Urban Sketchers Houston on Vacation

Richard Scruggs

Whether it's a vacay or a staycay, a trip or some relaxing time off is a great excuse for some urban sketching. Judith has her retreat down in Galveston. And she enjoys the seaside views like the one in the blog header. Richard Scruggs headed out of town to New Mexico. Here he commemorates the closing of a classic old motel.

Susan Bruhn

Susan Bruhn didn't go far. She visits her parents in Spring Branch, Texas which is just outside San Antonio. She says her father feeds the deer every night.

Cissy Geigerman

Similarly, Cissy Geigerman didn't go far for this sketch.  Her trip to Corpus Christi took her to the flagship WhataBurger location. Architecture and history in one sketch.

But she also went a little further afield. Her trip to Alaska gave her lots of sketching time. The perspective from the viewing car on the Alaska Railway shows us that travel time should never be wasted.  And the scene in downtown Talkeetna is charming. Hopefully, it's a stuffed moose.

Cissy Geigerman

Barbara Daily

Barbara Daily took a trip to Asheville, North Carolina where she visited the Biltmore Estate.

Susan DeCourcy

Susan DeCourcy took a trip to Florida. The sketch on the left shows the Port of Tampa as seen from the city. But what would a trip to Florida be without a day at the beach? On the right, we have two people strolling on the beach at Fort DeSoto Park off the tip of St. Petersburg. Both the long, narrow vertical and wide, horizontal are perfect perspectives.

Peter

Then there are folks who got to take multiple trips. Peter's landscapes from Arizona make you feel the sun on your skin. The top one is from Sedona and the bottom from Montezuma's Well.

Peter

He also took a trip to Florida. What is more iconic at Cape Canaveral than the rockets on display and the huge launch complex sitting near the dunes? The launch complex sketch definitely gives you a sense of scale.

Mary McJunkin

Mary McJunkin went first to Wisconsin and then to Minnesota. This is the bridge over the St. Croix River from the Stillwater side. 

Mary McJunkin

Stillwater is the oldest city in Minnesota, Mary reports. So of course she recorded one of the older homes.

It looks as if lots of our Houston sketchers took advantage of vacation time to do a little drawing. Drawing on your vacation records memories in a way that a camera never will. If you haven't tried this yet, I recommend it as a way to slow down and savor the moment.

Virtual Vacations

Jay Robert Larsson

This summer, for most of us, vacation means a staycation. So it's fun to take a little virtual vacation from summers or even just vacations past. Jay Robert Larsson is revisiting Stockholm, Sweden, where he tells us he makes a yearly visit. Night sketches are not as common and this restful image in colored pencil is very calming.

Chris Fitzgerald

This sketch was done in San Miguel de Allende several summers ago. The Parroquia is a very complicated building to draw and I wanted to challenge myself.

Richard Scruggs

Richard Scruggs

Richard Scruggs went on a cruise pre-COVID and visited Cozumel. The unusual perspective in the drawing from the ship really grabs your attention. In Cozumel,  he found another lovely colonial-era church to sketch. 

Kathy Fediw

Kathy Fediw went to Hawaii several years ago and sketched these images on the big island at Mauna Loa Bay. Another tranquil place to rest our eyes.

Mary McJunkin

Mary McJunkin went to New Mexico and Arizona last year to visit friends and family. You can see her sketch of the Grand Canyon in our blog header. She also captured a pueblo at Almagorda, New Mexico and a classic old motel in Mesa, Arizona. Love the diving girls on the sign!

Fahmi Khan

Fahmi Khan is a teacher and got to travel during a Spring Break with the honor orchestra students as they performed all over Europe. Here we see a moment in a coffee shop in Prague and the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. Most importantly, Fahmi notes that sometimes the group moved so quickly, she had only time for thumbnails. This is important to remember if you are journaling a trip. Sometimes thumbnails have to be enough. Enjoy the moment!

Judith Butler Dollar

Finally, there is Judith's trip to Porto, Portugal in 2018. She captured the bustle of the farmer's market at the moment and went back with Procreate to strengthen the image. A nice fusion of traditional art materials and technology.  She also captured the jumble of buildings in this hill town. Nice work.

I hope this little virtual vacation has given you some ideas for when we can all venture out again.

Summer Vacation

Judith in London

In the summer, when it's really hot, the Houston sketchers tend to stay in. Not always, but often. People are away on vacation and busy with their families. We'll be back together again in the fall. There's always lots to sketch.

In the meantime, some of our members have been posting interesting vacation sketches on the FB group. The first one is from Judith's trip to London. She reports that it was quite hot. She are her buddy Isabel were trying to get over to Amsterdam for one of the sketchouts at the Symposium, but had to content themselves with London. The sketch above is the Palace Theater.

Mary McJunkin in Arizona

Mary McJunkin went to Mesa, Arizona. One of her sidetrips took her to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon where she made this lovely sketch.

Ed Petit in Seattle

Ed Petit did a lot of traveling this summer. This is from his trip to Seattle to take Urban Sketching Weekend, a workshop with Gabi Campanario. 

Ed's sketch from the weekend

This is a house the group sketched in Bothell, Washington. Look for more of Ed's sketches on the FB group.

Richard Scruggs in Nashville

Who knew Nashville had a Parthenon? Richard Scruggs took a few trips this summer as well. This sketch is from his trip to Nashville.

Toronto's Old City Hall

Toronto's new city hall

These last two sketches are from Richard's trip to Toronto.

Peter Norris in Italy

And lastly we have Peter Norris's trip to northern Italy. This sketch was done in Verano.

Did you go someplace interesting this summer? Send me a jpg and I'll share it here on the blog.

In the meantime, happy sketching.