Jamail Skatepark at Buffalo Bayou

 At the very end of June, we got a second shot at visiting the Jamail skatepark at Buffalo Bayou in downtown. This time, there was no traffic, parades or closed streets to keep us away. For some reason, we missed a group photo this time, but the turnout was good.

As you can see from the thumbnails in the blog header, people bravely tackled people in action. It was a real challenge.

Carlos

Carlos took on the challenge.

Richard

Richard did a series of smaller studies.

Susan

Susan worked on the architecture of the ramps and added the skaters later.

Decha

Decha managed to catch the whole scene.

Judith

Judith used just ink and some colored pencils to work out her sketch.

Chris

I fretted a bit over getting the proportions of the figure just right. Then, I realized I needed to set him in an actual place. I kept that minimal.

Peter

Peter got the skaters, but he also was interested in the graffiti artist working nearby.

Joel

Joel was interested in the spectators as well as the skaters.

Richard

Richard spent  a bit of time studying that same graffiti artist.

Carlos

Carlos painted a graffiti artist as well.

Phillip

Phillip drew the food truck from the vantage point of the pavillion above.

The park at Sabine Street gives you a great view of the skyline. So several sketchers took on skyline views.

Judith

Judith worked in marker and made her sketch a study of line and value.

Peter

Peter did a small study first. That became a thumbnail within a larger sketch.

Miran

Miran was visiting us from Los Angeles. She decided to take on our skyline.

Susan

Susan got the reflective glass in the buildings just right.

Chris

I liked the view looking straight up from the Sabine Street bridge.

Phillip

Phillip did the smaller study on the left, before he began the full painting on the right.

Decha

Decha did two studies of foliage. One used a warm palette and one a cooler palette.

Judith

Judith's partial view of the skyline is focused on Phillip who was hard at work.

Miran

Miran was also drawn to Phillip's red cap.

We had our throwdown at the pavillion. Then we adjourned for lunch and air conditioning.

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A Beautiful Saturday at Cameron Market

 

our group

Saturday was warm and sunny. A perfect day for an indoor/outdoor location. That's what Cameron Market, on the site of the original Cameron Ironworks, turned out to be. Here's a picture of our happy group indoors. But many folks chose to sketch outdoors.

Richard was a good sport about having his picture taken next to the port-o-potty. I guess this is what they mean when they say artists 'suffer' for their art. LOL

He was very patient and did a very nice, large watercolor and ink sketch of the exterior of the building. His vantage point shows the original brick structure on the left and the 1940's addition on the right.

Richard

Michael Jap had a similar vantage point, but his sketch has a much different tone and feel with the cool blues and reds.

Michael J

Fran drew only the exterior of the original brick structure.

Fran

Joel started to draw the front of the 1940's building, but got discouraged by perspective. I know a few sketchers who give buildings the fish-eye lens treatment. Looks fine to me.

Joel

Susan did a pen and ink vignette of the original building.

Susan

People who walked around the corner noticed a very large industrial building next door full of pipes and tanks and towers. It looked pretty intimidating to draw, but that didn't stop our group. You can see Joel's version in the header. He went for simple shapes and color.

Carlos

Carlos went almost monochrome, with big shapes and big blocks of tone.

Michael M

Michael M kept his color simple as well, but picked out detail in pen and ink.

Marcos

Marcos, who was visiting from Brazil, used only pencil. But he captured all the detail quite well.

The sketchers at work

A couple of us were fascinated by the downtown skyline from this vantage point. It was also a challenge: a long narrow railroad line running to a far vanishing point.

Xiao (Shaw)

Xiao kept it simple in watercolor. She even managed to capture Carlos at work.

Cathy B

Cathy Brun simplified the composition and the colors.

Susan

Susan simplified all those building shapes and established a strong foreground. She caught a traveler in her sketch.

Chris

I did a full page spread and kept it pretty colorful. It called for patience.

A few people worked outside and chose NOT to do buildings.

Martha

Martha liked the challenge of the earth mover in bright, hot yellow.

Jenniffer

Jenniffer arrived late, but had time to catch this guy outside.

Then there were the people working indoors. I listened to an interview with the developer of the marketplace. He explained that since it was a historic building, he was charged with preserving some of the look of the original interior. So to divide the retail spaces, he used freight containers. You can see that in the two drawings below.

Michael M

Michael M's sketch shows the view down one of the hallways.

Michael J

Michael Jap's sketch gives you a feel for how the containers have been arranged and stacked.

Another group hung out around the Segundo Coffee Lab in the front of the building drawing people.

Susan had cleverly collaged her page with different papers and some paint in advance.

Susan

Judith told us that she started in the bottom right corner with her coffee cup and worked her way up and around the page. Of course, she had an ear out for conversation.

Judith

Both Bruce and Carlos worked in black and white.

Bruce

Carlos

Veronika worked just in ink.

Veronika

Brett added a little watercolor.

Brett

Here are a couple more sketches from around the building.

Michael M

Cathy Bruhn

 We had the throwdown.

throwdown

Lunch was at the Moontower Inn where we looked at sketchbooks and compared sketching materials.

lunch

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