West End Coffee House

 

Our group

People always seem to enjoy our trips to local coffee houses. This was no exception. We had several new sketchers this time. Welcome. As to the coffee house, this is the creative use of part of an old church that has found new life near the Washington Avenue corridor. You can see a photo and Candace's sketch in the header.

So in a coffee house, you can draw the architecture as Candace did outside. You can draw the environment, as several sketchers did, or you can draw people. Some did a combination of all these things.

Paul Shain

Paul found a seat on the balcony and drew a table of other sketchers below him on the main floor. An interesting perspective.

Joel

Joel also went up onto the balcony and drew the people busy at work on their computers.

Michael

Michael also drew from an angle. That same group of sketchers Paul drew are in the lower right.

Indah

Indah managed to get in the room, some people and her coffee in front of her on the left. Nice use of scale.

Sharon

Sharon found a small patio out back and drew that.

Several people drew the activity at the counter.

Michelle

Susan

Chris

Anna

Yvette

Lots of sketchers were just interested in the interesting people around them.

Mary McJunkin

Shaw

Monica

Emily

Mary P

A few sketchers included a bit of the architecture of the building.

Daniel

Heather

Tanya

But after drawing outside in the heat, Candace was all about the sweets.

Candace

We had a throwdown, of course. And took our group photo.

The throwdown

If you are reading our blog for the first time and want more information about urban sketching, there is a separate page on this  blog which outlines what makes an urban sketch. There is also more information about urban sketchers and OUR MANIFESTO in the right column of the blog page. Connect with us on Instagram or join our Facebook group by answering a few questions. Then join us next month for a sketchout.

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.