A Saturday Two-fer: Gateway Cars and St. Arnold's

 The blog header shows Peter Norris's cheerful view of St. Arnold's and the Houston skyline in playful watercolor. Such a happy scene on such a HOT day. Peter was not the only one who decided to try the skyline. 

Diann

Diann gave it a try too, but in a slightly more literal palette.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's back up to the beginning of the day. The vote on sketching locations was very evenly split between Gateway Classic Cars and St. Arnold Brewery. We started the day at Gateway.

Luckily, there were many cars in a covered area in away from the heat. This is where many of us started sketching.

Michael broke out the gouache once again and used them in combination with watercolor.

Michael

I headed right for the best air-conditioning I could find. Have to admit it. But drawing the purple Ford coupe was worth it.

Chris

Francisco chose a bright turquoise classic beauty.

Francisco

Richard chose this classic.

Richard

And here are the offerings from our other sketchers.

Paul C

Carlos

Judith did some sketching inside too using her colored markers. 

Judith

Then she discovered this guy outside at the rally who had restored a beautiful Delta 88. He had it all tripped out for the drive-in movie: speaker, food tray, tunes. It was great.

Judith

Pat

Jacklynn

Arielle

Of course we had a throwdown.

throwdown

But that wasn't all for the day! Some hardy souls gathered at St. Arnold Brewery later in the day for a drink and sketch event. In fact, some of the same people from the morning sketchout showed up.

The St. Arnold's group

Both Rita Wilbur and Truong Le were interested in the artwork on the large tanks created for St. Arnold's by Carlos Hernandez of Burning Bones Press.

Rita

Truong

Jenny drew them too, as well as some food.

Jenn

Kate used her IPAD and Procreate to draw those umbrellas.

Kate

Peter gave them a try as well.

Peter

Carlos did a broad view in watercolor.

Carlos

Here are some of the sketchers at work.

Naturally,  there was another throw-down.

Throwdown

Both events were well-attended. We're always happy to welcome people from our email list. If you haven't attended in a while, consider coming to our next sketchout.  The NASA sketchout is ticketed because of a number limit. Details are on Facebook. Check out our posts on Instagram as well. It is not too late to sign up for the anniversary weekend in Bastrop. Check out the details on both FB and Insta. 

Music and Art at the Museum

The group

We had a good turnout this time for the MFAH. It's always nice to see people who usually can't make it to our Saturday sketchouts. The main feature this particular night was a short concert by the Monarch Chamber Players. Several of the sketchers chose to sketch the musicians and the audience who were assembled in the main hall of the Beck building.

Judith's sketch

Judith drew the array of musicians. I'd like to point out that her photo of the sketch gives the context in which she drew. Keep this in mind when sharing your sketches.

Karla

Karla zeroed in on the pianist.

Chris

I chose an angle behind the musicians so I could catch a little of the audience as well.

Many sketchers dispersed to the galleries to catch people and art. I will point out two clever solutions to the "no wet media" rule the museum enforces.

Andrea

Andrea toned her paper with ink before coming to the museum. This added a pop of color, but she had to get creative with her white gel pen for "lights".  She chose a really tricky perspective in this sketch too.

Andrea

Rita Wilbur solved the problem a different way.

Rita

She chose a sketchbook with toned paper and then added a little colored pencil. Very effective for the African art.

Kelly

Kelly just wanted to draw the art works.

But many sketchers were fascinated by people interacting with the artwork.

Michael

Michael's panorama of the gallery of Middle Eastern art has many viewers and a little facsimile of Arabic across the top.

Judith

Judith drew people in the galleries.

Chris

My sketch doesn't do justice to the glittery, neon turquoise Buddha in the Korean exhibit. Lots of photos were being taken.

Carlos

Carlos drew all the people wandering around in the museum.

Helen

Helen drew someone...hmmmm..watching musicians? looking at art? people watching? It was all going on.

Karla

And Karla captured a group of Indian women in saris who seemed to be all over the museum. Black and white doesn't capture the color, but Karla caught the movement.

Four people went in an entirely different direction.

Sharon

Sharon drew the outside of the Law building before it got too dark to see.

Tim

Tim drew the undulating curves of the Kinder building.

Heman

Heman chose a similar subject from a slightly different angle.

Of course, you can see Truong's view of the Kinder tunnel and light installation in the blog header.

the throwdown

Of course there was a throwdown at the end.

Please join our Instagram feed or join our Facebook group for the location and details on our next sketchout. Join our newest Facebook group, Urban Sketchers Texas for all the latest information on our ten year anniversary weekend in Bastrop. Registration will open soon.

Returning to the Houston Farmers Market

The Group

It's always a fun day when we go to the Houston Farmers Market. This time they were celebrating Earth Day, so there were lots of booths set up around the lawn and the market was really busy. We had another good turnout of sketchers too.

Mackenzie and a few others decided to sketch the scene out near the lawn.

Mackenzie

Eva

Liz

A whole line of sketchers set up in the middle of the market to sketch the various booths.

Rebecq's sketch...our line of sketchers

Carlos

Joel

Shaw

Richard

Richard was on the far corner and patiently answered many curious questions. I decided to sketch the sketchers.

Chris

Mary R

Mary Regan's markers worked especially well to capture those sails and the newly ripe watermelons.

Jennifer

Jennifer worked only in watercolor for this scene with a mother and her children.

Francisco

Francisco reports that this booth owner and her friend had decided he was from the health department...until they saw his sketch. Then they wanted a picture.

Barry

Both Barry and Michael Jap chose the rather difficult long view down the aisle of the market. Michael, of course, did his work in gouache.

Michael

Brittany and Michelle both picked particular booths to draw. Brittany's choice of two tones makes her sketch interesting. Michelle tackled drawing people as did Veronica.

Brittany

Veronica

Michelle

Both Lisa and I did sketches focusing only on the produce. But they couldn't be more different.

Lisa

Chris

And Judith was drawn to the booth selling mocaljetes in every size and shape you can imagine.

Judith

Of course there was a throwdown.

the throwdown

And we went to lunch where we talked a little about the upcoming anniversary sketchout in Bastrop. To get in on the fun, or to attend upcoming sketch outs join our group on Facebook by answering some simple questions. Or go over to Instagram to see what people are posting.