Lunch sketch

One of my favorite places to stop for lunch when I am in Houston is les Givrals for a Vietnamese sandwich (bahn).  There are always some interesting characters around slurping noodles and hanging out in this neighborhood restaurant.

Umlauf Scultpure Garden and Museum [w. Austin Urban Sketchers Meetup group]

Had a wonderful time this saturday sketching @ the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum in Austin, Tx, with a great crew of Austin Urban Sketchers!   The Umlauf Sculpture Garden & Museum is a natural oasis in South Austin dedicated to the work of 20th century American sculptor Charles Umlauf. Every season shows off the sculptures in a different way, and the garden path is lined with sculptures and places to sit and relax while you sketch art surrounded by nature!  If you're ever in Austin be sure to check out this urban gem, it's now one of my top 5 fave places to sketch in south Austin.

b. scott shaevel

Botanizing in (Urban) Texas

Urban Sketchers don't usually post flora but, hey!, it's springtime, and it's Texas. So, this time of year -- if it's not covered with concrete, blacktop, or water -- it's probably covered with wildflowers.

OK, here in Texas we've been under the influence of a drought for the past three years. So, the more showy wildflowers have been a bit scarce this year. (I didn't see any Bluebonnets at all this year.) But I have noticed far more tiny, drought-resistant species than I ever would have noticed in a year when we have had bumper crops of Indian Paintbrushes, Winecups, and Mexican Hats.

I wonder if these annoying "little darlin's" were the inspiration for high-top boots?

So, on a technicality (I remember something in the USK guidelines about being able to place one's location on a map, and our bird sanctuary ponds are on Google's Fort Worth map.) I thought I'd share a few images drawn from my un-paved corner of "urban" Texas.

boiled down Yellow Woodsorrel produces a bright orange dye/ink (and raw, 

it's good on salads) while Field Madder will provide a rosy red artist's color

(Of course, if this post is a bit too far afield to truly meet USK criteria I won't be the least bit offended if someone feels the need to pull it.)

Happy trails everyone (one sketch at a time)! ;-)

Views from the Jonh Hancock Observatory and more.

Memorial Day weekend in Chicago, a lot more colder than here.

At the Field Museum.

At Art Institute Chicago.



Long Weekend, Big Fun

The long Memorial Day weekend was full of big Texas fun at the C's lake house on Lake Livingston. Four families, plenty of food, sun, boating and action. A regular Slip N Slide wasn't big enough so they got a roll of heavy duty plastic rolled it down the sloping lawn and ran the hose on it. Because that wasn't slippery enough they added liquid dish soap. Wheeee! And the kids got a bath without realizing it. If you are familiar with the game of Jenga you might recognize the super-sized version here. The pieces are cut from 2x4s and as play progresses the stack gets to be about 6 feet tall. We had to keep the dogs from walking near it, if it came tumbling down on them it would do serious damage. Between fishing and cooking and riding the "tube" behind the ski boat I managed to get in a few pages of sketches. The C's even have a couple of prints of my sketches from my last visit hanging in the lake house.