It was just a little building next to a grassy knoll

On my recent trip to Dallas, to participate in the Rock 'n'Roll Dallas Half Marathon, where I got my PR on this distance. Small chronicle here., I did this sketch from the Museum Store + cá fe across Houston Street, but curiously not draw the Little building ( Texas School Book Depositary in 1963), or the Grassy knoll, to the right of the image.
I found more interesting to draw the view that due to observe L H Oswald from the sixth floor window of the "little building", as well as the latest that would see JFK before his assassination, when his car was sent by Elm Street parallel to the  "grassy knoll" towards the tunnel under the tracks of the train.
The landscape has changed, the trees are much more leafy, and in 1963 neither the Reunion Tower (1978) nor the Hyatt Hotel (1978) they had built, but that is for the imagination. Even would have that see it in sepia color, which is how are most of the photos of that time.

Yes, Everything IS Bigger Here!

Returning to Fort Worth from Houston Sunday, I stopped to sketch the statue of Sam Houston on I-45 near Huntsville.  Like Dallas Cowboys Stadium and the hair of our beloved Texas debutantes, this thing is BIG.  David Adicke's sculpture is 67 feet tall and stark white against the dark green pines.  It's visible from a few miles away when approaching from the south, but I was struck by the closer view, revealing the contrast between the size of statue and the crowd of visitors around its base.

Rodeo Houston

Gives me a lot respect draw large spaces, as well drawing people, so this sketch was a real challenge for my.
Done at Reliant Stadium home of the Houston Texans.  During the celebration of theHouston Rodeo that just ended  last Sunday.

Meet Texas Sketcher: Tomas Soria

Hello, I am Tomas Soria, the new correspondent here at USK-Texas. I am from Madrid-Spain, living in Houston, TX  since Jan 2011. Is my second time in the States, the first one was a few years ago, in NewYork City, from 1991 to 1996.
I have worked many years in a Bank, so nothing to do with art.
I always wanted to do on-location sketching, but is now here ( I considerer myself a sketcher born Texan) when  I am drawing almost every day. I enjoy sketch everything, but people, trees ans cars are the more dificult to me, but I am still trying . I like to use  Ink, waterproof and non,  Pencil,Watercolor pan and pencil, and use all types of paper, but always travels with me a sketchbook and 0,1 and 0,3 Pigma MICRON.
My first contact with USK blog was surfing the net, two years ago, and since them I have entered regularly, enjoying every sketch, every style, every theme ( I was hooked without knowing it).
Since Nov 2011 I regularly hang sketches in my Flickr as well post  in my blog and participated in the Flickr groups : USK and USK Spain, and Facebook USK and USK Texas.
My other important hobby/Sport is Running, I am actually training for the Madrid Rock & Roll Marathon, in April 22.
I am looking foward to meeting all the others Texas sketchers some time soon.

Some of my tools

Some of you may remember that I did a sketching workshop for design students in Istanbul last year.  I ended up visiting twice, had a great time sketching in the city, and made some wonderful friends.  So, I was excited and honored to be interviewed by a Turkish landscape architecture magazine a couple of weeks ago about drawing, design and creativity.  The interview is published in Turkish, so I don't know exactly how my answers translated, but the sketches speak a universal language.

Finding the right view....

I was flattered recently by being asked to do a sketch of the church where I attend.  The final sketch is to be a gift to some special visiting guests in May.  I am both honored and nervous about my first "commission"!  I spent some time today finding and sketching a view that frames the tower, Broadway Church of Christ's "iconic" architectural feature.  This is a very quick sketch I did just to explore view, composition, values and color.  Stay tuned for the final version!

At the Livestock Show

The turkeys were extremely inquisitive and craned their necks to inspect all the school field trips that gathered at their pen.
For more pictures from my trip to the livestock show, visit my FLICKR page:

Right side of the tracks

Recently I went to a demo presentation for Adobe Muse.  It is software that makes it easy for designers and the non-html-y types to create websites. It was held in a studio space near downtown Houston. During the workshop break I scurried outside and made a quick sketch. Lucky me, a train traveling pretty slowly, came through while I was sketching. There are a few of these warehouse spaces in the area converted to studio space. I think it would make an interesting place for a sketch crawl.