Santa Barbara Castle.

Short trip to Spain, with a family stop in Alicante.

Can't make it to Barcelona? Check this out...

urbansketchers.org | Facebook group | Flickr group  Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. May 12, 2013 WEST COAST URBAN SKETCHERS SKETCHCRAWL Dear sketchers, Mark your calendars for the 1st Annual West Coast Urban Sketchers Sketchcrawl, July 12 - 14, in the San Francisco Bay Area. This event, spearheaded by Jim Bumgarner, of USk Tri-Cities, will offer any and all urban sketchers anywhere throughout the world, who for whatever reasons, were not able to attend the Barcelona Symposium, a chance to meet new people, and to enjoy group sketching and socializing in the fabulous San Francisco Bay Area, located on the West Coast of the United States.  No fees or workshops, the event is designed for meeting with new people and friends, and sketching all day on Saturday, the "40th World Wide Sketchcrawl," in the city where Enrico Casarosa gave birth to the "World Wide Sketchcrawl," San Francisco.  Friday, July 12: The Golden Bear Inn in Berkeley is recommended as a reasonably priced, central place to stay. Click on the link to contact them directly. Activities will officially begin with a group dinner somewhere in the neighborhood, with some sketching as well. Saturday, July 13: The Golden Bear is a 15 minute walk to the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport) station where we will head into San Francisco early in the morning for the "40th Worldwide Sketchcrawl."  First stop will be the Ferry Building at the foot of Market Street a block from the Embarcadero BART station, Chinatown is within walking distance, and Fisherman's Wharf is close by as well.  Plan on a full marathon of sketching fun.  We will meet at the end of the day back at the Ferry Building to share sketches. Return to The Golden Bear sometime later in the evening. Sunday, July 14: A get-together in and around the Berkeley neighborhood, where there are many areas ripe for sketching, is planned.  Adjourn at noon; or, for those wanting more, another trip into San Francisco, or other surrounding points of interest are encouraged. If you plan to attend, please leave an RSVP in the comment section on the event page at http://wcuskskcrawl.blogspot.com Urban Sketchers is a grassroots 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering the art of on-location drawing. Consider making a donation today. Go to urbansketchers.org to make your tax-deductible contribution via Paypal. Like Urban Sketchers on Facebook Join group on Facebook Join group on flickr Follow on Twitter Copyright © 2013 Urban Sketchers, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you were part of our old Google Group or subscribed to our mailing list at urbansketchers.org Our mailing address is: Urban Sketchers P.O. Box 12624 Mill Creek, WA 98082 Add us to your address book  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

Sketching around Austin

Last month the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) had their annual conference in Austin.  A group of design drawing professors set up a sketchcrawl for the first day of the conference,  I was lucky enough to be invited to come along (now that I'm a bonafide academic), as was Richard Alomar, the founder of Urban Sketchers New York and a professor at Cornell.  It was a great day of making new friends and leisurely sketching impressions of a great city.  At the end of the day our accordion-style Moleskine sketchbooks were opened and hung for display at a 3rd Street gallery (see photo).  Austin is hungry for more sketchcrawls!

The broad pedestrian way outside the Commons on the U of Texas campus.

The amazing axial view from in front of Memorial Tower to the State Capitol.

The Memorial Tower on campus.

Yup, the back yard at Stubb's BBQ is where I first saw Willie Nelson live, and was captivated by his "Willieness."

One of the old stone bridges over Waller Creek (this one at Sixth Street downtown), drawn from the limestone creek bed.

The accordion-style sketchbooks were hung from small binder clips on the gallery wall...pass me a Shiner, please...

Pickin' and eatin'

Easter weekend we took a trip up to visit one of my sisters and her family and stayed in Denton, Texas. It was perfect spring weather. 

Downtown  Denton is centered around a large country courthouse and is lively with bars, coffee shops, restaurants, and funky old antique shops. Every Saturday morning a group of musicians gather on the courthouse lawn for a little pickin'. My uncle is the one playing the big bass. They play a range of country and bluegrass music. 

One evening we went to eat at Rooster's home of the Hell Burger, a burger doused in ghost pepper sauce. (Only the hottest chili in the world, as recognized by Guinness Book of World Records. According to the Scoville scale of pepper pungency, the ghost pepper (aka India’s Bhut Jolokia chili pepper), is 300 times hotter than a jalapeno and 10 times hotter than a habenero). I wanted to survive the weekend so skipped the blazing burger. The mash up of neon and cheezy decorator touches gave me plenty to sketch.

Honor Thy Music. Nashville.TN

Short trip to the Country Music City.

I've been missing in action......

Hey gang!  Just checking in to let you know that still alive!  I'm sorry that I haven't posted anything lately to USK Tx...I haven't been doing much USK-worthy location sketching lately...I have found myself in a season of watercolor painting.  I'm very intrigued by the medium and have dedicated myself to getting better!  This hasn't left much time for my other love...location sketching in its pure form!  So....be patient with me...I'm still around!  I'm dabbling with some "plein aire" watercolor stuff right now that would qualify under our manifesto...stay tuned!  Loving seeing everyone's stuff!  Keep up the good work!