Burgers in Fort Worth

Life is hectic during the holidays and it has been hard to find the time to sketch or post. So here is a sketch from the Thanksgiving Holiday. For Thanksgiving we took a road trip up to Fort Worth to visit my sister P and her family. We stayed in FW's art district near the museums, and were able to spend an afternoon touring them.

For lunch we went to Dutch's near the TCU campus. We went based on a review in TX Monthly magazine for best burgers in Texas. Guess I was hungry when I saw the photo in the mag, 'cause I just had to try their Bleu Cheese Burger.

The buns tasted homemade and the melty cheese, bacon and burger were awesome. Definitely belongs on the "Things I Shouldn't Eat" list, but yum!

Pilates on the Square

This pretty building, on the southeast corner of Georgetown's square, owes its charm, at least in part, to the Main Street Project. In 1982, Georgetown, Texas, was chosen to be an official Main Street City and took part in the Texas Main Street Program (which is ongoing). This program focuses on "downtown revitalization, within the context of historical preservation." One of the four points of Main Street's approach is design, including storefronts, signage, landscaping and public spaces. Any changes made to downtown buildings must obtain the approval of the Main Street board. I love that Georgetown's citizens can exercise their minds and bodies in these quaint surroundings!!!

Platinum sepia ink and watercolor in my handmade sketchbook.

Meet Texas Sketcher James Richards

Hello all, I'm Jim Richards. I'm based in Fort Worth and the co-founder of an urban design consultancy called Townscape, where my partner and I creates plans for old town centers, new town centers, urban villages and transit-oriented developements. As a landscape architect, my focus is on the connective tissue between buildings, where the life of great cities takes place.  Freehand sketching is at the heart of my creative process and a signature element of our firm's work.

My first on-location sketching was done as a landscape architecture student at LSU back in the 1970s.  My early career involved design drawing on an almost daily basis, but I didn't return to location sketching with gusto until I began traveling around the world to study cities and projects in 1999. I now travel quite frequently for work and pleasure (visiting and sketching 32 countries so far), and sketching has become an integral part of the travel experience for me as well as my primary creative tool at work.  I enthusiastically promote freehand sketching through magazine articles, lectures and hands-on workshops at universities across the country and abroad, and I'm currently working on my first book, Freehand Drawing Renaissance, due from Wiley Press in January 2013.

I became a member of Urban Sketchers back in March of 2010, and was a lecturer at the 2nd International Urban Sketchers Symposium in Lisbon in August 2011.  The Lisbon experience was amazing, and inspired me to enlist some regional talent to start Urban Sketchers Texas!  I'm really looking forward to watching our network of sketchers grow and become a source of inspiration and encouragement for creative professionals and recreational sketchers alike.
flickr site:  www.flickr.com/photos/jamesrichardsdrawings
website:  www.townscape.com