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 Red

 

Let's  Sketch!

Color Red

Sunday, October 25 

12 pm - 3 pm

Hosted by Alex Zonis and Urban Sketchers Chicago

Details

It is not news to artists that colors carry emotional meaning. Painters have been cleverly using this to infuse emotion into their paintings for centuries. Color Red appears to carry heavier and more varied load of meanings than other hues. Today red is the color most commonly associated with heat, activity, passion, sexuality, anger, rage, love, and joy. Historically it connected with sacrifice, war, danger, and courage. And of course it is a color of blood. Just a one paragraph into color theory here...

We will explore using red color in our sketches in any form that appeals to us and see a collection we make together. It is can be a depiction of something big and red, like CNA building or a street of red brick structures. Or something small as a contrast or point of interest, like a Kit-Kat wrapper that didn’t make it to the refuse bin. It can be a sketch on red paper, or a sketch in red ink. Or you could just sign your sketch in red, a.k.a. J. M. W. Turner.

Post and share your sketches with us from 12 noon to 3 pm or whenever is convenient. Please include #uskchicago and #uskathome on your posts to Facebook and Instagram. See you at our virtual throwdown!

Sketch on the banner by Alex Zonis is of Amsterdam canal drawn on 96* day during 2019 Symposium. "I chose to use red ink so the sketch would remind me how hot it was and how much I loved the experience regardless."

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.