Do Your Seminar Notes Look Like These?

A Recap of The Chicago Sketch Seminar 2015

Let's think about the typical seminar experience. Fancy hotel room, business attire, sign-ins with nametags, free coffee, Continental breakfast, and conversations with strangers. Let us not forget the tiny notepad, cheap ballpoint pen and a stack of copies from the day’s worth of presentations.

Now let's contrast this with an Urban Sketchers Chicago Sketch Seminar experience. You arrive at the Palette & Chisel, one of the oldest art schools in Chicago in a period architecture building on north Dearborn Avenue. Instead of stocking up on supplies from OfficeMax, your backpack or shoulder bag is filled with supplies easily found at Blick Art Supplies. Nowhere are the skimpy hotel notepads and cheap ballpoint pens. Rather there is a goodie bag filled with exciting samples from Faber-Castell, Winsor & Newton, JetPens.com, Sakura Art Supplies, Nock Co. and Hahnemuhle--samples that are not only useful but premium quality samples...and coupons so that you can add to your collections.

Workshops at this seminar are filled with instruction from experts in their field, discussions, shared stories, and hands-on participation. Sometimes there is experimentation with new supplies and other times the few supplies that you have amassed on your own are plenty useful with the techniques that are covered.

Judging from the comments and reviews of participants, the top comments received as feedback were the personal attention of the instructors, the ability to practice the techniques that were demonstrated and the lively conversations with other like-minded artists in an otherwise solitary activity. Many people expressed how inspired they were by seeing everyone's sketchbooks and to be able to talk about discoveries and accidents that resulted in interesting, cool effects. One of the more talked about products was the Winsor & Newton's newest product, the watercolor markers. The idea that markers could be colored onto a page and then blended with water brushes grabbed the attention and chatter amongst the Chicago Sketch Seminar participants.

If you are interested in learning more about the kind of seminars that Urban Sketchers Chicago produces, the art supplies we use and our monthly Sketch Crawls, send us a quick note to Urban Sketchers Chicago at urbansketcherschicago@gmail.com or check out Urban Sketchers Chicago Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/UrbanSketchersChicago/

We All Have A Sketch To Tell

A Recap of The Chicago Sketch Seminar 2015

The recent Urban Sketchers Chicago Sketch Seminar, held July 11th and 12th at the Palette & Chisel and surrounding neighborhoods was a fascinating collection of art instruction, collaboration, conversations and the sharing of art supplies. But most importantly, the act of so many people coming together to the north side of Chicago is to create memories and stories.

Each time that an urban sketcher puts pencil, pen or brush to paper, they are creating memories about a scene. A scene which they have spent a few minutes choosing carefully as the one they are going to invest as much as a half hour or more sketching and painting. This takes time, a lot more than a quick snap of a camera to record, and with each stroke there is plenty of brain activity taking place into the selection and mixing of color, brush type, pen selection and considerations for composition. After a personal investment of time and talent upwards of an hour, very few of these sketchers will ever say, "Well, that was a colossal waste of time." It would be akin to delivering your first baby and say "That was interesting, now where were we?"

There were other stories that were more about the human spirit than in paper and paint brush. Deb Donnelly was leading her Sunday morning workshop on "Mingling Watercolor with Words" when a young woman from Korea happened upon her group. As Deb tells the story, this young woman was in her final hours of her visit to America and she was trying to capture as many of the artifacts that she could get her hands on to take back home to Korea with her before she had to leave. 

She was attracted to all of the wonderful art supplies laid out by the workshop participants, even wanted to purchase a few of them until she spotted the Chicago Sketch Seminar t-shirt (printed by Monkey Pencil Screenprinting) worn by one of the participants. That participant, Miguel Retana, was so moved by this Korean woman's need to buy this shirt from him that it led Miguel to taking the shirt off his back and gifting the shirt to her. It would be a memory that would not soon be forgotten by this young woman, Miguel, or any of the urban sketchers who were there to experience this wonderfully warm gesture.

If you are interested in learning more about the kind of seminars that Urban Sketchers Chicago produces, the art supplies we use, our monthly Sketch Crawls, and the warm humans who make up our group, send us a quick note to Urban Sketchers Chicago 
at urbansketcherschicago@gmail.com or check out the Facebook group's page:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Urban Sketchers Chicago/

You're Invited To Join Our Book Club

For years I was always jealous of how my wife enjoyed a festive get-together with her book club. The thing is, I am not that fast of a reader and one sure-fire way to get me to fall asleep is to put a book in my hand that does not have any pictures in it. Does that happen to you too? Therefore, I have always kept at arm's distance from book clubs, but count me in on the drinks and snacks.

When I joined Urban Sketchers Chicago, I had already been carrying various spiral-bound sketchbooks of varying sizes and quality with the sole intention of keeping various doodles, notes, ticket stubs, receipts and vacation photos. I guess you call my sketchbooks journals or scrapbooks, not sketchbooks. After a few months of being part of urban sketchers, I soon began to adopt a new mentality of making sketches that told the stories of my surroundings and recorded the events of my life. Now whenever people look at my sketchbooks and point to a sketch and ask "what was happening in this sketch?" I launch into the story behind it.

In Urban Sketchers, there are hundreds and hundreds of stories behind each sketch. Sometimes you can deduct the story by just looking at the sketch and other times the story behind the sketch really needs to be delivered by the artist who captured that moment. And these are stories that come from the unique perspective of one particular artist and the sketchbook (or as we like to call them, our storybooks) have a very short print run of "one."

If you have always wanted to be part of a book club and have a strength in "communicating through your visual literacy" (as professional artist Don Colley would say), you should check out our book club to learn more about the Urban Sketchers Chicago Sketch Seminars, the art supplies we use, and our monthly Sketch Crawls. Send us a quick note to Urban Sketchers Chicago at urbansketcherschicago@gmail.com or check out Urban Sketchers Chicago's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/UrbanSketchersChicago/.

If you want the best sketchbooks for your sketch novel, check out Blick Art Supplies, Stillman and Birn and Hahnemuhle USA. Thanks for checking us out. 

Wes Douglas

Top photo: © 2015 Wes Douglas
Middle photo: © 2015 Alex Zonis
Bottom photo: ©2015 Andrew Banks

Top 10 Favorite Urban Sketching Locations

Tuesday Tips & Tricks

I am often asked how I choose my locations for urban sketching. My answer is probably very similar to yours so I will share my criteria (which I adhere to very loosely).

First there are the physical elements for the perfect scene:

Textures, contrast, color, composition, pattern, movement, rhythm, etc. found in organic or man-made settings such as landscapes, architecture, nature and ensemble of people or animals. These components help construct the site selection and ultimately the sketch composition.

Then I look for a collection of those components which create an emotional attraction that provides a great story to tell when people look at my sketchbook. I like to say “we all have a sketch to tell,” which means that our purpose as artists is to use our visual language to interpret a scene and retell it through our sketches. I once read a great quote from Urban Sketcher Deby Caspari who wrote “To draw something is to own it. You take an image filtered through you and you have an intense experience of the subject that can’t be taken away.”

With millions of images coming into our brains every second, this must be why one scene stands out more than the others and prompts us to sit for 10, 20, or even 60 minutes to capture what our cameras could do in a couple of snaps, right?

Here then, based on repeat visits from Urban Sketchers Chicago, are some Top Sketch Locations in Chicago.

Architectural Artifacts

http://www.architecturalartifacts.com/about/location/

Three stories of saved and collected details, furniture, lighting, mantles, and other you-name-it oddities reclaimed from old buildings and residences in and around Chicago. We have consistently had our best turnouts for our Sketch Crawl whenever we have hosted one here at Architectural Artifacts and there is plenty of space to get lost in.

The Field Museum in Chicago

http://www.fieldmuseum.org/?gclid=CM_tg-ju-8YCFRCEaQodemoJZg

The Field Museum is another one of those sketcher's dream locations. Starting with architecture that dates back to Chicago's Columbian Exposition of 1893, this museum is packed with exhibits and collections of creatures past and present. Lots of fascinating dioramas, textures, and architectural details so that you never run short of things to sketch. And on designated days, Illinois residents get in free with a valid Illinois identification. On our first trip to The Field Museum, we were treated to a back labs tour by Urban Sketcher Rebe Banasiak and the drawers of specimens being prepared for future exhibits.

Lincoln Park http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/photos/            

Lincoln Park Zoo  http://www.lpzoo.org   

Lincoln Square http://www.lincolnsquare.org/pages/AboutLincolnSquare/         

The USk Chicago groups has settled into this area on several locations because of the expansive area it covers and the variety of subject matter. There is lots of nature, flowers at the Conservatory, animals at the free public zoo, the rivers of people who pass through this area on bikes, or running and pedestrian traffic, and some of the most interesting neighborhood buildings. Within walking distance to the lake shore and beaches, this Lincoln Park area is a big favorite of USk Chicago. On our last Chicago Architectural Open House in October, three of the buildings on display were located within the Lincoln Park area.

Other areas USk Chicago is fond of visiting for sketching:

Chinatown/Ping Tom Park
http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks/Ping-Tom-Memorial-Park/                       

Chicago Water Taxi https://www.chicagowatertaxi.com
Riding and sketching on the Water Taxi, all day, on the weekend for just $10.        

Palette & Chisel http://www.paletteandchisel.org/org/PaletteChisel/cms.aspx

The glorious home base for our Chicago Sketch Seminar in 2014 and 2015  

Washington Square Park:
http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks/Washington-Square-Park/         

Newberry Library: https://www.newberry.org     

Mariano Park: http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks/Mariano-Park/  

Connor Park: http://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks/Connors-Park/  

Chicago Cultural Center

http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/chicago_culturalcenter.html    

Millenium Park/Pritzker Pavilion:

http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/millennium_park.html    

Maggie Daly Park: http://maggiedaleypark.com      

Buckingham Fountain:
http://www.chicagotraveler.com/attractions/buckingham-fountain.html       

Navy Pier: https://navypier.com/about-us/   

And finally, if you are not a big fan of coming into the big city for your urban sketching inspiration, look around your own neighborhood. Old buildings, places where people gather (coffee shops, taverns, public transportation), beautiful parks and statues, and even the ugly things such as back alleys, junk piles, gas meters, water towers, and rusted out cars. The uglier the scene, the better the sketch. When you start looking, the whole world of urban sketching comes to life for you.  

What are some of your favorite sketch locations? When you finish your sketches, please share them with us.

Wes Douglas

CALL FOR PHOTOS!

Did you take pictures at the Chicago Sketch Seminar?  The USk Chicago Planning team is writing a series of blog posts recapping our Sketch Seminar weekend.  We want to see the Seminar from your perspective, thank our sponsors for their contributions, and show them the amazing work that each of you created.

Please send pictures of:

• you using sponsorship art materials or prizes
• sketches made with the sponsorship materials or prizes
• instructors demonstrating with sponsorship materials

Email your pictures to urbansketcherschicago@gmail.com with the subject line "Seminar Photos".  Tell us which products you used and what your impressions of them are.  If your photo(s) are used, you will be given credit.

Keep an eye out for blog posts coming in the the next month!

Sincerely,
USk Chicago Planning Team

The Chicago Sketch Seminar Map is up on the Seminar website

https://chicagosketchseminar.wordpress.com/2015/06/30/preparing-for-the-seminar-part-1/

Thank you again to our sponsors: Blick Art Materials, Cafe Babareeba, DeAtrimentis DieTintenmanufaktur, Faber Castell, General Pencil, Hahnemuehle USA, Monkey Pencil Screen Printing, Nock Co., Palette & Chisel, Sakura of America, Stillman & Birn, Winsor & Newton, uskchicago2015, USkChicago.