Urban Sketchers Houston Hits the Heights

Peter Norris captures the "strip" on 19th Street

Fourteen people turned out for the Saturday sketchout on 19th Street in the Houston Heights. Weather cooperated for the majority of the day, unusual for February. Two members of the group were visitors from the Austin Urban Sketchers group. Welcome!

Lisa reported that the old Heights Theater building was a favorite sketching subject, but it seems that everyone found something a little different to draw.

Samson Bimbo Adenugba's view 

Samson settled in front of the Heights Tower and captured the view down the street. Very nice! It was Samson's first outing with our group. Welcome.

Also welcome for the first outing was Carlos Chua. He found the area around the old Harold's clothing store most interesting.

Carlos Chua

Robert James had to capture the scene in front of the Venus salon complete with Elvis.

Robert James

And Britt Dearman made a study of the Heights Theater sign.

Britt Dearman

Afterwards, of course, there was the group photo.

The group

And the throwdown.

throwdown

Of course trying to get all the sketchbooks in a nice photo can be a challenge. Everyone tries to get just the right angle.

Trying to capture the throwdown

The group went over to Common Bond Bakery and Cafe for a little something to eat and to visit.

It sounds like a very successful sketchout.

Holiday Sketching

Mary McJunkin

Even though we're not doing a sketchout for December, Urban Sketchers Houston has been hard at work out sketching for the holidays. First, we have Mary's pretty poinsettia sketch.

Renate's sketch

Renata found some festive decorations right in her neighborhood.

Joel's sketch

Joel was eating at Red River BBQ and decided to capture the scene. " Does that tiny tree in the back make it a Christmas sketch?" he asked. Sure, we're in Texas after all.

Peter's sketch

Peter went downtown to see the Danzantes do traditional Aztec dances for the Procession of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Hispanic Houston has all kinds of celebrations for this pre-Christmas occasion.

Chris's sketch

I also went downtown. I was hoping to find fabulous holiday decorations in the old, and equally fabulous Ideson building. No luck. So I went over to Allen Center and sat it the warm lobby to sketch their pretty tree and Dallas Street beyond.

Jeff's sketch

Jeff also went downtown and found a nice lobby and a pretty tree.

Judith's sketch

Judith and her family went to Dickens on the Strand in Galveston, a longtime holiday tradition in Houston. This sketch of the Queen's Parade captures all the characters and spectators. This is only one of the fabulous sketches she did.

Join us again in January when we resume our sketchouts. We are looking for new and interesting indoor locations for the cool months. If you have and ideas, contact Judith or Robert.

Happy Holidays!

Discovery Green

The Group at Discovery Green

Although the morning started out a little chilly, the group that showed up found a few sunny spots and did some awesome sketching at Discovery Green. Several new people showed up. We're always glad for new and enthusiastic sketchers.

Cindy's Sketch

Cindy and several other people drew views of the George R Brown Convention Center.

Susan's Sketch

Prachi's sketch

Other people focused on the Tai Chi class taking place on the lawn.

Judith's sketch

Richard's Sketch

And other people focused on the view towards the Lake House.

Lisa captures someone relaxing in front of the Lake House

Chris's sketch...I focused on the skyline behind the Lake House and the fall color

Finally we did a throwdown on the lawn.

A real variety of views

Afterwards we gathered in the Lake House for a bite to eat and to compare our art materials and look at sketchbooks.

We probably won't have an official sketchout for December, but we will definitely be planning something for January. In the meantime, I will be collecting holiday sketches for the December blog post. Hope to see you all in January. Please feel free to share this with anyone who might enjoy it.

A Day Trip to Galveston- Part II

Robert's view of the lunch crowd

At lunch, we enjoyed the meal at Maceo's. Then it got very quiet. When we looked around, everyone was drawing the scene at the table!

Mary's view of the lunch crowd

After lunch, we had the morning throwdown.

the morning throwdown

As Judith remarked, a wide variety of subjects and points of view.  The morning crowd broke up and those remaining moved on to Sealy Avenue, a row of lovely Victorian "ladies" just begging to be sketched.

Someone sketched the sketchers!

Joel's sketch

Robert's sketch

Lisa's sketch

Lisa was fascinated by the multicolored stained glass in this house.

There was just so much to draw!

the afternoon throwdown

As you can see, everyone tried their hand at one of the very complicated and ornate houses. A challenge to be sure! I feel sure that Urban Sketchers Houston will be returning to Galveston.

A Daytrip to Galveston-Part I

The group (minus Peter) at lunch at Maceo's

For those of you visiting our blog from urban sketchers outposts afar, Galveston is a lovely port and beach town on the Texas coast about 50 miles from Houston. It enjoyed a lively past in the Victorian Age until the 1900 Storm wiped it out. Now it is enjoying a new life with beaches, tourist attractions and a cruise ship port. Lovely proud victorian homes and business buildings remain, just asking to be drawn. There is a port with a shrimp fleet and historic ships. On our trip, we barely scratched the surface of all the wonderful things to sketch. 

We had a good turnout, as you can see from the lunch photo. People arrived and went as schedules allowed. First, we tackled the dockside.

a view of the busy port

This view of the port captures the busy port traffic and the gray morning sky.

Eve's sketch

New sketcher, Eve, captured a challenging view of the Coastguard cutter.

Renata's sketch

Renata was excited to try out her new fountain pen on the same subject.

Chris's sketch

I chose a view dockside with the shrimpers and the pelicans. It was chilly sketching.

Next, we moved on to the Strand. The lovely old Victorian buildings are a challenge to draw.

Robert's sketch

Robert, Judith and I all loved the Trueheart-Adriance building on Kempner St. with it's wild colors and over-the-top ornamentation. Robert also took a peek down an alley.

Judith's sketch

Martha's sketch

Martha, chose a simpler subject, but included a historic clock and some green space.

Mary's sketch

Mary chose the same building, yet the sketches couldn't be more different. Judith remarked on this at lunch. So many different takes on the same places!

A Farewell to Wolfe's

Urban Sketchers Houston

Last weekend, Urban Sketchers Houston said farewell to Wolfe's Department Store on Emancipation Avenue. The store is in its final days and will close by December. Twelve people showed up to sketch both inside and out.

Robert's sketch

    

Chris's sketch

Robert and I, along with several others, focused on the cool sign and the exterior.

    

Joel's sketch

Joel captured a little bit of everything inside and out.

 

Jeff's sketch

Jeff's sketch

Jeff captured one of the customers in front of the hat display and did a study of the cool shoes.

 

Mary's sketch

Mary went up to the mezzanine level and got a view of the whole scene.

Carolyn's sketch

   

Mary's other sketch

Both Mary and Carolyn saw the abstract shapes made by the mannequins and the guitars back in the pawn shop.

Lunch was at This Is It, a classic Third Ward staple for soul food. But first, we did the throwndown

We even had one person working in Procreate on an Ipad this time. 

Join us for the next sketchout. Details will be posted soon.