Urban Sketching 101

Getting all the details

Almost 30 people showed up Saturday morning for our first workshop on urban sketching. It was a chance to get all the details that anyone new to the group might need to know. Judith and the panelists came ready. After getting the basics from Judith, everyone got to mingle and ask questions, look at sketchbooks and examine materials.

Judith and Fahmi answer questions

Carlos and Michael show off sketchbooks, Francisco talks about his favorite pen

There were some familiar faces and some new faces as well as one visitor from out of town. It was a great morning.

After a good lunch, we moved on to the sketching portion of the day. This time we went to a new area in the Heights called TheM-K-T. This new shopping area has been repurposed from an old office park and is located right along the busy Highline walking trail.

My sketch, which you can see in the header, captures the distinctive profile of the building along Shepherd. But I have to admit I was lured by the angry sky and the giant crane. Yes,

our first sketchout dodging rain.

Bruce

Bruce, who likes to work in pen and ink wash, found the area where people were enjoying the comfy rockers outside a cafe.

Michael

Michael was one of several people who drew the bright yellow, classic truck. Michael's work is in gouache.

Sherri

Sherri also got the truck and someone enjoying a rocking chair. Her work is in watercolor and pen.

Francisco

Francisco drew the truck from another angle and used watercolor to fill the surroundings in a simple splash of color.

Michelle

Michelle again chose a different angle for one of her sketches. Nice use of complementary colors to suggest the shadow under  the truck.

Marcella

The black-and-white of the wall art is in contrast to the lush greenery in the planter. Colored pencil, I believe. The linework is very crisp, Marcella.

Jill

Jill was visiting us from Ann Arbor. Welcome, Jill. Her sketch is a study in angles with the same wall as the focal point.

Carlos

Carlos found two people taking shelter under an umbrella. Perhaps from the rain. Carlos generally splashes in his color first and then uses colored pencil or ink for a few lines. The drag of the almost dry brush at the bottom reads "concrete". Great job.

Patty

Patty's sketch is the story of color and  architecture,  and people.

Decha

In Decha's sketch, you can see that same arch at the top, but he is looking through the building to the Highline and the park, just beyond. Everything in this sketch is in watercolor.

Kassidy

Kassidy was sketching in the same general area as Decha and Patty. You can see the highline on the left, but hers was a story of cafe dining under a canopy.

Joel

Joel sheltered from the rain in another of the passageways through the buildings. Several shoppers had the same idea. Nice cast shadows, Joel.

Brittainy

Brittainy focused in on the bright, orange chairs and turned her sketchbook vertically. That conveys the scale of the space.

Barbara

Barbara got all the women with their legs crossed. Tricky to draw. Bright color and the cute dog make this drawing pop.

Judith

A few splashes of bright color and simple lines make Judith's sketch successful. The lush banana plants are the focal point. And the color palette is very limited: yellow, greens and blues mostly. Simple works.

Judy

Judy' cafe scene in black-and-white simplifies a busy scene, but still conveys all the information you need. I see muffins in that display case!

Suzanne

Suzanne also stuck with line work and limited colors. The umbrellas across the page and just the suggestion of the people underneath help this to work.

Rebecq

Rebecq went straight for the back of the shopping center and drew the Highline and the city park beyond.

We came back together for the throwdown.

The throwdown

It seems that our first sketching workshop was a success. We had a great turnout for the class and a record turnout for the sketchout.

Mark your calendars. September 17 is our next sketchout in the Woodlands. Judith is planning some minitutorials and an interesting sketchout. October 1st will be our annual trip to Galveston. Not to be missed!

As always, if you enjoy our blog, please share. Please check in with us by joining the Facebook group or checking in on Instagram.

Staying Cool at the Kinder

The Group

If this month's group photo looks a little odd, it's because it is. We posed in front of William Forsythe's video exhibit "City of Abstracts". Paired with a computer program, your body twists and morphs as you move in front of the screen. This is a big hit with kids big and small.

Seventeen sketchers decided that a cool afternoon in the new Kinder Building at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston was just for them. A lot of the public had the same idea; the museum was busy.

Water media is forbidden inside of the museum. Our sketchers worked around this in various ways. Lisa, whose work is in this month's header, used pastel on toned paper. It makes the art on the walls just glow.

 Susan DeCourcy did her watercoloring OUTSIDE the building.

Susan

Then she moved inside the museum where she saw all the folks in front of the video screen.

Susan

Kate avoided the problem entirely by using her IPAD and ProCreate.

Kate

As Judith pointed out later, an urban sketch may need to be done on site, but that doesn't keep you from adding to it later. Britt took this approach. The "before" and "after" are instructive.

Britt

Or, you could add a splash of marker or colored pencil.

Peter

The red mobile draws your eye up the stairs to that unusual opening to the next floor.

Judith

Judith went to the opposite end of the same staircase and added a bit of yellow as well.

Michael and Francisco went over into the Beck building to see Leandro Erlich's exhibit "Seeing is not Believing". This clever play with optical illusions is another crowd favorite.

Michael

Francisco

Jeff discovered a Magritte he liked and went full color with his colored pencils.

Jeff

I liked the contrast between the very dark sculpture and the lush, green landscape outside the museum window. Colored pencil kept the green soft so it didn't overpower the scene.

Chris

Carlos stuck with grayscale, but he really worked it. Marker, I believe.

Carlos

Cassidy liked a gallery view and some gentle shading for tone.

Cassidy

Joel did something similar. One of his sketches is the same mobile as Peter's and Judith's sketches from one floor up.

Joel

Cyan did very simple pencil sketches in one of the sculpture galleries.

Cyan

Peggy chose a rather complicated three-dimensional wall piece. She broke it down to its simplest parts. The framing helps the sketch come together. Washi tape?

Peggy

And new sketcher, Rebecq, chose simple subjects for her first sketchout. Framing each piece on the page helps.

Rebecq

And finally, Britt's second sketch of a woman in one of the galleries intently studying the art. Somehow I think this needs a caption. It reminds me of a New Yorker cartoon.

We had a throwdown in the lobby and then lunch at the café.

If you have been lurking here at the blog or on the Facebook page, now is the time to step up.

In late August we are having a day called Urban Sketching 101. Everything you always wanted to know about tools, techniques and urban sketching.  Follow us on Instagram or join our Facebook group for more information.