Registration for the 5th International USk Symposium Opens Today!

Registration to Open for 5th International Urban Sketching Symposium in Paraty, Brazil

On Monday, March 31 you can register to attend the 5th International Urban Sketching Symposium taking place in Paraty, Brazil, August 27-30, 2014. Registration opens at 4:00 PM GMT.

This year we will accommodate more sketchers than ever by providing several passes for different levels of participation. More information about the passes can be found on the Symposium website, along with the full Symposium schedule.

For more information, contact symposium@urbansketchers.org

Giving it a go

Well I can't say I am proud of this effort, but it was a wonderful day and I do enjoy the combination of painting and being outdoors.  Let's just say I am looking for a good workshop on "Plein Air Painting."  I was so over whelmed I thought I would stick to a very limited palette and do a value sketch.

Paynes Gray, Quinacridone Burnt Scarlet & Titanium White  oil on 11x14 panel.

Thank you again Nancy for the use of your glorious back yard !

March 26, 2014 - Urban Sketching/plein air painting at Nancy's

              

My take on the small islands in the Columbia River, looking south to Richland.  The Tri-City Urban Sketchers were fortunate to be invited to Nancy Thurston's home to draw or paint this morning.  The white area on the island on the far left is actually hundreds of seagulls!  Every now and then they would rise up in a large white cloud.

        Oil on 5x7 canvas panel

"View from Nancy's"

View from Nancy's house toward Hanford Reach and White bluffs on the Columbia River.

6" X 8" Acrylic, lapoynte

Wednesday Sketching

So happy to take the time to put this particular view down on paper,

seeing as how I have the house for sale,

it will bring back great memories some day...

"View from Nancy's Looking South"

A journalistic sketch with labels and arrows, just for fun.  You can't see it in the sketch, but the river turns at the far end, disappearing behind trees and raised banks, to run eastward.  Miles east of here, it turns south again, then west where it heads through the majestic Columbia Gorge toward Portland and the Pacific Ocean.  Lewis and Clark visited here once.  In their journals they comment on how thick the river was with salmon.  Not so much anymore.

6x9 Super Aquabee Sketchbook, ink and watercolor

Sage Port Grill, I thought you all said Nashville!

Layovers and flights, from Pasco to Nashville and back, here I had a short wait in the Minneapolis terminal, Friday March 14th.

Inside the plane below, I sketched the interior and exterior of this plane during my flight from Salt Lake City to Pasco on March 19th.

 My new friend Keith sat next to me, letting me know that the engine was a gas turbine, which rotates counter clockwise.  He was pretty hungry so I turned my page back and he ordered a scone, panini and a chocolate cookie from our 3/13/2014 Urban Sketcher's outing.

Hey friends, where do we meet next?

"Hanford Reach Interpretive Center"

Last Wednesday's morning sketchabout on the banks of the Columbia River in Columbia Park here in the Tri Cities.

The controversial beginnings of the Hanford Reach Interpretive Center seems to have been resolved as the facility is scheduled to open this summer.

9x9 Super Aquabee Sketchbook, ink, watercolors 

New Reach Center being built at the East end of Columbia Park.

Wednesday Sketching!

A Very Important Tumbleweed (VIT).

The Sisters Patisserie

The Sisters Patisserie

This shop just opened three weeks ago in West Richland in a strip mall near Yokes.  Charming with a french style flair.  The Urban Sketches spent a "sweet" morning in there Wednesday.  Since I am taking a watercolor class with Lisa Hill I seemed to be more focused on using color this time.

The Sisters Patisserie

  

                

A "sweet" visit to a new bakery in West Richland.  There were 7 of us today...a record I think!

TSP Bakeshop, West Richland, WA

Sketching at the "Teaspoon" Bakeshop or "TSP" Bakeshop, or "The Sister's Patisserie" with the Urban Sketchers Tri-Cities. http://tspbakeshop.com/     www.facebook.com/tspbakeshopwa  

At TSP Bakeshop

 This morning we met at TSP Bakeshop for some sketching. I know I can't draw people and cars, and the perspectives are off, ( also the chair on the right should be much bigger) but I have to try, so this is my feeble attempt.

"Market Exchange in the Patisserie"

Wednesday morning sketchers dropped in on The Sisters Patisserie" off Bombing Range Road in West Richland this morning. The apple tart was outstanding, as was the company of six other sketchers!

Handy Account Book #2093, 6.5"x11", inks, watercolor

A weekend on the West side

              

Spent the weekend in Everett WA and did my best to capture this gorgeous old building near the Inn at Port Gardner in Everett.  It is on the National Register of Historic Places and though currently vacant, is meticulously maintained.

                                       

There are lots of cool places to hang out in Everett like this little coffee/sandwich shop just steps from the marina.  The owner actually lives on a sailboat!

              

Drove to the Mukilteo Ferry dock to meet my favorite family members.  They live on Whidbey Island and came over to spend a couple hours with us.  Lunch at Ivars and then hanging out back at the Inn. What a great end to a wonderful weekend!

All of the sketches were done with Micron and Pitt Artist pens and Koi watercolors on Strathmore Windpower recycled sketch paper.

 

     

"Starbucks off Queensgate"

The first sketch in a new sketchbook and the first totally gorgeous day of March!!  My choices today were: yardwork, or sketching.  I figured I could do both, so I struck out early to get some potting soil and a new umbrella to replace one the wind destroyed last fall.   Then I went sketching.  This is one of the two I did today.  Sketched and watercolored on site. 

6x9 Super Aquabee Sketchbook, ink, watercolors

lobby

The lobby of PNNL's  new BSF/CSF building in Richland

Battelle - 3/5/14

                             

An interesting small tree just outside the window at Battelle where we sketched on Wednesday.  I think it is a paper bark birch?  Love how the branches make right angles upwards, searching for the sun on these grey days.

Battelle Lobby

Joined with the group for some sketching yesterday, and this is the sketch I did. There're errors, and some major ones, so I cut the left side off to hide the biggest problem.

"Coffee, Bagels and Battelle"

LtoR:  Jim B, Patty G., Marianne S., Dave P., Jean F, and Patty K. 

After a few bagels and coffee at "Some Bagels & Gelato" this morning, we caravanned out to the "Battelle Northwest National Laboratory" where member Marianne works as bonafied scientist. Really!

She couldn't get us into the labs, but the lobby is apparently open to derelicts, homeless people, sketchers, lost people, and other visitors without clearance, so we fit right in.

As always we had a great time sketching and socializing.

While fairly boxlike in its architecture with simple single point perspective, there are plenty of details which can distract the most insincere sketcher.

After spending most of my time on the window fasteners below, and realizing everyone else was doing the whole lobby, the peer pressure took over and I decided to see if I could get one done in minutes.

This is it: bare bones and ghost people I added once I got home and had a look at it.

After sitting a while looking for inspiration, these window/glass fasteners, if that's what they are, caught my eye.

They are full of geometry, and after looking at them for a while I began to see the challenge of the perspectives and realized without respecting them, this would be a disaster.

You can see some of my planning lines (ink) on the sketch and after finishing it I continued on my sketchbook working with the perspectives here.  I see two-point, and there may be more....

We had a great time here this morning.

Battelle Lobby

                                          

Sketching with Jim B., Patti K., Marianne S., Dave P., and Jean at PNNL new BSF/CSF building in Richland.  Interesting perspectives with lots of curves and stairs.  

Going on 10 days now..

                                           

This has been my view for the last 10 days as my husband struggles to overcome a severe cold and acute bronchitis.  I love the bright colors on the packaging tho I wish these were the colors of a pretty flowering shrub.  Looking forward to Spring!  I found some fun colored pens awhile ago.  This is Stabillo Dark Grey with my trusty Koi watercolors on recycled sketch paper from Strathmore.

"5 Guys Burgers"

Wife, son, and I went out to "5 Guys" today for lunch.  They are out on Queensgate in South Richland, by Starbucks and across the street from Walmart.

You can build your own burger and the fries are always from Idaho, or Washington.  They are the best in town.

I always get the little burger (one pattie), mayo, ketchup, mustard, pickles, lettuce, onions, and green peppers.

It's a great place to sketch people as long as you are there during rush lunch hour.