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.

Return to Cameron Marketplace

 

Our group

It's always nice to have a good turnout for a repeat trip to any location. It's especially nice to see familiar faces. And, of course, we always welcome new sketchers and encourage them to bring friends.

The developers of the Cameron Marketplace took a cavernous space and divided it into unique shops using old boxcars. There's a lot to see.

Peter

Peter's sketch gives you some idea of the whole space and tackles that perspective.

Several sketchers hung around the coffee shop to people watch.

Veronika

Judith

Paul

Paul

Jacklynn

Carlos

Others spread out and drew the various shops or the structure of the building itself.

Cody

Chris Pratt - a mural on a wall

Erin- the sewing shop

Aiden

Sam

Janice

Mark

Another group went out front and drew the building from the outside or drew the surroundings.

Susan

Susan - the view from Cameron looking downtown

Vivian- the bright red doors in back

Heather- looking across the street

Peter - Peter managed to capture both buildings

Jeff did a little of both outside and inside

Lisa was interested in the older building

Brittany was drawn to the bright red doors.

There were five of us who were drawn to the very complicated building sitting next door.

It was the original Maxwell House Coffee plant, but before that the front building was a Ford Motor assembly plant for Model T's. It was a difficult draw and we all took different approaches. You can see Shaw Dou's renditon in the header.

Monica went for loose watercolor and large shapes

Carlos painted wet-in-wet

Marie

Chris...I decided to concentrate on the tops of the structures

We convened for the throwdown at the back of the building.

And afterwards a group of us went to lunch at Mandola's Deli, an East End classic.

Please feel free to share this post with anyone who might be interested. If you would like to join us on our next sketchout, keep on eye on Instagram. Or, if you answer a few questions, you can join us on Facebook.

University of St. Thomas and the Chapel of St. Basil

 

The group

The rain mostly held off and we had a good day for sketching on the University of St. Thomas campus. Welcome to our visitors from the Dallas chapter.

As you may have guessed from the group photo, sketchers were focused on the architecture of the Chapel of St. Basil. Peter, whose work is in the header, sketched it from three sides. Here's Peter hard at work.

Peter

Here are some of the other folks spread out along the mall hard at work.

As you can see, people came prepared with their portable stools and chairs and took advantage of the cover when it showered.

Before I go into all the sketches of the OUTSIDE of the chapel, Judith was the only one to venture inside.

Judith

And here is her sketch of the outside. The stamp is an impression made with Plasticene clay of one of the markers on campus.

Judith

Michael

Michael widened out a bit to include the adjoining walkways. As did Richard.

Richard

Barton chose a similar angle.

Barton

Jeff used colored pencil on toned paper.

Jeff

Joel and Chris both stamped their finished drawings. Joel's view is from the labyrinth garden, while mine is from upstairs and further down the mall.

Joel

Chris

Rebecca, Susan and Olinda each had their own unique takes on the building.

Rebecca

Susan

Olinda

Paul

Paul managed to include a few people.

The chapel and the mall weren't the only things to draw.

Ash

Ash drew Hughes House, the childhood home of Howard Hughes which now houses the Theology Department.

Martha

Martha also drew part of that area.

Malia drew gardens.

Malia

Rebecca drew a statue that sits in one of the gardens.

Malia

I went over to the Link-Lee Mansion, which used to be admissions and now contains the offices of the president and vice-president. It is a historic Montrose home where the university now has gatherings in the old ballroom upstairs. The WHOLE house would be VERY complicated. I drew a snippet of the portico.

Chris

We gathered for the throwdown and then went off to lunch.

throwdown

If you would like to join us for our next sketch outing, keep an eye on our Instagram page or join our Facebook group. (just answer a few simple questions)

We always welcome new sketchers and visitors from other chapters.

Our bonus April sketchout is coming up this weekend. Join us!