Back at the Museum of Natural Science

 

Our group

Spendng a warm, September evening sketching in the museum is never a bad thing. And because there are such a variety of subjects, everyone finds something like to draw. This time, it was the Museum of Natural Science.

Eydie drew the shell in the header from the museum's extensive seashell collection. Simple pen and ink was made elegant with a little hatching.

Of course, the dinosaurs are always a big attraction.

Martha

Martha was busy not only looking, but listening to all the remarks. Take a close look at the speech bubbles. They tell their own story.

Judith

Judith had a similar idea. The T Rex is the biggest draw for little kids.

Michael

Michael stuck to ink and wash with the sketchbook turned the LONG way to accommodate the very tall dinosaur.

Chris

I decided to use two full pages for the saber toothed mammal. I noticed they no long label it as a cat. I guess it got demoted.

Joel

Joel also turned his sketchbook on end. He decided the animal looked a little lonely on the page, so he created a bit of habitat.

Eva

Eva kept it simple with ink and just a bit of watercolor.

MacKenzie

I believe MacKenzie said she used water-soluable colored pencil for her drawing.

Then there were the Egyptologists.

Jacklynn

Jacklynn drew mummies and  embellished her page with rubber stamps.

Emerson

Emerson drew the entrance to the Tut exhibit.

Abigail

And our young sketcher, Abigail, was also inspired by King Tut.

Mark

Mark drew a collection of animals from the different environments on display.

Richard

Richard picked the rather tricky Foucault Pendulum for his sketch.

The throwdown

Here we are all gathering for the throwdown. Watch the video below.

the throwdown

All in all a successful evening with a moderately good turnout. Speaking of turnout, our big outing to Galveston is coming up on Saturday, October 18. Plan for a full day of sketching.

We would love to see some familiar faces joining us. With luck it will be, well COOLER and great weather for sketching. Judith is coming up with a map and a plan. Follow us on Facebook (please answer the membership questions) or check out our Instagram account.

Glenwood Cemetery

The Group

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day for a sketchout at historic Glenwood Cemetery. Glenwood is a green, shady retreat right in the middle of the big city.

As you can see from Carlos's sketch in the blog header, angels were the order of the day. And it helps when they have the city skyline behind them. Joel, hard at work in Carlos's other sketch decided that angel was worth a try.

Joel

I drew the same angel from a different angle. I liked the angel against the distant crane and the irony of the Service Corp. building.

Chris

Then, of course, there is the famous Glenwood weeping angel.

Fran

Heather found another interesting angel.

Heather

And Payling found one atop a monument.

Payling

Tanya

Young Abigail found this rather ferocious looking angel.

Abigail

Karla drew her sketch in Procreate on her IPAD. You can see the angel on the left behind the large stand of lilies.

Karla

But there are more than angels in Glenwood. I drew that same bed of lilies, with a very small Karla hard at work.

Chris

Michael liked all the leafy, green, spring foliage.

Michael

Alica drew a large tree.

Alicia

Decha also drew a very loose tree in colored pencil.

Decha

Mafisa drew a tree.

Mafisa

Then there were all the monuments and structures, beginning with the old Victorian cottage in the center of the cemetery.

Candy

Susan found one of the new monuments.

Susan

And a row of vases...

Susan

Indah drew one of the large vaults.

Indah

MacKenzie also caught the skyline behind this gravesite.

Tim drew all these lovely monuments.

Tim

Kate

Kate did monuments as well. As did Emerson.

Emerson

Jeff and Colin drew grave ornaments.

Jeff

Colin

 We had a throwdown, but  I didn't get a picture. This time, we skipped lunch. Everyone had things to do on such a nice day.

Keep up with us on Instagram or join our Facebook group. And if you aren't already a regular, consider joining us on our next sketchout

Looking Back At Urban Sketchers Houston

I thought I would do something a little different for this bonus blog post. When I create each month's post, I use the template Judith created and insert a sketch from my cache of photos. I don't have any particular way of choosing. I pick one that represents the place we went in a different or creative or striking way. Something eye-catching usually. And I always try to "share the love" by picking different folks as much as a I can. 

The sad part is that the next month, when I create the new post, that image is lost. I don't have the storage to keep all the photos, and the new image "takes over "(I found a sneaky way to rescue these images from Google) So I thought I'd look back at where the group has been over the past few years since Judith created that header. Maybe this will inspire us to revisit a place, or visit someplace nearby. This will also help some of the new people to see all the places we've been. We've actually been a lot MORE places, but Google has only saved the ones created in the header for some reason. Where a month is skipped, there was a picture of a place or the group or the throwdown instead of artwork.

Kathy

Our trip to an art studio complex in Magnolia in 2020.

Carlos

Our day at the kite festival in 2021.

Robert

The Silos in April of 2021.

Robert

The Art Car Event (held in place of the parade) in May 2021.

Martha

The Armand Bayou Nature Center in June of 2021.

Michael

People sketching in the Vietnamese sandwich shop on Silver Street.

Francisco

A trip to the farmer's market in September of 2021.

Linda P

Our annual trip to Galveston in October 2021.

Richard

Traders Village in November of 2021.

Juliette

Our trip to The Post in downtown in February of 2022.

Siao

We went to the rodeo in March of 2022.

Jen

Jen Bui's sketch from the San Jacinto Day reenactment in April of 2022.

Francisco

Another trip to the Farmer's Market in May of 2022.

Lisa

We visited the MFAH in July of 2022.

Chris

In August of 2022, we visited the new MKT outdoor space in the Heights.

Veronika

September of 2022 found us at Woodlands Town Square in the Market Place.

Linda

In October of 2022 we were back in Galveston drawing on the docks.

Peter

Peter drew this in Market Square in November of 2022.

Rita

Rita drew this at Bayou Bend in April of 2023

Truong

This sketch is from our visit to the Museum of Fine Arts in June of 2023.

Peter

In August of 2023 Peter drew this view of downtown from St. Arnold's beer garden.

Susan

Galveston again and a sketch of the Elyssa.

Judith

Judith made this sketch at Rockin' 'n Rollin' Prints in November of 2023.

Susan

We went to the Museum of Natural History in February of 2024.

Joel

We also went to Cameron Market in February.

Magdalena

In March 2024 we visited the Houston Botanic Garden.

Siao

April of 2024 found our group in Olde Town Tomball.

Svetlana

Svetlana drew this in May 2024 at the BAP Hindu temple in Stafford.

Karen

And Karen drew this also in May at the Menil.

Remember, these headers only go back to 2020. Here are some of the other places the group has been:

Barry

In 2019 we visited Project Row House in the Third Ward.   We also memorialized the closing of Wolf's Department store - also in the Third Ward.

Richard

We've been to Discovery Green a few times. We've checked out 19th Street in the Heights, the Houston Museum of Funeral History,  the Julia Ideson building at the library, Old Sixth Ward, the Art Car parade, Phoenicia Market, the Galleria, the old Hobby Airport Terminal and of course several trips to NASA. We were a group long before 2019, but part of Urban Sketchers Texas. I'd say we've been a busy group.

We are always on the lookout for new places to take the group. If you have an idea, here are the general guidelines: a) Saturday or Sunday is best because so many folks are working

 b) free or low cost is optimal so we can be inclusive c) crowds are a consideration as is parking. If you have ideas, please speak up.

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