The Coffee Shop Crawl

 

The Group

In the dead of summer in Houston, the dilemma is always "Where can we go to sketch where it isn't blazing hot?" Since we've been together as a group for a while, this can be a challenge. Susan came up with a new solution: Montrose coffee shops. We visited three kinds of unique coffee shops on Westheimer in the heart of Montrose. Common Bond is your brand-new, modern, spare space that could be most anywhere. Agora has the classic Montrose vibe. You can see the bones of the home that it once was. The space is homey and more personalized. Brasil was once a small business and was converted into a cafe/coffee shop way back in 1992. It has a little bit of the modern and the old.  Let's see what the sketchers chose to draw.

First there are always other sketchers to draw, as Marcus has done in brush pen on the header. You'll see some other sketchers make appearances along the way.

Carlos

This was Carlos's view in Common Bond. Lot's of stainless steel and just a hint of color.

Richard

Richard focused instead of the customers, his fellow sketchers as it so happened.

Chris

I was feeling the black-and-white vibe and did my sketch in pencil.

Shaw

Turnabout is fair play. Shaw drew Richard and some other sketchers.

Susan

Susan drew her colorful pistachio pastry making sure to put it in context with the coffee cup and the sketchbook.

Fran

Fran drew the contents of the pastry case. She used a little white gouache to make that cream pop.

Michelle

Michelle chose a croissant. The Common Bond logo gives it a sense of place.

Jacklynn

Jacklynn's vivid green matcha certainly livens up this scene.

Anna

Anna's macaroons look yummy. I love the details like the pen and the order number sign. This gives the sketch real personality.

Paul

When we got to Agora, Paul chose a different tact. He drew what he could see across the street from the upstairs window.

Marcus

Marcus also went upstairs, but he drew the view looking down into the coffee shop.

Chris

I drew a different view looking at the coffee bar, also from upstairs.

Judith

Judith's sketch is a mash-up. In the bottom right you can see the sketch she began in Common Bond of Susan's pastry. In Agora she added the very busy area at the coffee bar and the barista.

Rebecca

Rebecca also did a mash-up, combining her salad with a view of the outside of the shop.

Jeff

Jeff combined sketches from all three locations. The top is Common Bond, the middle is from the patio at Agora and the bottom is the very odd display of crochet or yarn balls in Brasil.

Michelle

This is Michelle's view of the coffee bar in Agora. Sitting at the bar helped her narrow her focus.

Susan

Susan had a similar idea. The plants add a pop of color.

Carlos

Carlos enjoyed drawing the customers in Agora. I guess you could say it attracts a different crowd.

Rebecca

Finally, we landed at Brasil. Rebecca drew the view on the patio. For those wondering, this was pencil and blue Noodlers ink.

Judith

Judith was also intrigued by the crochet balls. The sticker gives the sketch a lively sense of place and nicely fills that empty corner. But a little journaling would do this too.

Chris

I would like to say that I had enough restraint to draw my tamale first and then eat. Alas! But the Jamaica tea adds some color.

There were several sketches where I couldn't quite identify the locale.

Janelle

Colorful bottles behind the bar. Possibly Common Bond?

Cody

Pastry and a coffee in watercolor.

Mary

More coffee and pastry in pencil.

Michelle

A couple of customers distracted by their phones.

Jacklynn

Jacklynn decided to do a group of thumbnails. A think this was all three locations.

We had the throwdown at Brasil.

A list of our upcoming sketchout locations had been posted to Instagram. You can also join

our Facebook group by answering a few questions. If you are new to urban sketching there are two tabs at the top of the post that will give you more information. Please think about joining us for future sketchouts. OH, and reserve the date. Our day in Galveston will be Saturday, October 18.

BATS

The group

The November 1st trip to see the Waugh Bridge bat colony wasn't entirely a bust. Oh, somehow we missed or weren't patient enough to see the bats emerge. We certainly heard them chirping away under the bridge. We certainly SMELLED them... yeah. However,  the grand exit  I've seen in the past didn't happen. But we did make some decent sketches. And some of us just used our imaginations.

You can see Richard's imagination at work on the header. He did a lovely job rendering the bridge, Buffalo Bayou park and the surroundings. 

The exit of the bats to the west is what we imagine may have happened while we concentrated on sketching.

And here's Richard hard at work.

Another thing we hadn't quite thought of was that it would be pretty dark by the time the bats DID emerge. Not still light enough for the throw down. Thus the odd light in the group photo above.

Mike had a different solution. He completed his sketch, then made a little slit in the page from which his flock of bats emerges.

Mike

Kayoko did a couple of nice versions of the bridge.

Kayoko

Kayoko

Susan planned ahead and prepainted a page.

Susan

I spent quite a while getting the bridge just the way I wanted it, but ended up adding the bats at

home.

Chris

Here are some of the sketchers hard at work.

I must really be concentrating . LOL

And here are the rest

lined up along the side of

the trail.

Some of the group went to dinner nearby and shared their sketchbooks.

Susan and Mike

It didn't  turn out exactly as we expected, but it was still a fun sketchout.

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A Morning at the Menil

Sketchers hard at work at the Menil

We were lucky to have a sunny day that didn't get hot too early along with some lovely shade outside the Menil. Normally, when we visit the Menil Collection, we draw the galeries and art inside. This time, our sketchout in cooperation with Watercolor Art Society Houston was on the grounds and in the neighborhood.

The Group

This was a well-attended sketchout. I counted 30 people. That might be a new record.

Richard

 

 Richard gave a brief demo for anyone who wasn't   familiar   with the tricks   and tips of   urban   sketching. It's always interesting to hear how   different sketchers work.

  Then the group spread out over the grounds and   around the neighborhood. The result was that we   got  a little bit of everything in our throwdown.

 

Of course, there were people who wanted to try the building itself from different angles. You can see Karen's sketch in this month's blog header.

Richard

Richard challenged himself to a corner perspective. Always tricky.

Bruce

Michelle

Bruce and Michelle concentrated on the center of the building and the entrance. Two very different views of the same subject.

Shakti

Shakti zoomed right in on the people going into the museum. The different surfaces are handled really nicely.

Peter

Peter picked an unusual side view of the building and caught some sketchers at work.

Sketchers at work

Here are Peter and another sketcher hard

at work in the generous shade. Always nice to

have some cover available.

Many of the sketchers chose to draw the trees. There are so many really old, beautiful trees on the grounds.

Svetlana

Svetlana worked in colored pencil to draw the lovely, enormous Water Oak that anchors the corner of the lot.

Susan

Susan brought the same tree to the front of her sketch and put the building in the background.

Emily

Emily framed the view between two of the enormous branches in soft, almost abstract watercolor.

Chris

I loved that same perspective with the large branches dripping with Resurrection Fern. I found Cathi Bruhn hard at work.

Barbara

Barbara drew one of the Magnolia trees.

Laura

Laura picked the younger tree for color and the older tree for that bark texture.

Paul and Sabrina went over to the Menil Drawing Institute and drew that building.

Sabrina

Paul

A few sketchers wanted to include the sculptures scattered around the grounds.

Doreen

Cathi Bruhn

And oh look! While I was drawing Cathi, she was drawing me.  

My first sketch was of the Broken Obelisk in front of the Rothko Chapel. A peaceful spot I had all to myself.

Chris

Another group moved out into the neighborhood to draw the various buildings and small cottages.

Teagan

Mary M

That's Michelle on the porch of the bookstore.

Joel

A contrast of the old and new from Joel.

Siao

Cottages and cars under the Sycamore trees from Siao.

Jacklynn

A small cottage with a tricky roof angle drawn by Jacklynn.

We did a throwdown and some of us went out to lunch.

throwdown

We welcome the WASH members to join us anytime on our sketchouts. If you are one of the over 100 people on our email list and you have not been to a sketchout in a while, what are you waiting for? Details will be on Facebook and on Instagram. Please pass the link to the blog along to anyone you think might enjoy it. Until next time...