Seeing the Light

 Let’s Sketch!

Winter Light

Sunday, February 28

12 PM - 3 PM CST

Hosted by  Brian Wright, and Urban Sketchers Chicago

As we begin to thaw out and start thinking of the spring weather that will soon be here, we want to take an opportunity to celebrate the Winter Light, the long shadow, the cool pale blue light, the bright white reflection, the red of dawn or dusk, as inspired by T.S. Eliot in “Little Gidding”.

“Midwinter spring has its’ own season,
When the short day is brightest, with frost and fire,
The brief sun flames on the ice, on pond and ditches,
In windless cold that is the heart’s heat,
Reflecting in a watery mirror,
A glare that is blindness in the early afternoon.
And a glow more intense than blaze of branch.”

Come on, how good is that?!

The days are growing longer and while we look forward to the time when we can all be together again sketching, until then, let’s enjoy the season we’re in. So, grab a hat, fingerless gloves, frozen watercolor pans, and take that walk, and share your art! And if you're so inclined a winter light poem or haiku.

This week’s banner sketch is graciously provided by the talented Joan Szalay Tavolott, with whom I had pleasure of sketching with in Amsterdam at the USK Symposium. Her painting from her window so beautifully captures that winter scene, and I love how the footprints in the snow draw you in. We thank you for agreeing to let us use your photo and for visually taking us on that walk in the woods.

Share your Urban Sketches with us from 12 noon to 3pm on Sunday
Please include #uskchicago and #uskathome on your posts to Facebook and Instagram.

A reminder that we are back to following USK Global's posting guidelines of sketching live on location and not from reference photos.

Want to keep up to date by email? Fill in your email address in the place provided in the upper right corner under the banner. We look forward to hearing from you.

Let's Get the Party Started!

Let’s Sketch

Inspiration Collection

Sunday, January 3

12 PM - 3 PM

 Hosted by Joann Harling, Gail Dokucu, and Urban Sketchers Chicago

Details

Tour your home or environs and find a grouping of things that are meaningful in some way to you. A little space somewhere in your daily wanderings that inspires you.

• You may just be drawn to this little area and not really know why. 

• You don’t need to explain unless you want to. 

• Visually describe and share your post for this week’s “Top of the Year” prompt.

Please include #uskchicago and #uskathome on your posts to Facebook and Instagram. A reminder that we are back to following USk Global’s posting guidelines of sketching live on location and not from reference photos.

Banner sketch by Joann Harling

Want to keep up to date by email? Fill in your email address in the place provided in the upper right corner under the banner. We look forward to hearing from you.

 

Spin the Wheel!

Let's Sketch Chicago!

Unlikely Wheels 

Sunday, November 8

12:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Hosted by Wes Douglas and Urban Sketchers Chicago

Details

What we will explore:

• Take a look around you. You may not realize it but there are many things that have wheels beyond the cars and trucks and your mission is to capture them in an urban sketch for this week. 

• Think and challenge yourself to find other things with wheels. Look at your furniture, your power equipment, look around your office and art studios. 

• See how many less obvious items you can find that have wheels and be sure to include their surroundings in the true context of urban sketching.

Post and share your sketches with us from 12 noon to 3 pm or whatever is convenient. A reminder that we are following USk Global’s posting guidelines of sketching live on location and not from reference photos.
To help everyone find your sketches, when you type in your caption, please include a description of the subject and location plus the tags #uskchicago and #uskathome .

Banner Sketches by Wes Douglas

Want to keep up to date by email? Fill in your email address in the place provided in the upper right corner under the banner. We look forward to hearing from you.

Be Brave!

                                                                                                                  Sketch by Mary Jo Ernst

Let’s Sketch Chicago!

BOO! What are you afraid of?

Sunday, November 1

12:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Hosted by Mary Jo Ernst and Urban Sketchers Chicago

DETAILS

Let's face it, we all have something holding us back creatively, 

• it can be fear of what others will think,
• nervous about trying a new type of medium or technique 
• a complicated composition and perspective 

One of my biggest struggles is details, due to a short attention span I rarely take the time to do a detailed sketch. With my sketch in the event banner, the location that I was sketching required quite a bit of pattern and detail so I took the time and captured our trip to collect fossils.

This week we are facing our fears and taking the leap forward. 

If your biggest fear is posting your work, then here is some incentive! 

EVERYONE that posts their sketch on our group facebook page from now until Sunday, Nov 1, 5 pm will be entered into a raffle to win one 9x12” spiral bound sketchbook and a mini companion sketchbook generously donated by Legion Paper, our Sponsor Spotlight this week. Please check our facebook page to learn more about Legion.

The raffle winner will be chosen by random and Administrators are excluded from this giveaway.

Questions: Email MJ at ernstmaryjo@gmail.com

See you at the virtual throwdown!

Please include #uskchicago and #uskathome on your posts to Facebook and Instagram. 

Want to keep up to date by email? Fill in your email address in the place provided in the upper right corner under the banner. We look forward to hearing from you.

Seeing Autumn

“Nature gives to every season a beauty all its own.” Charles Dickens

 

Let's Sketch!

Autumn

Sunday, October 13 

12 pm - 3 pm

Hosted by Barbara Weeks and Urban Sketchers Chicago

Details

It’s hard to belive it’s October and almost Halloween! If I’ve learned anything during this Covid experience it’s to look for and appreciate the little things that mark the good, even, or especially, in this strange time.

What to you see that tells you it’s Autumn?

• Leaves are changing?
• Birds a migrating?
• Halloween decorations?
• So many kinds of Gourds?
• Fire pits in the early evening?
• And?

Show us in your sketches what tells you it’s Autumn.

See you at the virtual throwdown!

Please include #uskchicago and #uskathome on your posts to Facebook and Instagram. 

Want to keep up to date by email? Fill in your email address in the place provided in the upper right corner under the banner. We look forward to hearing from you.

The Eye Knows

Let’s Sketch

ICONIC 

Sunday, October 4

12 PM – 3 PM

Hosted by Gail Dokucu and Urban Sketchers Chicago 

Details

This week, let’s sketch scenes that are iconic: 

those things that are immediately recognizable as being associated with your place.

What do you think of when you think ‘Chicago?’  Wrigley Field, Chicago hot dog stands, the L, the Chicago bungalow? 

What about our friends who live outside Chicago? Show us the iconic scenes of your town. You may even want to refine the prompt further by showing us things that are closely associated with your own neighborhood. 

Let’s take our group on a virtual tour, hitting the highlights with our sketches.

A reminder that we are back to following USk Global’s posting guidelines of sketching live on location and not from reference photos. To help people find your sketches, use the tags #uskchicago and #uskathome   As always, post any time from noon on; most conversation tends to happen after 2:30.

Banner sketch of one of Chicago’s iconic bridges and bridgehouse by Rus Blemker

Want to keep up to date by email? Fill in your email address in the place provided in the upper right corner under the banner. We look forward to hearing from you.

Keeping It Simple

Sunday,  September 27

12 PM – 3 PM

 Let's Sketch

An Oversimplification

Hosted by Wes Douglas and Urban Sketchers Chicago

Details:

This week's #uskathome challenge will be another "break out of your comfort zone" challenges for many of you. We are asking you to find an urban setting that speaks to you and sketch it in the most simplistic (even abstract) way you can. How much you break down your urban sketch into its essence will be your challenge (see the header created by urban sketcher Zuoz).

Referring back to the USK Manifesto, #5 states that "We use any kind of media and cherish our individual styles." If abstract is not your style, this is the perfect opportunity to explore a different, simple style for yourself. Above all, have fun with it.

Please keep in mind the urban sketching guidelines https://www.facebook.com/notes/urban-sketchers-chicago/posting-guidelines/483492225026522/ and include the #uskchicago and #uskathome hashtags in your posts on Facebook and Instagram.

Posting time is Noon - 3:00pm  on Sunday September 27, 2020. If you can't post then, share your sketches when you can but, be sure to use the hashtags!

Want to keep up to date by email?

Fill in your email address in the place provided in the upper right corner under the banner. We look forward to hearing from you.

Now and Then

 

Let's Sketch

Sunday, Sept. 20

12pm-3pm

 Now and Then!

Hosted by Evelyn Brody and Urban Sketchers Chicago

It’s been over 6 months since we started our weekly online meetups. Has your narrowed focus on your home, your neighborhood, and your restricted routine expanded your observational skills? Perhaps you’ve noticed the lengthening and shortening of the days, the transition from bare or newly-leafed tree limbs to exuberant foliage, changes in pedestrians’ clothing (besides those masks) – indeed, the level and types of activity inside and out.

This week, revisit a sketch done earlier in the pandemic. Feel free to concentrate on any one or more features that convey the passage of time. Perhaps you drew a late summer day in your living room, but now it’s dark inside at that time. Perhaps you could see the Lake or buildings through bare trees, but now all you see is green, green, green. Perhaps that “temporarily” closed restaurant is, alas, for rent – or, happily, bustling with patrons sitting outside.

Please post BOTH sketches on our group Facebook page. Please include #uskchicago and #uskathome on your posts to Facebook and Instagram. 

Email evelynbrody@iCloud.com if you have any questions.

Banner is a detail from Evelyn’s two versions of the view out her studio window this spring and summer.

We are back to following USk Global’s posting guidelines of sketching live on location and not from reference photos. If you’re outdoors, remember to socially distance and wear a mask to help us stay safe. All skill levels welcome – happy sketching!

Want to keep up to date by email?

Fill in your email address in the place provided in the upper right corner under the banner. We look forward to hearing from you.

Who likes doing chores??

 

Sketch by Alex Zonis: A pile of clothes to be taken to a donation center. 

Let's sketch Our Chores! Before doing them!

Sunday, 12 PM – 3 PM

Hosted by Alex Zonis and Urban Sketchers Chicago

Details

Who likes doing chores?? Ok, ok, that was a rhetorical question!

To help you justify your procrastination, we came with an idea - Sketch your chore before doing it!! This way if anyone has an issue with an undone burdensome task, you have been engaged in an important artistic activity that could not be rescheduled!

• Have a pile of dirty dishes? Great, sketch them!
• Have to go grocery shopping? Wonderful! Draw a store, or produce department, or your empty refrigerator!
• Maybe you are planning to change oil in your car? Perfect! Draw the engine, or the car, or the mechanic you took the car to!
• Laundry? Cleaning bathrooms? Vacuuming? You know what to do!

We are back to following USk guidelines. If you need a refresher click here.

See you at the virtual throw down!

Please include #uskchicago and #uskathome on your posts to Facebook and Instagram. 

Want to keep up to date by email?
Fill in your email address in the place provided in the upper right corner under the banner. We look forward to hearing from you.

Pick a Color, Any Color!

                                                        House of the Rising Sun by Papier Plume in a Field Artist sketchbook ( by : MJ Ernst 

Let’s Sketch Chicago!

Go Monochromatic

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2020

12 PM – 3 PM

Hosted by Mary Jo Ernst and Urban Sketchers Chicago

Details:

This week’s virtual sketch meetup theme is working with a monochromatic scheme - using tones of only one color. You choose the color and any type of medium can be used. For the banner sketch, an orange soluble ink was used. When water is added you can achieve many tones. Monochromatic sketching is ideal value practice. 

For more info : ernstmaryjo@gmail.com

See you at the virtual throwdown!

Please include #uskchicago and #uskathome on your posts to Facebook and Instagram. 

Want to keep up to date by email?

Fill in your email address in the place provided in the upper right corner under the banner. We look forward to hearing from you.

The Tall or Short Story?

It's Up to You!

   Sketch by Brian Wright

Let's Sketch

Big and Small: Scale Tells the Story

Sunday, August 9
12 PM – 3 PM

Hosted by Brian Wright and Urban Sketchers Chicago

Details

This week we explore drawing the same subject at different scales: Big and Small

The contrast of scales can help tell your story and make for an interesting composition. 

Could be:

• a landscape focusing on a tree and corresponding leaf
• a building elevation or entryway and a door knob or window
• reportage with a crowd of people and then a singular person with a sign

You get the idea!

It'll be interesting to see how the large scale drawing and the more detailed closeup drawing together can really stretch your skills and help tell the story of your subject.

Create your on-location sketch in your style and medium. Please keep in mind the urban sketching guidelines and include #uskchicago and #uskathome on your posts to Facebook and Instagram.

Want to keep up to date by email? Fill in your email address in the place provided in the upper right corner under the banner. We look forward to hearing from you.

Little Things Mean a Lot!

Sketch by Gail Dokucu

 Good Things in Small Packages!

Let's Sketch

Little Things

Sunday, July 26

12 PM - 3 PM

Hosted by Gail Dokucu and Urban Sketchers Chicago 

Details:

Get out those reading glasses, friends! 

Let's see how small we can go this week! I was inspired to do this theme by the tiny works of Katie Woodward and Jingo de la Rosa, both of whom would have been instructors at this year's seminar. If you don't know them already, check them out on Instagram: @ramblingsketcher (Katie) and @jingoillo (Jingo). Of course, you can also feel free to interpret this theme in any way you choose, like maybe a big sketch of something tiny.

Remember that we are back to following USk guidelines. 

If you need a refresher, check out the information and infographic here!

See you at the virtual throwdown!

Want to keep up to date by email? Fill in your email address in the place provided in the upper right corner under the banner. We look forward to hearing from you.

Are You Looking at Me?

A Peek Behind the Scenes

Let’s Sketch:

Behind The Sketch

Public

 · Hosted by Wes Douglas and Urban Sketchers Chicago

Sunday, July 19

12 PM – 3 PM

Details

Do You See What I See?

 We’re going to change it up a bit this week. So many of you wish that you could see how the others sketch on location, what kind of tools that you use and where you sit during your sketching. This week, we hope you will sketch any scene that interests you and in front of you, but add a couple of extra photos so we can see HOW you sketch and the tools you like to use. You may need a little help with a friend taking your photo or video in action. Do you live in a city? On a farm? Near the water, or mountains, or desert? Are you home-bound? Sketch from real life and show us your world!

Since this is about the time we would’ve had our Annual Chicago Sketch Seminar, we hope you will participate virtually and share a behind the scenes of how you urban sketch. Then post your final sketch and the work up photos as you normally would on Sunday. Questions can be posted in the comments below.

Want to keep up to date by email? Fill in your email address in the place provided in the upper right corner under the banner. We look forward to hearing from you.

Back to Basics!

We Show the World, One Drawing at a Time

Sketch: Barbara Weeks

Do You See What I See?

Yes, we show the world, one drawing at a time but, our worlds can be very different! Do you live in a city? On a farm? Near the water, or mountains, or desert? Are you home-bound? Sketch from real life and show us your world!

• You don't have to sketch everything but, you can if you choose. 

On the Chicago River-Barbara Weeks 

• Or, just add some context to give us a sense of place if that's your preference.

Mariano Park, Chicago- Barbara Weeks

Main South HS Track Meet-Barbara Weeks

In A Nutshell

This is one of the best graphics depicting what is an Urban Sketch and what isn't! I'd love to give credit to the designer(s). If you know who it is please let us know in the comments! 

Show us your world where ever you are!

Want to keep up to date by email? Fill in your email address in the place provided in the upper right corner under the banner. We look forward to hearing from you.

Yes, You Can!

Sketch by Alex Zonis

Let's sketch

Sunday, July 12

 A Personal Challenge

Hosted by Alex Zonis and Urban Sketchers Chicago

Details

A Personal Challenge in Urban Sketching.

Many of us have something we think we are not good at in Urban Sketching, so we tend to avoid it. People, perspective, architecture, cars, mixing color, straight to watercolor, finishing a sketch on location, ... the list is long. This Sunday we will sketch and practice a subject or method or tools that is a challenge for us and get better at it.

Once you decided what challenge you will work on, think what questions you may have about it. Ask your questions on USk Chicago group, members who are good at this subject will help with suggestions. Or you can reach out directly to USk Chicago sketchers who have your challenge mastered.

As usual, the event will run from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Posting officially is from 2:45 - 3:00 p.m. If you would like feedback on your challenge sketch, you can ask for it, we have an abundance of knowledge and mastery in our group and we can tap into it.

Sketch by Alex Zonis. The challenge here was to sketch a realistic landscape in ink and control multiple inks.

Remember to adhere to the Urban Sketcher Manifesto!

Please post your sketches to our Facebook group 

and include #USkChicago so we can find them all!

Want to keep up to date by email? Fill in your email address in the place provided in the upper right corner under the banner. We look forward to hearing from you.