A Morning at the Menil

Sketchers hard at work at the Menil

We were lucky to have a sunny day that didn't get hot too early along with some lovely shade outside the Menil. Normally, when we visit the Menil Collection, we draw the galeries and art inside. This time, our sketchout in cooperation with Watercolor Art Society Houston was on the grounds and in the neighborhood.

The Group

This was a well-attended sketchout. I counted 30 people. That might be a new record.

Richard

 

 Richard gave a brief demo for anyone who wasn't   familiar   with the tricks   and tips of   urban   sketching. It's always interesting to hear how   different sketchers work.

  Then the group spread out over the grounds and   around the neighborhood. The result was that we   got  a little bit of everything in our throwdown.

 

Of course, there were people who wanted to try the building itself from different angles. You can see Karen's sketch in this month's blog header.

Richard

Richard challenged himself to a corner perspective. Always tricky.

Bruce

Michelle

Bruce and Michelle concentrated on the center of the building and the entrance. Two very different views of the same subject.

Shakti

Shakti zoomed right in on the people going into the museum. The different surfaces are handled really nicely.

Peter

Peter picked an unusual side view of the building and caught some sketchers at work.

Sketchers at work

Here are Peter and another sketcher hard

at work in the generous shade. Always nice to

have some cover available.

Many of the sketchers chose to draw the trees. There are so many really old, beautiful trees on the grounds.

Svetlana

Svetlana worked in colored pencil to draw the lovely, enormous Water Oak that anchors the corner of the lot.

Susan

Susan brought the same tree to the front of her sketch and put the building in the background.

Emily

Emily framed the view between two of the enormous branches in soft, almost abstract watercolor.

Chris

I loved that same perspective with the large branches dripping with Resurrection Fern. I found Cathi Bruhn hard at work.

Barbara

Barbara drew one of the Magnolia trees.

Laura

Laura picked the younger tree for color and the older tree for that bark texture.

Paul and Sabrina went over to the Menil Drawing Institute and drew that building.

Sabrina

Paul

A few sketchers wanted to include the sculptures scattered around the grounds.

Doreen

Cathi Bruhn

And oh look! While I was drawing Cathi, she was drawing me.  

My first sketch was of the Broken Obelisk in front of the Rothko Chapel. A peaceful spot I had all to myself.

Chris

Another group moved out into the neighborhood to draw the various buildings and small cottages.

Teagan

Mary M

That's Michelle on the porch of the bookstore.

Joel

A contrast of the old and new from Joel.

Siao

Cottages and cars under the Sycamore trees from Siao.

Jacklynn

A small cottage with a tricky roof angle drawn by Jacklynn.

We did a throwdown and some of us went out to lunch.

throwdown

We welcome the WASH members to join us anytime on our sketchouts. If you are one of the over 100 people on our email list and you have not been to a sketchout in a while, what are you waiting for? Details will be on Facebook and on Instagram. Please pass the link to the blog along to anyone you think might enjoy it. Until next time...

Old Tomball

The Group

A small group gathered in Old downtown Tomball for the April sketchout. The focus was the old train station.

Veronika

Susan

Rita Wilbur

A young sketcher

Fran

There were several sketchers whose names I didn't get. The young sketcher who tackled the complicated building perspective. Good job. And two others whose names I didn't receive.

Unidentified

Unidentified

I saved Vicki Williamson's sketch for last in this group because she did something I hope many of you will consider. She sketched on site and completed the page at home. This is perfectly permissible in urban sketching, especially if you plan to journal on the page or add ephemera or other elements.

Vicki Williamson- left, before and right, after

A couple of people chose NOT to work on the train station. One, was Xiao, whose sketch appears in the header. She chose a downtown street scene instead. The other was Judith.

Judith

An antique shop, perhaps?

the throwdown

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The Houston Botanic Garden

The Group

After several rainouts, Urban Sketchers Houston finally made it to the Houston Botanic Garden. The day was perfect for sketching. The turnout was great and everyone was enthusiastic to explore the garden. We have a wide variety of sketches to enjoy.  

First there is Magdalena's sketch in the blog header. She did this drawing in the Global Collection Garden. The Tree of Life Sculpture is a standout feature.

Martha

Here is Martha. Enjoying the sun and drawing a bed of snapdragons.

Bruce

Bruce found a shady spot with some pretty trees which he drew in ink and wash.

Carlos

The chairs in the shade look pretty inviting. Those shadows tell a story.

Andrea

Andrea's depiction of trees has a sunnier feel.

Cooper

Cooper found trees that  had been taken down and drew them in pen and ink. The repetition of the log shapes makes this interesting.

Joel

Joel found a spot where various epiphytes were hanging from the trees.

 

Xiao

Xiao drew the bridge over the bayou.  Another nice contrast between those purple shadows and the bright orange bridge.

Sketching and conversation in the Global Garden

Mary McJunkin

Mary McJunkin

Two sculptures in two different sketches by Mary. In the first one, the color added to the flowers make them just pop. In the second, the sculpture echoes the curves in the roof of the arcade with its clever wall-pockets full of plants.

Peter

The very architectural shape of the water feature contrasts with the soft shapes of the trees in Peter's two sketches.

Michael

The botanical garden is full of sculpture. Michael found a butterfly. He also drew an blooming iris.

Rita

I believe Rita's sketch was inspired by the Family Garden. She zoomed right in on that foliage.

Madison

Madison's colorful sketch features all sorts of pretty blooming things and another sculpture.

Veronika

Veronika found a different sculpture and some garden workers doing some spring cleanup.

Jacklynn

Jacklynn worked in very soft and subtle colored pencil.

Sabrina

Sabrina drew this view of the dry climate garden and the view across the rest of the garden.

Chris

I was fascinated by the clusters of barrel cactus in the desert landscape with the purple Salvia in bloom behind them.

Cathie B

Cathie B

An agave about to bloom and some other dry climate plants.

Here are some more sketches from various parts of the garden.

Carlos

Mary McJunkin

Madison

Andrea

Everyone had the same comment, " I didn't get to see everything." There's so much to see in this garden. Here's our throwdown.

the throwdown

Finally, to show appreciation to the garden for the garden passes, we were asked to do some postcards. Hopefully they can be used to make postcards or cards for the gift shop.

postcards

Thanks to Jill Barry, Katy Caldwell and the Houston Botanic Garden for making this visit possible.  It was a great day!

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