The Great Elephant Migration

The throwdown

Every once in a while, the group has a bonus sketchout on a weeknight. This one was a trip to see The Great Elephant Migration at the Commons in Hermann Park. If you haven't been to the park in a while, there is a whole new area near the intersection of Fannin and Cambridge called The Commons. This sculpture installation is the latest thing to visit this location. The elephants are all made from woven lantana.

As you can see, the turnout was small, but some great sketches came from this group.

Jacklynn

Jacklynn did a very sensitive watercolor rendering. with lovely soft washes.

Susan

Susan did a full double page spread. You could almost imagine yourself on the savannah.

Peter

Peter

Peter did a couple of views, one of which captures the top of Hermann hospital in the background.

Heather

Heather also did a collection of smaller drawings and included a sketcher in one.

Matthew

Matthew worked in hmmm..pen or pencil? You can feel the scale of the sculptures compared to the people in the background.

 You can see the throwdown at the beginning of this post.

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Henderson & Kane and the Old Sixth Ward

 As you can see from the header, we had a decent turnout for this sketchout....especially considering that we had to make a last minute change in venue. It seems that the St. Patrick's Day parade was taking up all of Allen Parkway and everything around it, so we made a quick adjustment and went across the bayou to the Old Sixth Ward. Never fear, we will revisit the skate park another time.

We met up at Henderson & Kane in the heart of the old Sixth Ward. This barbecue restaurant/ deli has become a neighborhood fixture. You can see the bones of the neighborhood grocery that was once there. The original "corner store".

Michelle

Susan

Fran

Alicia

Judith knew exactly what she wanted to draw. There is a stunning water oak on the corner in front of the old Dow Elementary (now MECA).

Judith

I had a similar thought. I had spotted a lovely redbud in full bloom in the new Dow Elementary Park.

Chris

Kristen was attracted to the church building down the street, which also had a blooming redbud.

Kristen

Amber did part of the same view in pencil.

Amber

The Sixth Ward is full of lovely old houses. Some of the earliest survivors in Houston.

Richard

Kandy

Travis

Susan

Jeff

Chris

Young sketcher, Austin, drew the very interesting building across the street from Henderson & Kane.

Austin

And Paul drew this building which must have once housed a neighborhood business. He found yet another redbud.

Paul

Elan drew this Little Free Library and a small garden plot.

Elan

We met back up at Henderson & Kane for the throwdown.

And stayed for a bit of lunch. It was a glorious day to sit outside. We don't get many of those in Houston.

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Join us in April as we visit the historic and lovely Glenwood Cemetery. Details will be posted on FB and Insta.

A Sketchout at H-Mart

the group

We had a good turnout for a very early morning sketchout at the H Mart in Spring Branch. By noon on any day of the week, this popular asian market is full of people, so we set the time just a little earlier. The bad news was that we missed most of the wonderful selection of subjects in the seafood department. The good news was that there was still plenty to sketch.

As you can see from Indah's sketch in the header, the produce department was the focus of many of the sketchers. Indah chose full color. 

Joel

Joel also did a colorful view of the produce section. Between the angles of the displays, the layout of the floor and the background, this was a true perspective challenge for many.

Fran

Anna

Xiao

Xiao managed to capture some interesting shoppers. Zooming in solves part of that perspective issue. Good call.

Susan

Chris

I felt the pull of all those wonderful purple Japanese eggplants.

Many of the rest of the group drew the food court.

Martha

Food court in just pen and ink.

Emerson

Mary

A young sketcher, Abigail

Indah...the condiments on the table work

Or a display of bamboo..Jing

Kyoku got a little turned around and ended up at Ranch 99, another asian market down the street. But she found us eventually and shared a sketch of their food court.

Kyoku

Kyoku and I also took a stab at the seafood department when they finally started setting out the seafood.

Chris

The tank of live fish was tricky.

Kyoku...the fish monger. Hope she was able to add color later

There were several sketches where I didn't get a name.

wish I could put names to these two

We took a group shot and did the throw down in the very interesting retail part of the store.

Check out the background in the group shot.

the throwdown

Then a group of us went off to lunch.

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January at the Museum of Natural Science

 

The group

As you can see from the photo, we had quite a good turnout for a Tuesday evening at the Museum of Natural Science. It looks like it was a fun evening. Because the group was so large, rather than try to stitch together a series of photos for the throwdown, Judith made a little movie. I thought you might like to see it first. You really get a good view of everyone's work.

Of course, lots of people went right to the dinosaurs, but Susan chose the Cabinet of Curiosities that you see in the header.

Here are a few of the sketchers with their drawings:

Maggie

Britt

Mike 

Jacklynn

Amber

Heather

Margo

Paul

Peter was busy. He completed several sketches.

Peter

Peter

Richard

Judith

Joel

Dawn

Michael

Alicia

Tami

Jeff

Inda

Aaliyah

Brianna

A visitor from Guatemala

I believe this is his as well

And we had a young sketcher join us. A guest of Paul's I believe.

A young sketcher

Finally, everyone assembled for the throwdown.

the throwdown

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