

Bee

Mike

Amber

Amber

Not sure of the artist?

Chris

And finally Richard's sketch. He stayed on to finish it. A nice historical study of the waterfront.

Richard

Here's the throwdown from the pier.

the throwdown at the pier

From there, the group split up and met up at the end of the day at a local community center for refreshments and air conditioning. (Did I mention it was HOT?)

the community center

The pictures I received from the end of the day were from the group that went to the Silk Stocking district to draw old houses.

Susan

Rachel

Tanya

Bee

Charlotte

Heather

Judith

All in all, there was a little something for everyone to sketch. I'm going to add a few more and address a topic that comes up from time to time. What do you do when you have a day like this with several venues and you don't finish your sketch?

Richard

Richard's solution is usually to take copious reference photos and finish at home. I suspect we'll see this in finished form at some point. And taking photos is just fine. Richard travels and this is a necessity for him on trips and tours.

Judith's lunch sketch

Now this black and white sketch is just fine as is, but Judith often goes back and adds color in Procreate, or a small journal entry or caption in the blank space.

Judith

Here's another one of Judith's quick sketches of details from a building. This would be a great place to paste down ephemera ( a ticket stub, a lunch menu) or add some journaling along one side. Richard did something similar in his Mod Coffee sketch. Try this the next time you run short on time.

This group always looks forward to our trip to Galveston in October. If you are new to the blog, be sure and check us out on Instagram or join our Facebook group. And check in here again for our next sketchout.