Urban Sketchers

sketches at Gasan Digital Complex area, Seoul

noreply@blogger.com (bh yoo) — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 03:25:00 +0000

The name of the station (Gasan Digital Complex station) was changed from Garibong station into Gasan Digital Complex station on 2005. Originally old type industrial factories located at the area, which were changed into new type, apartment factories in new highrisen buildings. There was another reason that the area was transferred to new district with different name from Garibong-dong into Gasan-dong. I went there after tens of years. I was surprised so much at the street scene. Of course there were shiny glass wall buildings, so called apartment factory buildings. But The area was famous with the fashion outlets such as Mario Outlet, Fashion Island, W-Mall...The station is a transferring one of Subway No. 1 and 7. Therefore the station is crowded with passengers always. When I got off the train I looked around. Before leaving. I felt like to sketch the station in a bench. I thanked about that the station was over the ground not under ground. I had no water to wash so I tried with pencil and pen.

pen & pencil, A 4

I entered the Fashion Island outlet building. I could see only a few customers in the shops because it was before noon. I sketched one looking down the shops sitting on a comfortable chair laid for the customers tired with shopping. It was a challenge always for me to sketch looking down. I wanted to put the right wall together but failed.

pen and watercolor, A 4

After finishing the above one I came out. I sat for a while on a bench under the shade of trees looking up the Mario Outlet building not far from the Fashion Island Outlet. The building looked good with brick color contrasted by strong sun light. I hesitated for minutes whether I should draw it horizontally or vertically. Because I wanted to put the bottom tent and the small outdoor performance space I chose the vertical scenery.

pencil, watercolor, A 4

I entered the Mario Outlet building. It's summer. In 11th floor there was a big sale (40% off) event for camping goods including big and small tents, shades, chairs. There were chairs for customers too, which was useful for me too.

pencil, watercolor, A 4

Though it was a very hot day I enjoyed the sketching trip as if I were a foreigner in Seoul, hoping to visit there to capture the developed features of the area soon.

Antique day in new oxford

noreply@blogger.com (Chris Buchholz) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:33:00 +0000

I live in new oxford, the antique capital of the US. Every third Sunday of June we have an antique/craft fair. It's a great opportunity for drawing. I just wish I could borrow some of the items for a couple of hours and draw them unencumbered by all the crowds and traffic. This year I spent most of the time in the old train station which is now a train museum that has hundreds of different train signal lamps. I'd love to have a couple more hours in there!

Slussen in summer mode

noreply@blogger.com (Nina Johansson) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 21:49:00 +0000

Since my summer holiday finally started yesterday afternoon, and today offered fantastic weather, I decided to celebrate my first day off by going drawing at Slussen again. Made two drawings, and the one below had to be quick, because my Nordic skin can only take so much sun…

Stockholm has a winter and a summer face. Winter makes people stressed and cold, seems like everyone is hurrying to go somewhere. But in summer, everyone switches to their sunny mode. People are so relaxed now, taking it more slow, enjoying the warmth and each other. Ryssgården, the square in front of the Slussen metro station, is an ongoing social event all day when the sun is shining. Perfect place for people watching.

A view from Shinjuku Odakyu department store

noreply@blogger.com (kumi matsukawa) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 10:31:00 +0000

I have drawn same view several times. This time I tried to heed Omar's advice. To draw long objects in diagonal composition. But you have to be careful, keep an eye on your horizontal line in your drawing otherwise you can easily draw wrong angle line. ( you can see my corrected lines on the right building)
June 17, 2013

Feb. 18, 2010

April 24, 2010

Day trip to Aran

noreply@blogger.com (Wil Freeborn) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 20:43:00 +0000

Taking the ferry from Brodick to Adrossan

Then cycling over the island on a road called the string (its called this because it looks like someone has dropped a piece of string on the map) then a loop over the top of the island.

An easy going lunch at the Sandwich Station.

Just round the corner was where I was heading the Isle of Arran Whisky Distillery. I missed the tour but was kindly allowed to see and draw the whisky stills. I chatted to Gordon who worked there and he said that these stills are smaller versions than they usually are, think they're based on the Macallan stills. The smell of drawing in here is quite something, a real aroma of whisky and malt, I wasn't sure if it goes to your head.

On the last part of the ride around Arran after Lochranza there's a long straight part of the road with these high peaks to your right. I stopped for some time to draw them and you could hear cuckoos making their calls.

And lastly the ferry back home, a pack of cyclists(pelaton). You get quite a few teams that cycle round the island as quickly as possible. A good drawing day!

The Sea

noreply@blogger.com (kane) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:44:00 +0000

Brooklyn is the new place for seafood.

First Time SketchCrawlers

noreply@blogger.com (Lynne the Pencil) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 09:04:00 +0000

I was very lucky yesterday. I was running a SketchCrawl for a little, local festival, in Sheffield's Botanical Gardens. Despite grim forecasts, it was warm and dry and not even windy: perfect for sitting around on the grass, drawing together.

It was an especially lovely afternoon, as I had all very inexperienced sketchers, people who had done some drawing indoors, but not been brave enough to try sketching out on location.

I took some tins of coloured pencils and watercolour pencils for people to borrow, which meant that they all had a go with colour, rather than sticking to a regular pencil. I had to work double-quick myself, as the idea was that I would sketch with them, as inspiration, then work my way round the group, chatting to each person and offering any advice that was needed.

We had a sharing session at the end and everyone produced lovely sketches. I think I may have recruited a few to our regular SketchCrawl North group too. Success all round.

Brad Catron Quartet

noreply@blogger.com (Thomas Thorspecken) — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 16:01:00 +0000

On April 17th I went to Tastings (164 Lake Ave Maitland Fl), to listen to jazz and sketch. The Jazz Tastings Quartet performs every Friday starting at 7PM. I ordered a white wine and a lobster bisque that was delicious. The band got on stage just as I was finishing my bisque. Cary Frank was on the keyboards and you can't see him in my sketch. He is behind the bass player, John Toney. I recognized John, I had sketched him perform once before at the Obama Campaign Headquarters. Brad Catron was up front with his self deprecating humor and fast fingers on guitar. The fish bowl tip jar was half full of dollar bills from the start.

The music was lively helping motivate every line and splash of color. After my second cup of white wine the sketch started to look not so bad. As often happens, the band took a break before the sketch was done. I kept painting, forgetting about local color, and going with colors that worked for the sketch.

It was a good sketch session, although the bisque and wines were more expensive than I expected. Most people don't recognize the cost of making art. Maybe I should put a tip jar out every time I sketch. With my luck, I'd be arrested for busking or begging.

- Analog Artist Digital World

4/48 h neukoelln

noreply@blogger.com (Rolf Schröter) — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 12:56:00 +0000

in reuterstr84, viewing 15 orte - 3 perspektiven and devote myself to other night-out-joys

like sitting at corner hobrechtstrasse | sonnenalleen and eat and drink

and roam around backyards and end up in pub 'mama', watering hole of young globetrotters and listen to another version of

'i_want_to_learn_german_as_i_think_it_is_very_unpolite_to_assume_that_everybody_understands_english_(nevertheless,_everybody_does,_does_not_make_it_easier)_and_i_tried_but_it_is_so_complicated_with_der,_die,_das_and_these_verbs_changing_all_the_time'

.

| rolf schröter

a couple more davis bars

noreply@blogger.com (petescully) — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 04:30:00 +0000

Davis CA: when I first came to Davis, there weren't that many bars, for a college town. There were a few, but not as many as now. They are everywhere now. Everywhere is falling over themselves (literally in some cases) to get you the latest hippest craft beer, brewed only by the people with the biggest beards and the oldest bicycles. I must say, I do like the beer out here on the West Coast, of course, and on those very hot Davis days it is nice to kick back with a couple of pints of tasty stuff and draw these bars. Above is Uncle Vito's, not a bar primarily but a pizzeria with a very sports-bar feel. They do good beer in very cold glasses. I have sketched in there before, about four years ago when it was new (it used to be a Chinese take-out place called "Wok'n'Roll"), and I like that big mirror, but now they have that lampshade as well which is always worth a sketch. That evening I had given a rambling talk at my local bookstore, the Avid Reader, about travel sketching, Danny Gregory's book 'An Illustrated Journey' (in which I have contributed a chapter), and Urban Sketchers, and it was great fun - you can read about it on my blog. I came for a couple of beers afterwards to cool down - it had been 109 degrees F that day! That's Davis for you.

This second bar is a brand new one called 'University of Beer'. This place is just about the beer, and they have lots of different micro-brews on tap. This is one for the beer-geek. When it first opened, I thought I was back in Portland, the selection was so good. It was a hot Saturday afternoon, I had been out sketching something or other, some building with some trees probably, and wanted a nice cool interior to balance it. I didn't have space to sketch the wall on the right, which is covered with lots of colourful metal beer signs, but maybe another time. In the 'UoB', their menus are so big they have them on iPads. They also have this cool icy strip at the bar to put drinks on to keep them cold. This is cutting-edge beer-geekery, and I love it.

by Pete Scully

T2 teahouse is closing!

noreply@blogger.com (Liz Steel) — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 04:00:00 +0000

Well, very sad news last week that my beloved local tearoom - The T2 Teahouse at Macquarie Centre is closing down on Friday 21 June. It is hard to put into words how special this place is… and how much a big part it has been of my creative journey over the last 5 years. It has become part of my life...catching up with friends, the start and end of every overseas trip, the place where I have fun and experiment with new techniques, when things were really crazy at work it was the special little event in the week…. and this year it has been my external office, I go there when I want some time to think.

A little haven for me to sit and sketch and have a lovely time with the amazing amazing staff! In so many ways they have made me feel special - giving me special selections of cups or pots to draw, dashing across the way to get a sample of tea from the retail store because they had run of the tea I wanted, allowing me to sit in the big red chair on my own for an hour or so (or even been there all day!) There are so many different places to sit- all with unique views and characters… and of course the tea and scones and cakes are AMAZING!

I used to just drink tea… this place has made me total tea mad and addicted to tearoom visits!

Thankfully there is one other T2 teahouse still operating for a few more months in a different part of Sydney. T2 is a big brand of teashops all around Australia - but to have one of their special teahouses right near me has been a real treat.

I am collecting 'best wishes' messages from around the world to tell them know how many people know about them globally as I am preparing a 'little card' to give to them all on the last day. Would love you to leave a message here or over at my blog.

There is no doubt that my sketchbooks will be less colourful now….

Carousel at Parkway Plaza in El Cajon, Califonia

noreply@blogger.com (Urban Sketchers San Diego) — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 22:50:00 +0000

Parkway Plaza is a Westfield Shopping Mall in San Diego, California. Right in the middle of the mall there is a Carousel where the San Diego Urban Sketchers met to draw. We were lucky because it stopped at the same place every time it went around. This made it easy to pick one part of the carousel as a subject.

Old Timers

noreply@blogger.com (omar) — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 17:24:00 +0000

The other day when the weather was still bad I went to paint old timers at a garage specialized in these cars. There were plenty cars to choose. I did these first two.

By cars I use pencil and watercolors . Sometimes Pen. I do three washes of color. The first one saving the whites of the reflections, a second for the shadows and third to smooth over both.

Ford Mustang: It was parked outside the garage. I am very proud of the reflections on the store window. You can see the building on the other site of the street.
Chevrolet Corvette: The car was on the hydraulic ramp.

A few days later there was also a big car show on the Ku'damm (an important street in Berlin West)
A Mercedes Benz190 SL
An here is my favorite car, probably because I had not seen one before. A Borgward Isabella Coupe.

Rolling Stones

noreply@blogger.com (miked) — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 10:55:00 +0000

The Rolling Stones came to Boston. It was a sold out show and the only tickets that were available were really expensive so I had given up on going to the show.

The day before the show, I received an email from the Rolling Stones website saying they had a number of regular priced tickets available only to fans attending the show so I immediately jumped on it and bought 2 tickets to go with my wife.

Picking up the tickets was strict having to show proof of ID, the credit card used to purchase the ticket and also was given a tag to wrap around the wrist showing we bought the tickets. Seats were selected at random and we ended up on the 3rd floor all the way in the back - pretty much the worst seat in the house. Either way we were still excited that we were able to get in. We had time before the show started so I started sketching with the intention of doing a really detailed sketch.

While I was sketching my wife noticed a staff member walking over to many people seated in our area, checking to see if they had the wrist band on and then handing them tickets. They were given tickets to better seats. 10 minutes into the sketch the man came over to us saying it was his last 2 tickets and told us we could move to row 6 from the stage!! Unbelievable!!

I couldn't get a sketch since I was too excited from all this but here's an iPhone picture taken from our seat - it shows how close we were in comparison to the 1st seat shown in the sketch.

What a great show. And they have been together for 50 years which is amazing too.
To wrap it up, here are 2 T shirts bought at the event.

Rural sketching in France

noreply@blogger.com (Rene Fijten) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 19:35:00 +0000

I spent a nice week sketching and painting in Burgundy, France. It was a rural region with small villages, old castles, winding roads, good company, good food and good wine. The last three are the most important for any Frenchman of course.

I did a painting course there, on the premises and surrounding villages of Château de Messey, our lodging. The drawings of the cows were made sitting at the breakfast table, which was located on the inner courtyard.

The drawing of the village is an overlook at "La chapelle sous Brancion". As the name of the village implies, it is located below the castle of Brancion, and you have a terrific overview over the village and the valley beyond.

Horn Session

noreply@blogger.com (Fred Lynch) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 19:23:00 +0000

Each Spring, my son Henry has his trumpet recital, and I bring along a sketchbook and challenge myself to do the impossible (for me): work quickly! In the time that each horn student plays their little piece of music, I try desperately to capture the characters. These drawings are from two different years, so some students appear twice (including my son). Perhaps this makes for a good game: find the pairs.

Down to Wapping

noreply@blogger.com (professor shorthair) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 17:42:00 +0000

I received an email from a young designer who had found my drawings on Flickr and was enquiring about the possibility of using some of them in the redesign of a menu for a London pub. Now as it happens, this pub is one of my favourite London pubs, so I was immediately hooked. The pub is The Town of Ramsgate, situated down in Wapping. When I was a boy this was a dodgy area that suburban folk like me would rarely visit. Back then it was warehouses, docks and ill-lit streets, with stone setts, and no easy transport links. Now it's very upmarket apartments in converted warehouses and there's a refurbished station for the newly refurbished London Overground.
The Town of Ramsgate dates back to at least the mid-sixteenth century. It is a riverside pub, right next to the Old Wapping Steps, an ancient access to the river itself, and the foreshore. It's an area of interesting history. These steps were the site of execution for those found guilty of piracy, whose bodies were hung on the gibbet until they had been covered by three tides. Captain Kidd is reputed to have been one of these unfortunates. The pub itself was the place where the London mob found and caught the notorious 'Hanging' Judge Jefferies who was trying to arrange a boat to flee his own trial.
If you're visiting London, I'd recommend a visit, just a little walk east of Tower Bridge.
I met the designer at the pub, and had time for a quick drawing from the steps across the river to Rotherhithe:

Rotherhithe from the top of Wapping Old Steps

The encounter has made me look back at the drawings I did around Wapping a few years ago, that may now be used in the new pub menu design. Here are some:

Wapping High Street - Gun Wharves. These old warehouses are now apartments backing on to the river

Wapping church

The passage from the High Street, down the side of the Town of Ramsgate, to Wapping Old Steps and the River

Wapping Old Steps

Mediterranean Holiday next days

noreply@blogger.com (Eugene) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 16:28:00 +0000

Continued from http://www.urbansketchers.org/2013/06/mediterranean-holiday-continuation_7.html
and http://www.urbansketchers.org/2013/05/tel-aviv-by-morning.html

Despite the very tough schedule we succeded to walk around a bit. For instance we spent a day in Old Jaffo so I was able to sketch some Jaffo streets I was never done before and actually dreaming of it. Now it's finally happend.

Those ancient yellow stone walls that looks like loafs of white bread becouse of constant salt wind influence from the Mediterranean Sea always inspired me. As well as plenty of magical mistery looking artisan goods you can get on a way.

And I was glad I was able to catch a glimps of local food we enjoied before. The good thing that all our all time favorite places still on, alive and kicking. We wasn't able to make a tour at the new ones - mission impossible even for two weeks there. And there are real good!

I was also very much satysfied of my complimentary Stillman and Birn Skethcbook. It's large format and thick ivory paper was just fine for that sort of travel and especially for the kind of sketching-meet scrapbooking I usually do. Thank you guys!

Dominican Republic

noreply@blogger.com (Stephen Gardner) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 15:38:00 +0000

Had a wonderful trip to the DR recently, such a beautiful place, I didn't do as much drawing as I intended but then, it was a vacation.

"News from Warsaw" project

noreply@blogger.com (Richard Câmara) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 08:52:00 +0000

These are some samples from the 3 sketchbooks I used during my 15 days residency in Warsaw, by the end of May. Invited by the Camões Institute in Poland and the City of Warsaw to stay at the Warsaw Contemporary Art Centre, I was interested in exploring how one reacts to an unknown city, registering all my field observations and thoughts using nothing else but 14x14cm white paper sketchbooks, black ball-point pens and my senses. I opened a new label in my blog entitled "News from Warsaw", in which I will be sharing a selection of the best drawings made (until the end of July), during what ended up being an "exploratory residence", using a very suitable term found by José Carlos Dias (the representative of the Camões Institute in Poland and responsible for invitating me to go to Warsaw). Check it out! Hope you´ll enjoy it.

Bonnie's Happy Look, Idyllwild, California

noreply@blogger.com (Urban Sketchers San Diego) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 02:19:00 +0000

This is a sketch of Bonnies Happy Look a little shop in Idyllwild. I got to sketch a little while my friends were exploring some nifty little shops in town. Idyllwild is located in the San Jacinto Mountains of Southern California.

Pencil and watercolor in a lined journal.

Film: Sketching in Watercolour Pencils

noreply@blogger.com (Lynne the Pencil) — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:57:00 +0000

I just created a new film: it's a sketching demonstration using my Inktense watercolour pencils, done on location at Costa Coffee in Broomhill, in Sheffield. We did a SketchCrawl there in April and I realised the coffee shop's big upstairs window was a perfect vantage point.

The drawing I am creating is this one. It's A3:

Several people have asked me about using the watercolour pencils, so I provided a commentary as I sketched, explaining what I am doing. Hope it's useful.

If you like the film, please 'share' - thanks!

Sketching with Gary and Anandamayi

noreply@blogger.com (kumi matsukawa) — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 03:11:00 +0000

Gary Amaro, a correspondent Berkery, California visited Japan with his girlfriend Anandamayi. We met in Tokyo and my sketch friends TETSU and Junichi later joined us and we had sketch session.

We met up in Ginza. ( I guess some of you who have visited Tokyo and had met me in Ginza must be giggling . Yes, again, I asked them to come and meet in front of Wako building. It is one of the landmarks there and I thought no one would miss finding it. So I won't miss them) One street became pedestrian-only zone as is always the case on weekends in the afternoon, we started to draw each other in the middle of the street.

As I saw his sketchbooks, those delicately drawn pencil works directly, I so much liked to mimic his way.

From left, Gary's, Anandamayi's and my sketch

Left, Gary's and light, mine

After lunch, we walked toward Tokyo Station, there TETSU and Junichi got together with us, then we went to 8th floor of a building where we were able to see whole view of Tokyo station.

This time, Gary sketched using watercolor. He says he usually brings watercolor set with him but rarely uses it. Since he saw my watercolor sketches, he felt like try it. And I think this is fun part of meeting sketchers.
We are so much influenced each other just by having quick glance of each works.

Gary was sketching using watercolor. I noticed that he has more opaque pastel tone colors in his palette.

Anandamayi was drawing me

Junichi was sketching the other way, there you can see the Imperial Palace.

TETSU was using pen

Our result of the day.
Since Gary stood side by side with TETSU and seen his pen work, some details were added with pen on his watercolor drawing. Sketch style is contagious when we are so near.

It is always short period of time and we barely communicate or talk while sketching, but we learn a lot through the session. I treasure this kind experience.

Before they fly back to the US, I had chance to see them again. Anandamayi has her exhibition in Tokyo until June 30th. I visited the opening day, and I was able to see her unique art works as well as her in beautiful paper dress that she made! More over it was great to see more Gary's latest sketches done in Japan.

Well, I hope they can go back home safely with full of good memories and can post their story and sketches in this blog.

Cova do Vapor

noreply@blogger.com (Pedro) — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 21:34:00 +0000

COVA DO VAPOR (Steamer’s Grave) is a small neighborhood near Lisboa.

Across the river, it stands exactly on the corner between Tejo River and the sea.

All the houses are self built, right on the sand, very close to the sea.

The place is beautiful.

EXYZT is an international group http://www.exyzt.org/ that got interested in Cova do Vapor and began a wonderful on site project, promoting the place, local people, local interests and local knowledge. You can read about it here:

http://www.exyzt.org/agenda/CASA-DO-VAPOR-eng.pdf

http://www.casadovapor.org/?lang=pt

The operation was named CASA DO VAPOR (Steamer’s House) and USkPortugal joined as an outsider, documenting the place, the people and the building of the house itself.

Every week a sketcher has been on site, drawing and talking to the neighbors. The sketches have been published every Tuesday, and all the neighbours are very curious about them.

There was a workshop about sketchbooks and we hope that, after the end of June, the new local sketchers (already at work) will continue publishing about the place and the several events programmed until October.

Finnaly, last sunday, we had a USkPortugal sketch meeting there. Of course we had sardines grilled on site and made lots of new sketches.

I know it is a too long post but we have so much to say about CASA DO VAPOR…

Please visit the sketches here.

the beat goes on

noreply@blogger.com (petescully) — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 19:00:00 +0000

Sacramento, CA: This is The Beat, a beloved record store which for twenty years has lived on the corner of J and 17th Streets in midtown Sacramento. It was the existence of this record store, with its huge stock of new and used CDs (including stuff I hadn't even seen in the UK), that first brought me to discover midtown Sac back in early 2007. I would go out there on weekend afternoons fairly regularly after that, sketching the very sketchable neighbourhood, popping into the Streets of London pub for beer and fish and chips, browsing comics at Big Brother, buying pens at the University Art Store. I don't come out here very often these days (nor do I buy music much any more, maybe an album every six months or so from a band I already know) but when I do I always pop into The Beat and browse the racks. I spent a lot of my youth browsing the racks at London record stores - Loppylugs in Edgware, Notting Hill Record&Tape Exchange, HMV/Virgin/Our Price - most of which are either gone or dying breeds. Even Tower Records, which I always knew from its celebrated spot at the corner of Piccadilly Circus, is no more - Tower was in fact a Sacramento native, named for the Tower Theater next door to the original Land Park store, and when the chain closed the original is all that remained. The world does things differently now.
I went by again this week to sketch The Beat one last time, because at the end of June this record store is being forced to move, and I don't yet know where it will end up. They aren't going out of business, it's just that the landlords gave them a 90 day notice to vacate now that their current lease is expiring. The property is owned by the same family, the Soehrens, that built the premises back in the 1920s and apparently have been pretty flexible in the past with rent reductions, but times are tough; they haven't stated who the new tenants will be, but hopefully it will be one that gives the neighbourhood as much character as The Beat does. I hope they will be able to stay local, but I for one will miss them in this spot, since they're usually my first destination when walking to midtown from downtown Sac.

Pete Scully