Beating the Heat at Sawyer Yards

So what do you do when it's August in Houston and the temps are near one hundred every day? It's too hot to be sitting out in the heat and humidity trying to sketch. In the past we've sketched in museums, we've sketched in shopping malls and even coffee shops. This time, we were invited by the owner of Local Pho in Sawyer Yards to come in and sketch before the place opened. The plan was to sketch each other away from the pressure of a public presence. That, plus the air-conditioning must have appealed to a lot of people because the turnout was excellent. Although there is something very meta about the sketchers sketching the sketchers.....

Michael chose the broad view of the service counter and kitchen that you see in the blog header. He used green tones to tie together the two-page spread.

Francisco

Francisco also chose the wide view and caught the cook at work.

Britt

Britt's version gives you the unusual angle on the service counter and captures the depth of the space. He also included a couple of people.

Jenna

Jenna turned that view around and caught sketchers hard at work and the view out the front window. A little splash of red or green really livens up the scene.

Judith

Of course, Judith had to sketch the counter area and one very distinctive customer. But when it was lunchtime she sketched her lunch as well. Recording something of the place makes the experience memorable.

Lisa

Lisa also included a person, but her focal point was the portrait of the chicken and those light fixtures. The composition makes this interesting to look at and the chicken is whimsical.

Amy

Amy stuck to the mission of drawing people with two sketches which are very different in both mood and materials. The trees and cars in the background on the right put the sketch in a very real space.

Joel

Joel's choice of simple line and a limited palette makes these sketches of the sketchers very effective. 

The group in the back of the restaurant found a lovely air-conditioned view of the Houston skyline to draw.

Bruce

Bruce also stuck to a limited palette and simple line. He worked on capturing the distinctive shapes he saw at the top of each building that give the Houston skyline its character.

throwdown

Of course, there was a throwdown where we shared our techniques and materials and then some lunch at Local Pho. Yum.

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Two Sisters Take a Trip to New Mexico and West Texas by Judith Dollar

 

10 Days on the road…2,400+ miles across Texas and New Mexico in a Mini Cooper, 2 sisters, and plenty of art supplies. What could go wrong?

In mid-July, my sister, Penelope, and I made a plan to drive, sketch & stay in 7 different towns across the two states. She made a spreadsheet and I filled our palettes with fresh watercolors.

Our route took us to Fort Davis, on day 2 some rebar sticking up out of a parking lot peeled the front license plate and part of the body trim off the front of my car. Which ultimately led to being pulled over twice for not having a front license plate on display. Lucky me, Penelope was taking a turn to drive both times! Oh well, the scenery was worth it. 

Next down to Marfa, which lived up to its reputation as a funky, cool, and interesting town. Yes, we stopped at the Prada art installation as well as Little Riata where the movie Giant was filmed. 

From there we headed into New Mexico, stopping in Hatch for fresh roasted peppers and a stop for the night in Truth or Consequences. After sketching the colorful courtyard of our hotel we drove up past Santa Fe to Abiquiu, near Ghost Ranch, one of the places Georgia OKeeffe had a studio.

In Abiquiu we stayed in a yurt at the foot of a craggy red mountain. (see blog header) It rained during the night making the low-water crossing on the road out a muddy red river bed. Before driving across it I thought I should check it out on foot. After about 20 minutes of deliberation two cars finally came along behind us. They told us they had come in thru the opposite end of the road and it was not a mess. So, debate over, we turned around and left the mud pit behind.

The next night was in Santa Fe, then Cloudcroft, down to Monahans, and finally back to Round Rock to drop Penelope home before I headed back home. The final mileage reading was 2,472 when I pulled into my driveway.

Trip highlights: stunning landscapes and big, big skies, a sketching partner, friendly people, picnic meals, petroglyphs, the yurt, Santa Fe’s International Folk Art Museum, Acoma pottery artist, Chihuahuan Desert cactus greenhouse, and icy margaritas. The only change I would make to the trip is longer stays in fewer locations.

The Menil

The Throwdown

How do you capture a trip to a museum in sketches? Do you draw the people? Do you draw the art? Do you focus on the architecture of the building? This was the question in front of Urban Sketchers Houston as we visited the Menil on Saturday. As you can see from the throwdown, everyone chose a different solution.

Carlos Chua

 

Judith Butler Dollar

Carlos and Judith chose broad, overall views of the galleries with museum patrons in view. Carlos's spare use of color and firm line work gives a different feell than Judith's colorful and more whimsical sketch.

Peter Norris

Peter's choices, on the other hand, put the emphasis on the art. His inclusion of the harsh, gallery-lit shadows anchors the people to the ground.

Amy's sketch

Amy's soft tonal sketch, with no people included, gives a sense of space and depth. Even the sharp angles of the walls and display cases are softened by her use of pencil.

Michael

Michael told the story of a family fascinated by the plants in the atrium. The sculpture and people are in grays and blacks, the plants in vivid greens.

Fahmi

Fahmi chose to document an object from the collection and provided text to describe everything in the sketch. Her layout and placement make this an interesting page to look at.

The African art was a favorite subject for the group; far easier to do justice to the masks and objects than paintings on the wall.

Linda

                                        

Linda also chose ink pen for her media and African objects for her subjects. We see severall sculptures and a mask 

Kathy F

Kathy explored the African objects, then caught a view of the plants in the atrium. 

Cathi Bruhn

Cathi Bruhn found two pieces of art and a museum patron who interested her.  Interesting to note that people in masks will firmly establish all these sketches in time when we look back  at our sketchbooks in the future.

The colorful weaving feels almost animated in this sketch.

Jeff

Jeff took a break from the heat and the people to visit the Rothko Chapel. (also part of the Menil complex) The ghostly images of the spectators leaves the emphasis on Rothko's monumental paintings.

We gathered for the throwdown and went somewhere local for a lunch. It was a nice break from the heat, and the dozen or so people who turned out were a nice group. Next sketchout will be in the Arts District near the Silos. Again, it will be an indoor venuue. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for the particulars.