Chillin' at the D & T

My neighborhood is undergoing a few changes. Construction is everywhere and house prices are through the roof. Not a bad thing and not entirely a good thing. The D & T was a local dive...pretty scungy from all reports. It got bought up by someone who did a total remodel and began offering a pretty nice selection of craft beers. In my continuing effort to draw more people, I decide a visit was in order. All in the name of sketching, of course!

Back from Barcelona!

 We're thrilled with the turnout for the 40th Worldwide Sketchcrawl in Austin, and in other Texas venues.  Meanwhile, Texas Sketchers Judith Butler Dollar, Kay Zimmerman and Jim Richards joined the same event on the last day of the 4th International Urban Sketching Symposium in Barcelona.  About 200 registered attendees, faculty and volunteer staff were joined by 100 or so non-registered attendees, who came just to draw and celebrate their love of urban sketching.  It was a magnificent 3-day event!  I'll be posting more photos and sketches from Barcelona in the coming days.  Hopefully our Texas delegation for the annual Symposium will continue to grow!

Some of the 40th Worldwide SketchCrawl attendees on the last day of the Symposium in Barcelona

Jim Richards' sketch from the SketchCrawl gathering in Barcelona.

Last things first

 Goodbye Barcelona and fellow Urban Sketchers from 30 countries. A sketch from the departure gate in Barcelona after a week with the Uban Sketchers Symposium. 3 days of workshops and a few extra tacked on to soak up a little more Catalan goodness. Thanks to the teachers and especially the organizers of this years' symposium. Some highlights: tapas, vino tinto, Sagrada Familia and all things Gaudi, the Boqueria, everyone else's sketchbooks, late night dinners, friends from USK 2 & 3. And the sponsors and volunteers that made the whole thing work. More images as time permits.

On a Rainy Afternoon in Houston

It's been rainy and cooler the last few days, so I decided it was time to go out and do some sketching. This is the old Oriental Textile Mill in the Houston Heights. It was opened in 1894 and is one of the oldest industrial buildings in Houston. It's on the National Registry. First it was a mattress factory, then they produced fabric from camel hair.  I know there is a small restaurant in the building now. What I find interesting is that the top third of the clock tower is much more ornate and faced in a nice limestone, while the rest of the tower and building are nondescript brick  painted  a neutral tan.  When the brick was its original dark red, the building would have been an interesting contrast in styles. The clock is a real gem. I got the sketch done just before the sky got really black.

Austin Urban Sketchers | World Wide SketchCrawl #40

Had a great time hosting the Austin Urban Sketchers participatation in the WWSketchCrawl #40!

This sketch was done while sitting @ Jo's coffee looking across S. Congress Ave to the ever popular Amy's ice cream.

From Jo's coffee we "crawled" to the Auditorium shores Gazebo @ Town/Ladybird Lake, and then on to a sketching happy hour at the Hyatt Regency overlooking the Congress Ave bridge.   It was a hot time in the Summer (sunny with temps in the 100's) as this group of diehard urban sketchers braved the elements and made this sketchcrawl one to remember!

Lunch sketch

One of my favorite places to stop for lunch when I am in Houston is les Givrals for a Vietnamese sandwich (bahn).  There are always some interesting characters around slurping noodles and hanging out in this neighborhood restaurant.

Umlauf Scultpure Garden and Museum [w. Austin Urban Sketchers Meetup group]

Had a wonderful time this saturday sketching @ the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum in Austin, Tx, with a great crew of Austin Urban Sketchers!   The Umlauf Sculpture Garden & Museum is a natural oasis in South Austin dedicated to the work of 20th century American sculptor Charles Umlauf. Every season shows off the sculptures in a different way, and the garden path is lined with sculptures and places to sit and relax while you sketch art surrounded by nature!  If you're ever in Austin be sure to check out this urban gem, it's now one of my top 5 fave places to sketch in south Austin.

b. scott shaevel

Botanizing in (Urban) Texas

Urban Sketchers don't usually post flora but, hey!, it's springtime, and it's Texas. So, this time of year -- if it's not covered with concrete, blacktop, or water -- it's probably covered with wildflowers.

OK, here in Texas we've been under the influence of a drought for the past three years. So, the more showy wildflowers have been a bit scarce this year. (I didn't see any Bluebonnets at all this year.) But I have noticed far more tiny, drought-resistant species than I ever would have noticed in a year when we have had bumper crops of Indian Paintbrushes, Winecups, and Mexican Hats.

I wonder if these annoying "little darlin's" were the inspiration for high-top boots?

So, on a technicality (I remember something in the USK guidelines about being able to place one's location on a map, and our bird sanctuary ponds are on Google's Fort Worth map.) I thought I'd share a few images drawn from my un-paved corner of "urban" Texas.

boiled down Yellow Woodsorrel produces a bright orange dye/ink (and raw, 

it's good on salads) while Field Madder will provide a rosy red artist's color

(Of course, if this post is a bit too far afield to truly meet USK criteria I won't be the least bit offended if someone feels the need to pull it.)

Happy trails everyone (one sketch at a time)! ;-)

Views from the Jonh Hancock Observatory and more.

Memorial Day weekend in Chicago, a lot more colder than here.

At the Field Museum.

At Art Institute Chicago.



Long Weekend, Big Fun

The long Memorial Day weekend was full of big Texas fun at the C's lake house on Lake Livingston. Four families, plenty of food, sun, boating and action. A regular Slip N Slide wasn't big enough so they got a roll of heavy duty plastic rolled it down the sloping lawn and ran the hose on it. Because that wasn't slippery enough they added liquid dish soap. Wheeee! And the kids got a bath without realizing it. If you are familiar with the game of Jenga you might recognize the super-sized version here. The pieces are cut from 2x4s and as play progresses the stack gets to be about 6 feet tall. We had to keep the dogs from walking near it, if it came tumbling down on them it would do serious damage. Between fishing and cooking and riding the "tube" behind the ski boat I managed to get in a few pages of sketches. The C's even have a couple of prints of my sketches from my last visit hanging in the lake house. 

 

Santa Barbara Castle.

Short trip to Spain, with a family stop in Alicante.

Can't make it to Barcelona? Check this out...

urbansketchers.org | Facebook group | Flickr group  Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. May 12, 2013 WEST COAST URBAN SKETCHERS SKETCHCRAWL Dear sketchers, Mark your calendars for the 1st Annual West Coast Urban Sketchers Sketchcrawl, July 12 - 14, in the San Francisco Bay Area. This event, spearheaded by Jim Bumgarner, of USk Tri-Cities, will offer any and all urban sketchers anywhere throughout the world, who for whatever reasons, were not able to attend the Barcelona Symposium, a chance to meet new people, and to enjoy group sketching and socializing in the fabulous San Francisco Bay Area, located on the West Coast of the United States.  No fees or workshops, the event is designed for meeting with new people and friends, and sketching all day on Saturday, the "40th World Wide Sketchcrawl," in the city where Enrico Casarosa gave birth to the "World Wide Sketchcrawl," San Francisco.  Friday, July 12: The Golden Bear Inn in Berkeley is recommended as a reasonably priced, central place to stay. Click on the link to contact them directly. Activities will officially begin with a group dinner somewhere in the neighborhood, with some sketching as well. Saturday, July 13: The Golden Bear is a 15 minute walk to the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transport) station where we will head into San Francisco early in the morning for the "40th Worldwide Sketchcrawl."  First stop will be the Ferry Building at the foot of Market Street a block from the Embarcadero BART station, Chinatown is within walking distance, and Fisherman's Wharf is close by as well.  Plan on a full marathon of sketching fun.  We will meet at the end of the day back at the Ferry Building to share sketches. Return to The Golden Bear sometime later in the evening. Sunday, July 14: A get-together in and around the Berkeley neighborhood, where there are many areas ripe for sketching, is planned.  Adjourn at noon; or, for those wanting more, another trip into San Francisco, or other surrounding points of interest are encouraged. If you plan to attend, please leave an RSVP in the comment section on the event page at http://wcuskskcrawl.blogspot.com Urban Sketchers is a grassroots 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering the art of on-location drawing. Consider making a donation today. Go to urbansketchers.org to make your tax-deductible contribution via Paypal. Like Urban Sketchers on Facebook Join group on Facebook Join group on flickr Follow on Twitter Copyright © 2013 Urban Sketchers, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you were part of our old Google Group or subscribed to our mailing list at urbansketchers.org Our mailing address is: Urban Sketchers P.O. Box 12624 Mill Creek, WA 98082 Add us to your address book  unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

Sketching around Austin

Last month the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) had their annual conference in Austin.  A group of design drawing professors set up a sketchcrawl for the first day of the conference,  I was lucky enough to be invited to come along (now that I'm a bonafide academic), as was Richard Alomar, the founder of Urban Sketchers New York and a professor at Cornell.  It was a great day of making new friends and leisurely sketching impressions of a great city.  At the end of the day our accordion-style Moleskine sketchbooks were opened and hung for display at a 3rd Street gallery (see photo).  Austin is hungry for more sketchcrawls!

The broad pedestrian way outside the Commons on the U of Texas campus.

The amazing axial view from in front of Memorial Tower to the State Capitol.

The Memorial Tower on campus.

Yup, the back yard at Stubb's BBQ is where I first saw Willie Nelson live, and was captivated by his "Willieness."

One of the old stone bridges over Waller Creek (this one at Sixth Street downtown), drawn from the limestone creek bed.

The accordion-style sketchbooks were hung from small binder clips on the gallery wall...pass me a Shiner, please...

Pickin' and eatin'

Easter weekend we took a trip up to visit one of my sisters and her family and stayed in Denton, Texas. It was perfect spring weather. 

Downtown  Denton is centered around a large country courthouse and is lively with bars, coffee shops, restaurants, and funky old antique shops. Every Saturday morning a group of musicians gather on the courthouse lawn for a little pickin'. My uncle is the one playing the big bass. They play a range of country and bluegrass music. 

One evening we went to eat at Rooster's home of the Hell Burger, a burger doused in ghost pepper sauce. (Only the hottest chili in the world, as recognized by Guinness Book of World Records. According to the Scoville scale of pepper pungency, the ghost pepper (aka India’s Bhut Jolokia chili pepper), is 300 times hotter than a jalapeno and 10 times hotter than a habenero). I wanted to survive the weekend so skipped the blazing burger. The mash up of neon and cheezy decorator touches gave me plenty to sketch.

Honor Thy Music. Nashville.TN

Short trip to the Country Music City.

I've been missing in action......

Hey gang!  Just checking in to let you know that still alive!  I'm sorry that I haven't posted anything lately to USK Tx...I haven't been doing much USK-worthy location sketching lately...I have found myself in a season of watercolor painting.  I'm very intrigued by the medium and have dedicated myself to getting better!  This hasn't left much time for my other love...location sketching in its pure form!  So....be patient with me...I'm still around!  I'm dabbling with some "plein aire" watercolor stuff right now that would qualify under our manifesto...stay tuned!  Loving seeing everyone's stuff!  Keep up the good work!

Memorial Park

As we know, the drought has killed a lot of trees in Texas and Memorial Park is pretty hard hit. It's one thing to read that the city will cut down about 5,000 trees. To actually see what that means is another thing altogether. I went for a walk on one of the multi-use trails on the south side of the park. In some places spring had brought green lush foliage and things looked almost normal. In others, however the whole area was cleared and the great mountains of brown debris and sad stumps told the tale. Earth movers have made mountains of branches and stumps and bark where the city has been working. Little green understory plants have popped up in some of the cleared areas. I can only hope we have a wetter summer than is currently predicted. The Memorial Park Conservancy has plans to replant, but those babies will need water!

39th SketchCrawl- Hunstville State Park

Afther the  Hug's Hunt 25 km trail race , i had forces to do this sketch to celebrate the world wide SketchCrawl, this time alone.

Quality Time

On Saturday my daughter asked if we could spend the day sketching together. So, while the big get-together was going on downtown (and that was an amazing turnout!) we were enjoying the quietude of a sleepy little neighborhood in the Historic Southside District.

Our stretch of May Street only recently reopened after a complete resurfacing and we didn't even have to contend with street traffic.

The traditional and the not-so

World Wide Sketch Crawl in Houston took me down to Hermann Park south of downtown. I have been to this park since I was a child. I am the 2nd oldest of 8 kids in my family so inexpensive entertainment was always a priority. On summer evenings when I was young, my parents took us to Hermann Park's large amphitheatre to see live musicals. I particularly remember the performance of "South Pacific" with a huge procession of actors coming down the hill carrying torches and even a dive off a cliff into a pool of water mystified me.
This weekend was the annual Japanese Festival. I had never been to the festival or to the Japanese Garden part of the park. I only ran into one other sketcher. ?! Part of the festival had the typical rows of tents selling trinkets and food. The stage had performances including Taiko drummers, which I always enjoy. But two colorful parts of the event that 'drew' my interest were the Vocaloids and the tent for dressing in a Yukata, which is a summer weight kimono. Vocaloids are mostly teens, girls and guys dressed as manja characters. They dress in brilliant colored fantastical wigs, some reaching below their hips and colorful cartoonish outfits. These three teens, watched over closely by their mamas, were very popular, teen boys wanted to have their picture taken with them. The girls played music on their phone and danced along in cartoony poses.
At the Yukata tent was a long row of beautiful kimonos with sashes, sandals and hair decorations. For $5 you could get outfitted and stroll around in the gardens for 20 minutes. I thought that was a tremendous bargain. Of course there was a lot of picture taking. All through the garden they teetered around on the wooden sandals.