Spotlight Sunday - Debbe Rigney-Hays

Spotlight Sunday is new series of interviews designed to introduce and highlight Chicago Urban Sketchers individually. Now that our chapter has reached nearly 500 members it has become more of a challenge to meet every single member in person and have a meaningful conversation. These posts will concentrate on individuals and speak in their own words.

And now - spotlight on Debbe Rigney-Hays!
Interviewed by Alex Zonis

Debbe Rigney-Hays

Alex Zonis: Why do you sketch, Debbe?

Debbe Rigney-Hays: I sketch because I like the quiet of it, the focus of my attention, seeing things I’d never notice otherwise, which is, in the true sense of the word, awesome. I also like learning tools and concepts of drawing and painting. I also like the journey of finding out what suits me best and seeing how I improve. I have never had art classes or drawn until Sketchbook Skool two years ago. My creativity was used in different places.

AZ: What is your favorite sketching tool?

DRH: My favorite sketching tool is the Lamy Safari fountain pen with my creations of gray or sepia DeAtramentis document ink or a water-soluble pen with a Pentel water brush, I like how watery they are. I am learning watercolor, but I’m not coordinated enough, yet, to use it much out and about, so when I want color, I use Faber-Castell watercolor pencils.

AZ: What is your favorite place to sketch?

DRH: I love to sketch in restaurants and cafes, busy places where I can easily sit and look around. Sometimes I want to draw the people. Sometimes a building I see from the window. Sometimes it is an architectural element that catches my eye. After the Chicago Symposium’s class on drawing figures in motion, I’ve gotten more courage to try. Still working on it. I hope to sketch more.

AZ: Debbe, you sent us two beautiful sketches. What inspired them? Why are these scenes special to you?

DRH: This past Christmas, my gift was an overnight in Chicago, by myself. I’m from downstate, with easy Amtrak access. Last month I had a great time poking around, exploring. I loved the old Chicago Library and had to breathe it in another time, but now, as the Cultural Center. The dome is overwhelming, so I drew some of the arches. I enjoy quotes, so I added some of the Center’s beautiful quotes. Last year’s Symposium classes on the Velazquez Palette and drawing architecture, encouraged me a lot for this sketch. We worked on the arches at the Newberry Library in the Velazquez Palette and in the  Architecture class, I discovered I don’t “have” to draw the entire building, just an interesting portion, if I want to. I can make it easier on myself and therefore, more fun!

Chicago Cultural Center by Debbe Rigney-Hays

DRH: After last year’s Symposium and my very exciting class on how to draw people in motion, I have been pushing myself to try this more often. So, when, I was in DC visiting family, I sketched the people around the cafe gift shop of the National Gallery. There is an open area for people to walk and children to stretch their legs, perfect for drawing people. (I also drew the Degas dancers upstairs. I had that gallery all to myself and could relax a little, but that’s another story.)

National Gallery by Debbe Rigney-Hays

AZ: Debbe lives in Galesburg in West Central Il, near Peoria. It takes her 3 hours by Amtrak train to come to Chicago for our sketch crawls. Thank you for opening our new series, Debbe, and for sharing your sketches and thoughts. Everyone, be sure to stop by and say Hello next time you see Debbe at a sketch crawl.

Urban Sketchers Chicago kicks off its 4th Year

January 17, 2016, Wicker Park, Chicago, IL: 
Whenever Urban Sketchers (USk Chicago) look for a warm, friendly place to huddle during the cold winter months, we look for each other. USk Chicago members braved the cold and came together at The Den Theater in Wicker Park. Thanks to Joel Berman for making this connection for us. With so many productions in the works or currently showing, there were lots of areas where sketchers could lose themselves. The sketchbooks below demonstrate that there were no shortage of sketching subject matter.

If getting together and sketching with a group of like-minded artists is your idea of how to survive a cold winter season (or anytime of the year), check out our Facebook group page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/UrbanSketchersChicago/

There are some people missing from the group photo, but it was hard to find everyone in the dark nooks and crannies of this amazing space. Photo credits ©2016 Jim Christensen (Muriel's husband) — with Alex Zonis, Peggy Condon, Muriel Ann, Jodie McGovern, Jane Ostergaard, Mary Harney, Joel Berman, Susan Rooney, Wes Douglas, Mark Jones, Don Yang, William E Fagan, Paul Ingold, Fred Polito, Junad Rizki, Sandra Beaty, Lisa Ridolfi, Ben Collins-Sussman, Captain Joel Siegel, Paul Minnihan and plenty of others who were tucked in and around the nooks & crannies of this creative space.

USk Chicago Sketch Seminar - July 9-10, 2016!!

Urban Sketchers Chicago are excited to announce that once again we will be giving our USk Chicago Sketch Seminar 2016!! It will be our third! Seminar 2016 will take place on July 9-10, 2016. Please mark your calendars! And we hope to see you, from close and from afar, sketching with us in Chicago this summer!

Wes Douglas is giving his Sketching with Markers workshop at Chicago Sketch Seminar 2015

Sketchers, watch this space! More news soon!

Where Would You Like Your Art to Be a Year from Now?

Tuesday Tips & Tricks:

At the end of the year, many of us look back and take stock of the past year, what we’ve done, what we didn’t do, and maybe, what we wish we had done. I like to page through my sketchbooks and see how my sketching has changed over the year. What worked? What didn’t? What do I need to work on more? Looking at your work after not seeing it for a while, and looking at it chronologically, is interesting. There’s always a surprise or two!  Then there’s the look to the new year, where would I like my work to be a year from now?

Looking Back Over 2015

Tuesday Tips & Tricks posts have covered topics from architecture to Zen doodles and a whole lot in between! We talked about how to sketch, why to sketch, and what to sketch. We looked at color and shades of gray. We covered sharing your work on-line and in shows. and so much more. We even advised you to ruin your watercolors!  If you found a post helpful and would like to review it check out the Blog Archive in the sidebar and click on your topic of choice. The same goes for TT&Ts you may have missed.

Looking to the Future

Looking to the new year, where would you like your art to be a year from now? What are your goals? (It’s good to set them, but that’s another post.)

The next question is, how can we, at the Urban Sketchers - Chicago blog, help? Do you have a topic you’d like us to explore? Let us know. Leave a comment here with your suggestions and questions.

May we all have a Happy and Artful 2016!

7 Ways To Enjoy Urban Sketching More

Tuesday Tips & Tricks (Wes Douglas)

Congratulations! You've decided to join the Urban Sketchers Chicago (USk Chicago) group (or have recently been added) and now you might be wondering what's next. Here are some of my tips on how you can make your experience with USk Chicago a more fulfilling one.

1. Sketch something from your day. It could be from home, school, your work, during one of your breaks, or while you are traveling. Take a good clear photo of your sketch and share it on USK Chicago's Facebook page. If you have reservations about posting your work on the Internet, do this simple step and rest assured your work will be protected: Somewhere on your sketch, embed your name and the date you sketched it onto your sketch before you snap your photo. This way, your name will always be attached to your sketch. Consider an identifying stamp too.

2. Tell us a little something about one of your sketches, like the size, what drawing tools you used and the kind of sketchbook/paper you chose.

3. Ask a specific question to the community about your sketch. For example, I once posted a sketch of a stairway railing and I asked the group if my perspective was off or not. The amount of helpful and constructive feedback was very useful and gave me the positive kind of information I could use to effectively fix my sketch.

4. Don't hit the "LIKE" button. If you see another artist's sketch that you admire, write a thoughtful comment about a specific area you think works really well. To the artist who posted the sketch, this tells them a whole lot more than "LIKE" and it starts to build a conversation.

5. Ask another artist about what kinds of techniques they used to achieve their sketch or how they approach a sketch. My experience is that artists in this group love to talk about art skills and learn a few new things from each other as well. Plus, the very nature of a Facebook group is to be social and conversations go a long way toward strengthening the bond with other artists. The very fact that we are a social media group who actually meet face to face on a regular basis is what makes this group so special and unique.

6. Come out and join the group at one of our monthly Urban Sketchers Sketch Crawls. We call our events “Let's Sketch Chicago” and we meet in person at a designated location and time announced at the beginning of the month on Facebook. It is typically on the third weekend of the month and we alternate Saturdays and Sundays to accommodate more people’s schedules.

7. Volunteer for group activities. Our biggest event every summer is our USk Chicago Sketch Seminar. There are lots and lots of ways to volunteer – ranging from organizing and planning the event, spreading the word to local media, schools, art institutions, sponsors and to the larger population of artists who might want to attend. If you have a special skill that you would be interested to share in a workshop setting with other urban sketchers and painters, please think about becoming one of our workshop instructors. Ask me for more details. I can tell you from experience how incredibly fulfilling it is to affect people's lives with new skills and knowledge.

Sketching the Holidays

In a few weeks we'll be thinking about 2016 and what we want to change or how we want to improve our sketching practice in the next year. But right now, it can feel like the worst time of the year for sketching.

Here are a few tips to help you reconsider your reasons for not sketching this Holiday season.

"I'm going to be traveling a lot…"

Perfect! 

Sketch of girl waiting at Midway Airport

Airports are famously good places for the Urban Sketcher to capture scenes. Whether you sketch other passengers waiting to board, people running past your boarding area to their own flights, your in-flight snack, or something else you spy, air plane travel is a great time to sketch.

collage of faces from a looong car ride

If you're traveling by bus or riding in the car, you're also in luck. This can be a great time to practice quickly capturing people. One year on our long drive home I filled a notebook page with faces of the drivers and passengers of the cars around us. Or if people aren't your cup of tea, why not make thumbnails of the landscapes whizzing past? (Please don't try to draw while driving. I know it is tempting, but it's not worth it!)

"I'll just be sitting around with family or something…"

Lovely!

If you'll be seated around a table for hours, why not use paper place mats? Less washing for the household, and great opportunities to sketch those around you. As an added bonus, other folks around the table might want to make their own renderings of the company!

When we celebrate holidays with my husband's family things go back and forth between wild, when all twenty-something folks are in a single room, and quiet in the evenings or mornings while folks are sitting around talking. If you're at similar events, take advantage of those times: try gesture drawings of the full moments and more thoughtful sketches when things quiet down.

Sketch of Grandpop in between stories

"I don't feel comfortable just drawing people I'm in the room with…"

I was just studying shoes, but the dog stole the show!

Well, part of being an Urban Sketcher is overcoming your fear of sketching in public. But, if you need some extra help this year, why not try having a theme? Maybe make this a time to practice drawing the folds in clothing, or maybe more specifically the way pants fold near the shoe. If you have a hard time with hair, sketch everyone's hair. You won't have to worry about trying faces or hands (unless that's what you want to focus on!) but you'll be helping yourself feel more comfortable with drawing people in the future.



Ok, so you really, really can't draw anything on anyone this year? Urban Sketching isn't just about people, so why not try another approach. Instead of sketching the people in the room, why not sketch the room. Just remember, when we sketch, we're telling a story about the place. So, leave in the crumpled wrapping paper or even the dirty dishes on the table.

Do you have a plan for sketching the Holidays? If so, I'd love to hear it & either way, I'm looking forward to seeing glimpses of what your Holidays look like over in our Facebook group, or on Instagram.

Neither Snow nor Rain nor Heat nor Gloom of Night …

Urban Sketchers Chicago and Plein Air Painters of Society work on exhibit at Blick Art Materials

Yes, I know that's the motto of the US Post Office, but it also could be the motto of Urban Sketchers and Plein Air Painters of Chicago. We draw and paint on location in all kinds of weather. As luck would have it, it was snowy and rainy for the opening of the Urban Sketchers Holiday Showcase at Blick Art Materials in Lincoln Park on November 21, but Urban Sketchers, Plein Air Painters, and Blicks delivered! 

Barbara Weeks, Susan Hanley, Ted Gordon, and Andrew Banks offered their prints and original work for sale at the show's opening reception.

Despite the snowy day, Blick's was a lively place as fellow artists and art-appreciators came in to shop and see the show. We introduced them to the difference between original work and giclee prints. We talked about the missions of Urban Sketchers and Plein Air Painters. We discussed the media we use. We enjoyed meeting them all! One of the best parts of the day was encouraging young artists, who were excited to meet us and see us in action.

Andrew Banks and Ted Gordon discuss techniques.

 One of the most enjoyable parts of the day was encouraging young artists.

Thank you to the great staff at Blicks. They were a big part of making it such an enjoyable day. We're looking forward to future collaborations between Blick Art Materials and Urban Sketchers Chicago. 

If you haven't seen the show yet you have four more days! The show closes Sunday, December 13. Stop by Blicks, 1574 N Kingsbury, see the show and, maybe, pick up a holiday gift for your favorite artist!

We even got a little location work done. A big thank-you to Andrew Banks for the photos!