Register Today for the Urban Sketchers Chicago Sketch Seminar Coming in June 2014

Urban Sketchers Chicago Sketch Seminar Coming in June 2014

(Chicago, IL) Urban Sketchers Chicago will be hosting their very own Chicago Sketch Seminar weekend in the great city of Chicago on June 7 - 8, 2014.  The event will attract local and visiting sketch artists from near and far. While sketching at various sites throughout downtown Chicago, there will be instructors teaching related topics such as an Introduction to USK, How to Choose What to Sketch, How to Draw People in Urban Sketching, Collaborative Sketching, Urban Sketching on an iPad, and a review of Best Practices and tools to name a few. Workshop details and registration information is available on the blog: http://chicagosketchseminar2014.wordpress.com.

Everyone with an interest in drawing is welcome.

We are excited to announce that the home location for the Sketch Seminar will be at

Palette & Chisel, Academy of Fine Arts

1012 N Dearborn St, Chicago, IL 60610 www.paletteandchisel.org

Urban Sketchers (USk) is a global community of artists that practice drawing on location in cities, towns, and villages in which they live, work or have traveled. It is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to raising the artistic, storytelling and educational value of location drawing, promoting its practice and connecting people around the world who draw on location.

USk Chicago is the local community of diverse artists united by a passion for sketching, discussions, socializing and sharing their unique visions of the world around them with others. In fact, the Urban Sketchers motto is "See the world, one drawing at a time."

Don’t miss the USk Chicago Seminar coming June 7^th and 8^th, 2014.

Details and registration information is available on the following links:

Chicago Sketch Seminar Blog: http://chicagosketchseminar2014.wordpress.com

Urban Sketchers Chicago Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/UrbanSketchersChicago/

Urban Sketchers Chicago Twitter: @USk_Chicago

Urban Sketchers Chicago Instagram:  http://instagram.com/uskchicago

Urban Sketchers Chicago Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/USkChicago/

This Urban Sketcher Went to Market

Whole Foods, Lincoln Park: Despite the snowy, gray day we had a good turnout for our January sketch meet. So many scenes to sketch! I've been to this Whole Foods many times but never on a Saturday afternoon. It was a madhouse mixture of fun, comradery and business and not just USk Chicago sketchers. Sketchers and shoppers alike seemed to be enjoying themselves. Not only did we have a great time sketching but we also continued out work on the plans for Chicago Sketch Seminar coming in June. 

Part of the USk Chicago group at Whole Foods

For more information on the seminar don't forget to check out:

FaceBook: Urban Sketchers Chicago

Urban Sketchers Chicago Instagram: #uskchicago

Urban Sketchers Chicago Pinterest

Follow up in Twitter: @USk_Chicago

Join USk-Chicago in Adding to Chicago's Art Story!

To add to the great announcement about our June 7-8, 2014, seminar location here’s a little color commentary about the Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts. It's a not-for-profit art club and academy founded in 1895. It’s been located in an 1870’s circa mansion in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood since 1921. Many well known artists have been associated with Palette and Chisel including Fred Larson, Charles Russell, William Merritt Chase, Alphonse Mucha, Walter Ufer, and Richard Schmid, to name a few.

Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts offers non-instructed open studios with live models as well as classes and workshops for all levels of experience in many aspects of realistic art. Today, as well as throughout it’s long history, it is a respected institution for representational art in Chicago.

Stay tuned here and to FaceBook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram for further updates! We hope you'll join us in adding to the Chicago art story!

Planning a “Sketch Vacation?”

Did you know that there are people who plan their whole year's worth of vacations in early January? Maybe you are one of them? If you are good for you. That is awesome. I have trouble with that because I now have more than just me to account for in my plans and coordination is not our strong suit.

So let's think about this. If you are able to plan your vacations and getaways months in advance, have you ever thought about planning a "sketch vacation?" I heard about these recently and it sounds like something I could really get into. This would be combining two of my favorite things in one trip: art and travel. I will typically journal my vacations as a way to gain a better experience on the vacation and it enhances my family's vacation as well. I actually much prefer sketching on my vacations now than building sand sculptures like I used to do when my son was younger.

As I write this, the holiday shopping season is upon us when people young and old are formulating their "wish lists." Retailers, accordingly, are not shy about making suggestions for interesting items that one might want to add to their list by punishing us with promotions and commercials that attack all of our senses.

I wonder if, in there somewhere for those organized types, if there may also be a "wish list" for vacation destinations. Presuming that this could actually happen, allow me to make a suggestion for a weekend getaway for you and your art bag.

Urban Sketchers Chicago will be hosting their very own sketching Seminar weekend in the great city of Chicago on June 7th and 8th, 2014.  The event will attract local and visiting urban sketchers from near and far.  While sketching at various locations through out downtown Chicago, some of the most respected and qualified instructors will be teaching workshops surrounding on location sketching, color theory, and choosing what to sketch just to name a few.  Registration is recommended.

Urban Sketchers (USK) are a local community of artists who come together with a common interest of sketching in urban settings, socializing with like-minded artists and learning some new tips along the way. They practice sketching various scenes that often include interesting architecture, landscaping, people, animals and sketching anything else in their cities, towns and villages in which they live, work or have traveled. It is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to raising the awareness of artistic storytelling and educational value of drawing on location, promoting its practice and connecting people from around the globe.

If this sounds like fun and you would like to check out the Urban Sketchers' activity, simply go to the following pages and look at some of the examples.

Urban Sketchers Chicago Blog: http://urbansketchers-chicago.blogspot.com

Urban Sketchers Chicago Facebook: Urban Sketchers Chicago

Urban Sketchers Chicago Instagram: #uskchicago

Urban Sketchers Chicago Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/USkChicago

Follow up in Twitter: @USk_Chicago

Hope for the "technical zombie?"

I heard an interesting quote at a user experience workshop last week: "Our smart devices and screens are making stupid decisions on our behalf all of the time...We are not in control. We are at odds with social etiquette. They are starting to shift our social norms. Walking zombies are now the social norm...Our devices are making us miss out. We are experiencing life through a filter." 

Thankfully the act of carrying and sketching in a notebook has the opposite effect. We become more observant to our surroundings. We look up at the world around us. We bring focus to the mundane and common objects. And what we record in our sketchbooks are there for our enjoyment forever.

Urban Sketching (USk) is a global community of artists that practice drawing on location in cities, towns, and villages in which they live, work or have traveled. It is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to raising the artistic, storytelling and educational value of location drawing, promoting its practice and connecting people around the world who draw on location.

USk Chicago is the local community of diverse artists united by a passion for sketching, discussions, socializing and sharing their unique visions of the world around them with others. In fact, the Urban Sketchers motto is "we see the world, one drawing at a time."

Details and examples of sketches are available on the following links:

Urban Sketchers Chicago Blog: http://urbansketchers-chicago.blogspot.com

Urban Sketchers Chicago Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/UrbanSketchersChicago/

Urban Sketchers Chicago Twitter: @USk_Chicago

Urban Sketchers Chicago Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=USkChicago

Urban Sketchers Chicago Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/USkChicago/

Urban Sketchers Chicago Instagram:  http://instagram.com/uskchicago

Just Doooodle It

Has this ever happened to you?  You are drawing, doodling really, just to occupy your hand and your mind while you're killing time and then it happens--the critic shows up. 

Critic: "What are your doing?" 

Me: "Oh, I'm just sketching the napkin in front of me, having some fun." 

Critic: "You call that a sketch? It doesn't really look like the napkin."

Peeehhaaahooooooo! That sound of a descending missile dissolves all of your confidence and your day ruined with an explosion inside your head. Funny how you suddenly remember that you didn't ask them what they thought. You were just trying to have a little fun with your quiet time.

Remember we are "Urban Sketchers." This is what you do. We take ordinary, forgettable objects and things and make them suddenly cool by turning them into a sketch. Ever notice how that TV remote that you handle every day looks more interesting once you turn it into an artistic expression? Or that book of matches, that styrofoam cup of coffee, and even the make-up supplies and brushes on the bathroom vanity. I have often thought about doing a sketch of my sketchbook complete with the sketch that it happens to be showing at the time. That sounds a little bit like the old joke about drawing your image in the mirror and there is a mirror on the wall that also has your image and then the reflection continues on into infinity.

While it is true that there are Urban Sketchers who produce some amazing sketches that would be worthy of framing and including in a Chicago art gallery, we all have our very own gallery of which we should be proud. The good sports teams do not focus on their overall win-loss record. Instead they always talk about going "1-0" (one win, no loss) every single game. The same can be said about your sketchbook. Focus on one page at a time, sketch what you see in front of you, and continue to learn from your experiences. 1-0 with every new page, even if your page is on an iPad like my red basket sketch from above. And much like a good sports team, USk Chicago gets together once a month for sketch crawls to share in our love for sketching and exchange cool tips and tricks on how to sketch on location. Think about joining us when you are in or near Chicago. Visit our Facebook group page to find out more and see examples from our members. 

Go to Facebook and search "Urban Sketchers Chicago."

To paraphrase the almost cliçhe Nike campaign from years ago, "Just Doooodle It."