"Starbucks at 395 and Clearwater"

In the cold, frosty air of this December day, we bundled up in our jackets and hats this morning and gathered at the local Starbucks on Clearwater and highway 395 here in Kennewick, WA.  The place was packed with people taking a break, or a second coffee, before a busy day of shopping; others were reading books and newspapers; some were studying; and still others just chatting and enjoying their favorite flavors. 

We thought we might have to find somewhere else to go, but soon three chairs opened, then a fourth and then there we were, the four of us facing each other in the middle of the room.  Fortunately, people in coffee shops move rather slowly, but when they do get up and leave, we've learned to just find someone else to use as a model to complete whatever character we were working on when they left. 

Great fun!!! 

  

 Dave

 Jean

 Nancy

 Nancy

Jim 

Jim's feeble attempt to copy Nancy's style

Featured Artist: Fred Crowley

Fred's (aka, "-watcher-") artistic abilities become quickly apparent to his viewers. His lines and compositions are spot on. His loosely sketched figures perfectly capture postures and positions as the people study and relax and enjoy their surroundings whether that be a local coffee shop, or the animals as they lounge in their peaceful zoo settings. The eye moves effortlessly thoughout.

Fred posts his work on his flickr site which is loaded not only with amazing sketches and drawings of people in cafe and shops, but also with exotic zoo animals, and "oriental abstractions."

And, rumor has it, before retiring to a life of artistic pursuits, Fred was an instructor at West Point!

Click on this image to view a slideshow of some of his cafe people.

"Sketching at the Public Library"

This last Saturday the "group" went to one of the many local public libraries here in the tri-cities: the Kennewick Public Library on Union.  Libraries are good places to sketch people because, unlike so many other places, people in the library move at a nice slow pace.

Unfortunately yours truly didn't get the notice out to the other sketchers until fairly late the night before, so there were only two of us who were able to make it to the sketch.

Here are a couple of the drawings:



Dave's Drawing



Jim's

Featured Group: "The Whidbey Island Sketchers"

We found the Whidbey Island Sketchers (WISKrs) online while browsing through the Urban Sketchers site and wanted to feature them here today.  Whidbey Island has some beautiful features and what artist wouldn't like to get their eyes and paints on such a place?  The WISkers do partake of those wonderful sights, but they also go indoors and "do" people in coffee shops, libraries and around the island.      

On their blog they say, "We’re a group of people on Whidbey Island who love to draw.  We're all about learning from one another, showcasing the unique character (and characters) of Whidbey Island, and most importantly - having fun.  Anyone can join us and all levels are welcome."  

Here are a few of their images: 

Featured Artist: Cathy Gatland of Johannesburg, South Africa

We found sketch artist Cathy Gatland while browsing internet.  Her blog, titled, "A Sketch in Time - South African sketches, paintings, and doodles," is filled with terrific paintings and sketches all created with careful and loving hands.  In the introductory comments she explains the contents of her blog, "Sketching, watercolours, oil painting, sketch and travel journals, a hotchpotch of what's on my right brain right now." .

She belongs to the "Joburg Sketchers," a group of local artists that goes into the community and sketches everything from restarants, jacarand trees, sidealk cafes, booksales, churches, other people and children, and other sketchers, to the architectual features of the building populating Johannesburg. 

Last summer, Cathy, travled to Lisbon, Portugal, and served as an instructor for the "II International Urban Sketchers' Symposium.  "Whoever would have thought mere sketches would have brought me to such a place and time, with so many people with a shared passion, so excited to meet each other?"

We would love to go sketching with Cathy sometime, somewhere. 



"33rd World Wide Sketchcrawl"

Little E and K Participating in the
33rd World Wide Sketchcrawl
Click the Picture For More

Living as we do on both sides of the mighty Columbia River,  we decided "Bridges and Things Associated With Them" would be our theme today, and what a great day it was.  

We drove down to Clover Island, a place we have been before, but each time we go, we go with fresh eyes for things and light and ideas.  Such was the case today as Jan, Jean, Pat, Dave, and Jim produced images of the Cable Bridge, the Blue Bridge, the river, the new lighthouse, Cedars Restaurant, and even Main Street.

Yichien emailed us during the outing to explain she felt she needed to keep the little ones, Emilie and Katherine, home and out of the questionable weather this morning; so they joined us "in spirit" by sketching at home.  How sweet!!!  Thank you ladies, we love your spirit!  

We hope you enjoy viewing the images.

"Last Thursday's Informal Outing"

Jim's Vineyard

 

This last Thursday we put out a call for artists to join us at the vineyards adjacent to Bookwalter and Barnard/Griffin wineries.  Jim was there for a while by himself, but then Bob pulled in and then Dave showed up for a few minutes. 

It was cool and very windy, and Dave had other errands to run, so Bob and Jim headed for the Food Mart at the Mall to draw people and get out of the 'elements.' 



Jan's Fishing Boat at the Richland Yacht Club



By now it was about 10:30 and there was hardly a soul in the Food Court.  We did some very rough sketching, and soon Jan, from Connell, joined us. 

We talked a while then Bob had to leave, so Jan and I each enjoyed a Bruchi sandwich, and then headed out to the Richland Yacht Club.  

The wind was fierce at the Yacht Club, but Jan and Jim persevered and finished with a couple nice sketches.  



Jim's Panorama of the Yacht Club setting



We hope you enjoy the sketches; and we hope if you have yet to join us on one of these outings, you'll take it in consideration and join us this coming Saturday for the "33rd World Wide Sketchcrawl."

Hopefully the weather will cooperate Saturday, and we won't have to deal with any rain, or wind.

     

"Franklin County Courthouse"




Click Jim's Courthouse to Find the Others

All last week we felt cooler air move in at night, watched the sky cloud over, and noticed we had rain a time or two, as autumn finally began showing its face. 

But this morning there were no clouds and by noon we were in the middle of an absolutely wonderful fall day with a low noon sun and great lighting.


We agreed to meet over at the Franklin County Courthouse for a sketching/painting session that proved more difficult than expected.

Next time you drive past the courthouse on 4th in Pasco, check out all the architectural features on the building. Deciding which to leave in and which to leave out was one of the challenges of this sucker, not to mention perspective and composition problems.

Thanks to Nancy, Fred and Jim for a fun-filled few hours.

Next Saturday: The 33rd World Wide Sketchcrawl.

"Sketchers Featured in Local Newspaper"



Pat Fleming, Nancy Thurston, Jim Bumgarner
click the picture to find the article

We were pleased with this feature article in the Atomic Town edition of the Tri-City Herald this morning. The event reported is the hanging of our show at the Cheese Louise deli, mentioned in a prior post on this blog.

We greatly appreciate the coverage; hoever some clarification is warranted: 

Our first showing was when we were the featured artists at "Phaddy Caddy Coffee Lounge" in Kennewick last June.  This is our second showing.

Enrico Casarosa, of Pixar, originated the "World Wide Sketchcrawl" movement, not the "urban sketcher" phenomenon.  Gabi Campanario, of the Seattle Times, started the "urban sketcher" movement that has participants from all over the world, as does the WWSKcrawl movement.

The "509 Urban Sketchers and Painters" represent the Tri-City area by participating in both of these online activities.

See original letter to the TriCity Herald here.

"Updates"

1. We will be going "somewhere" (destination yet to be determined) local this Saturday, October 8th, to sketch, paint, draw. Departure will be 10 am in the parking lot of the 509 Artspace and we'll finish up sometime around noon. We usually find somewhere near where we finish for lunch together and the sharing of our work. Hope you can join us!

2. October 15th - the "33rd World Wide Sketchcrawl" is scheduled, world wide. We have had good numbers for these outings and hope you can join us either for the first time, or again. The sketchcrawls were originally designed as "marathon" sketch days, going from morning through lunch and well into the afternoon. Don't know if we'll have the stamina for such a lengthy outing, but we want to keep the option open this time. If you're new to this phenomenon, go this link, click on forums and find us at "509 Urban Sketchers and Painters." From the forums you can also find us as "Tri-Cities, WA" in past sketchcrawls. Photos of our work will be added afterwards. This is a ton of fun and we certainly do hope you can all join us that day!!

3. Watch for a feature article of the "509 Urban Sketchers and Painters" in the Tri-City Herald this Friday, October 7th, tomorrow. When we hung our show at the Cheese Louise, they sent a photographer and Dori O'Neal told me she is hoping for publication then. Our show will be up for the month of October there.

4. One of own, Bob Irwin, is having a show this month at You & I Framing in downtown Kennewick. Be sure to catch him there this evening at Kennewick's First Thursday Artwalk!!! Way to go, Bob!!

keep arting, and we hope to see you soon.

"509 Urban Sketchers & Painters Hang in the Cheese Louise"

509 Urban Sketchers and Painters Exhibit at Cheese Louise

Thanks to Evan, and the staff, at Cheese Louise in the Richland Parkway for providing the wall space for us to hang our show this October.

Represented artists are: Nancy Thurston, Patrick Fleming, Greg Ashby, Jean Fu, Fred Fraser, LaPoynte, and Jim Bumgarner.

"The Coffee Shop Collection"

Click the photo for more sketches

The "509 Urban Sketchers and Painters" began working on a collection of images designed to capture the flavor, aroma, and architectural styles of the many coffee shops here in the Tri-Cities (all puns intended) this last Saturday.

Members Greg, Dave and Jim started at the Big Bean Espresso on Clearwater, across the street from Winco (sorta); then moved onto "Wired 4 Coffee," another small rectangular building on Clearwater just west of the "GH Guesthouse" motel/hotel; and then on out to the end of Clearwater at "Nikki Jean's."

We're thinking we want to build on this collection, eventually having a record of everyone of these small locally owned coffee-drive-thrus in the tri-cities.

9/11 Artifact Dedication in Kennewick

Yesterday, on the tenth anniversary of that most horrible of horrible days, a couple of us went out to the dedication of this memorial to the tragedies of 9/11. 
It is an actual artifact from one of the World Trade Centers that was awarded to the city of Kennewick, WA., following the city's application for such. 

It is suspected to have come from a fairly high location since it is thinner steel that those pieces that are found closer to ground level.

There were hundreds, or more, of folks at the dedication yesterday, with lots of interesting speeches, accolades, and music to adorn the day. 

Actual photos can be found at this link.

"Walla Walla"

Join us for a fun-packed day on September 9th when we head out to Walla Walla to do some sketching and painting.  Some call it "pleine aire," we call it fun. 

We will leave from the parking lot (map linked here) in front of the "509 Artspace" in Kennewick at 9am, and return somewhere around 2 or 3 pm.

You will need to bring your supplies, something to sit on, maybe a snack, and a drink, or two.  We hear there's a nifty little diner in Pomeroy....stay tuned on that one.  We'll probably do a bit of planning in the parking lot before we leave.   

"The Richland Farmers' Market"

In our area there are three Farmers' Markets, one in each of the Tri-Cities:  Kennewick, Pasco, and Richland. 

This past Friday we met at 9 am at the Richland Farmers' Market on the Parkway.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous: all blue sky and shirtsleeve temps.

This market has grown considerably this year.  We were there at opening, sketched and visited, had lunch at Cheese Louise, right there on the parkway, and departed when the vendors were taking down their tents:  the place was packed with people throughout!

We had six people today:  Dave, Jean, Jim, Nancy, Fred, and Patrick.  Super turn-out!

Thanks to Dave for this spectacular sketch!  Click on it find the others.

We're heading for Walla Walla next Friday.  Hope you can join us!!

Lisbon, Portugal: "II International Urban Sketchers Symposium"

Urban Sketchers in Lisbon (day 1) from Patrícia Pedrosa on Vimeo.

Check out this video, produced by Patricia Pedrosa of Lisbon, of the 2nd International Urban Sketchers Symposium held in Lisbon on July 21st - 23rd of this year, 2011. She says she is still editing and will have an english subtitled version soon. This is fabulous. (Be sure to enlarge to fill your screen.)

Friday Sketchcrawl at the Richland Farmer's Market

Join us this coming Friday morning at 9am in front of the Richland Theatre for a sketchcrawl of the Richland Farmer's Market.

At the Farmer's Market you will find everything from people, to tents, to onions, watermelons, raspberries, corn and maybe even a busker or two, to sketch and add to your growing collection of urban sketches. And who knows, maybe you'll capture a new idea for something larger from your studio?

See you there.

"Sketching at the County Fair"

There may have been only two of us sketching today, but we still had a good time drawing, painting, and talking art.

Most of the conversation centered around the art scene in the tri-cities and how difficult it seems to motivate others to come out and sketch with us, in public.
Of course, it is summer. People are busy with family and vacations; and the heat these past few weeks has been in the upper nineties. One's home air-conditioner is similar to a nice cold popsickle to a kid in summer. That cool air is just way too nice to go outside, even for something fun!

Posted here is a little watercolor Nancy did with her new Koi Watercolor kit. Spectacular, don't you think?

Click on the pic to see the other images we created at this fun spot!

Featured Artist: Gary Yeung of Hong Kong

Waiting and Chatting Away 一路等一路傾

We found Gary Yeung, an Urban Sketcher, on flickr. Gary has a terrific eye for his city, Hong Kong, and he possesses all the requisite skills required to present that city in a fashion that would make any Hongkonger proud.

Check out his bio below, and if you haven't already, click on the image, then click on "slideshow."

"As a local born Hongkonger, Gary Yeung always held an intense passion towards drawing. After being awarded the diploma in Fine Arts at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (SCPS), he continues to hone his skills by taking oil painting lessons from Russian painter Anastassia Katafygiotis, who opened her studio in the picturesque Sai Kung Old Town, away from the bustle of urban Hong Kong.

Ever evolving as an artist, Gary was strongly influenced by his training background which tends to make the oil and acrylic paintings impressionistic in style. He was also active in doing live and studio sketches, capturing the Hong Kong local scenes. As for content, his paintings exemplify the mystic charm of Hong Kong’s past, present and future. Drawn with vivid and intricate details, they feature objects and people that Gary found relevant, if not profound. These works often represent the demure yet visceral feelings he possess as a proud local born."

Stay tuned for more "Featured Artists," and please feel free to leave us a comment.

"509 Urban Sketchers and Painters"

"Downtown Kennewick"

The "509 Urban Sketchers and Painters" travelled to downtown Kennewick, WA., today to enjoy of few hours of arting-about-town. As usual, we had a lot of fun and when our drawing time was up, we convened at Willingham's Diner on Columbia Drive (Avenue C, for the old-timers), for lunch and comraderie.

The only "downer" was when we learned the diner, Willingham's, only open for a few months, will close its doors tomorrow, Sunday!

My crab sandwich was massively delicious!! Shucks.

Click on the pic to be whisked away to our flickr account where you will enjoy the other images that were created by this inglorious bunch of artistes.

sketch: Bob Irwin

REPORT: "The II Urban Sketching Symposium Lisbon 2011"

The Urban Sketching movement started with Gabi Campanario, Seattle PI sketcher/journalist.

Gabi began with a flickr account, "urban sketchers," where he monitored the sketches posted by the ever growing numbers of members; then not long afterwards a blog appeared entitled, "Urban Sketchers."

In July of 2010 the Urban Sketchers held their first symposium in Portland, Oregon. We missed it!

This summer, 2011, the second symposium, "II International Urban Sketchers Symposium," was held in Lisbon, Portugal, July 21 - 23 (we missed this one too...). Click on the link, then click on "Photo Updates" to see their sketches.

sketch by Pete Scully

"32nd World Wide Sketchcrawl"

This morning at 9am we met in the parking lot at the "509 Artspace" without much of a plan as to where we go sketch. After some discussion, we decided we liked Jan's idea of heading out north of town to her friend Dennis Wise's farm.

Once there we found, in addition to some cows, horses, turkeys and goats, this marvelous old 1928 Chevy truck, flat tires and all, sitting in the middle of his driveway. Soon all four of the guys were sketching it.

It was rather hot today as the summer sun was blazing high in the sky (check the shadows in the pic), and firing off some rather severe rays.

Jan found a nice shady spot near the fence and worked on her pastoral scene. Greg also found some shade near the barn and ended up producing a sketch of the truck from an interesting perspective.

Dave, Bob, and Jim braved the summer sun in the dusty driveway.

Afterwards we drove back into town to the Ice Harbor Brewery where we had lunch, a few libations and some great conversation. (L to R: Jim, Dave, Greg, Jan, and Bob.)

Hope you can join us next time.

"Pasco Train Yards"

A small group of us, three, drove over to the railroad yards in Pasco to do some sketching. It was a good day for sketching as the sky was blue, the sun was comfortably warm, and there was no wind.

We found a line of about five cars sitting quietly on a side-rail, so we pulled out our folding chairs, sketchbooks, easels, pen, pencils, and paints and began sketching (Nancy and Jim), and painting (Pat).

We talked about how the numbers to both our figure drawing sessions and urban sketching sessions are dwindling down, and decided it is either due to the summer months and people having more things to do than art, or maybe we're just unfun people. And maybe, I think, it's because we are so open with our work - posting online. Maybe.

We're not sure yet if there will be a session this coming Saturday. Speaking for myself, I need a break from Saturday sessions, so I'm going to visit the Farmer's Markets this Saturday, and enjoy a family outing.

'Hangin' at the Phatty Caddy Coffee Lounge"

A big "Thank You" to Tammy Furth down at the "Phatty Caddy Coffee Lounge," in downtown Kennewick for helping the "sketchers and painters" launch their first, I'm sure of many, many, many, shows!

We met there this morning to hang our show, and just like when we go out into the world to sketch, we had a great time.

And thanks to the following folks for bringing in something to hang: Laura G., Jan W., Pat F., Greg. A, Nancy T., Dave P., and Jim B.

To see the rest of the "hang," click on the picture.

Columbia Park Outing

We met in Columbia Park this morning at 10am under sunny skies and warm temperatures, in the parking lot near the sno-cone vendor. After some "art-talk" we laid out our plans and went right to work sketching the trees, the river, some of the people, and the sno-cone vendor.

What fun it is to meet up with people with common interests to share ideas, thoughts, and our work together.

Today it was Greg, Dave, Jan (from Connell), and Jim. Pat was with us for a while as he brought his oil painting from our outing at Lampson Yards a few months back so it can be hung with the others in the show at the "Phatty Caddy Coffee Lounge" next week.

Stay tuned for our June outings when, tentatively, we are planning trips to both Maryhill Museum and Walla Walla. Hope to see you then!

The image is Jan's lovely little sketch of one of the big tree clumps.

"Phatty Caddy Coffee Lounge" Show

Tammy Furth, owner of the "Phatty Caddy Coffee Lounge" in Kennewick has opened her walls to the "509 Urban Sketchers and Painters" for the "First Thursday Art Walk." This means our work will hang there during the month of June.

The hanging will take place on Tuesday, May 31st, at 10 am.

Anyone who has been out sketching/painting with us is welcome to bring down 3 or 4 of their sketches/paintings and have them hung that day.

This isn't fine art, so no one is expecting expensive frame-jobs. Cheap is the only way to go, some of us are using $3 frames from Wal-Mart, and other are using frames purchased from St. Vinny's; or don't frame at all. It doesn't really matter.

Click pic for map to the "Phatty Caddy Coffee Lounge."

"Sketching the Old Naval Air Control Tower"

We awoke this morning to gray skies, cool temperatures, and rain (see Nancy's comment below).

Thinking no one would show up, but knowing that if only one did, someone should be there to meet and greet, Jim drove over thinking he would meet with host, Malin Bergstrom, and reschedule the event. As soon as he pulled into the parking lot, Greg approached him, and within a few minutes, five more people were there.

The skies stayed gray, but the air-temp warmed up and the rain stopped, so we ended up having another great outing.

"Thank you" to Malin Bergstrom, president of Bergstrom Aircraft, who provided escort into the flight-line side of the grounds for us to sketch the "Old Naval Air Control Tower" from an angle not open to the general public.

In the picture above, Malin is getting us caught up on not only the old tower, but also on some very interesting local aviation history of the area. Did you know that United Airlines was born right here in the Tri-Cities? We didn't either!!

Hopefully our efforts will in some small, or large, way help Malin and her committee to "Save the Tower" for future generations.

Click on the picture to see some photos. As more arrive in our inbox, we'll be posting more.

"Sketching Kennewick's Methodist Church, and One Other Place"

Jan (from Kahlotus), Greg, and Jim met this morning in downtown Kennewick to sketch, draw, paint the Methodist church on Dayton and Kennewick Avenue.

This church, first dedicated in 1906 and rebuilt in 1923, was orginally constructed on land donated by Howard Amon in 1902-3. It has witnessed the development and evolution of Kennewick from its infancy to its present day, near megalopolis standing - the stories it could tell!!

Before we started sketching, we were able to go inside the church and view it's many old, and gradiose, features. When we entered the sanctuary the stained-glass windows popped right out us, especially this morning with the light of the sun streaming through them.

A bit chilly outside to begin, but as the breeze abated some, temps warmed and we had another great outing. We do wonder sometimes where all of you are, but as Jan said, "they don't know what they're missing." These sessions really are so much fun.

"31st World-Wide Sketchcrawl" april 16th

We had a great time yesterday during the "31st World Wide SketchCrawl"!

We started off in Howard Amon park in Richland where the wind was blowing so hard we could hardly keep all our materials on the table, and basically sketched each other; then we moved up to the Park Way and sketched a bit more, had lunch at "Cheese Louise,"; then on to the Uptown where we went into a few antique malls and sketched some of the interesting items there.

At 3pm, as scheduled, we converged on the Spudnut Shop (sorry, we are all out of spudnuts), where we shared our work and took a few pics. Find this outing posted on the forums at the SketchCrawl.com site, linked here.

And, by the way, if you missed the first one, you can see the drawings here.

Sketch by Lapoynte

"The Old Hotel Art Gallery" and "Sandhill Crane Festival" March 26th

When we arrived at the Old Hotel Gallery this morning, they were actually waiting for us. They had a room set up for us to use, if we wanted, which we didn't because we planned to be outside with our sketchbooks.

Heidi took us on a great tour of the 99 year-old building and told us about it's somewhat sordid past; then she invited us to the wine tasting later in the afternoon and gave us a map showing where to go to find the Sandhill cranes. We drove out into the pothole area and marveled at the beauty of the scablands with all the basalt outcroppings and other geographical features. We found a large flock of the birds, but we weren't allowed to get close enough to do any sketching of them. We did a little sketching of some of the basalt, took some photos, and drove back into Othello around 2pm.

On our way back to the Old Hotel Gallery, which we had planned to sketch when we got there, we decided to stop into a local tavern to try out Othello's version of "tav food." While there Nancy received a call from one of her sisters in Nebraska telling her that her father had experienced a brain aneurysm and was in ICU. Since Greg drove up in his truck and Nancy rode up with me, she and I immediately headed for Pasco.

On the way, she got another call - her father had passed away.

She was scheduled to leave this coming Friday morning for three weeks in China to visit her daughter. I just got news from her a few minutes ago that she's off to Omaha tomorrow and will return on the 20th, so I am assuming she will leave Omaha in a few days and head on to China.

Greg stayed a while and after showing them that nifty portfolio of his work he carries with him, he was invited to be their featured artist this coming May. Congratulations, Greg! After the stories we heard about the Old Hotel today, we had already commented that his work is particularly well suited to the place!

We send our prayers and condolences to Nancy.

"Lampson Yards" Feb 26th

On this date we drove across the river to the Pasco side and went to Lampson Yards to draw/sketch/paint whatever we could find there.

This oil painting features Rattlesnake Mountain in the far distance from the yard. This beauty was painted by Pat Fleming.

Click the picture to be whisked away to our flickr site where more pictures are posted.

February 12, 2011 - Clover Island Sketching

Urban sketching involves sketching anything and everything one finds of interest in and around the communnity. Today we went to Clover Island, a manmade island that is surrounded by the waters of the Columbia River at Kennewick, Washington, USA.

Afterwards we found a local pub for lunch and sharing of our drawings. While there, Jim sketched a couple also enjoying lunch at the table next to ours.

Click here to travel to our flickr site where some photos of our outing can be viewed, or click the image.

"30th World Wide Sketchcrawl" january 22

On January 22, 2011, the "509 Urban Sketchers and Painters" participated in the 30th World Wide Sketchcrawl. Sketchcrawls were originated by Enrico Casarosa in San Francisco a few years ago and the phenomenon has grown world-wide since. There are three or four World-Wide Sketchcrawls held each year.

Click the image to go to our corresponding flickr account where more pictures from our Sketchcrawl day are posted.

This image was created by Nancy Thurston.