Urban Sketching at "The Bean"

URBAN SKETCHING AT "THE BEAN"
By: Andrew Banks

Urban Sketchers Chicago is excited to be hosting the 2017 Urban Sketchers 8th Annual Symposium. We'll be welcoming over 450 urban sketchers from around the world to meet, sketch, and share our city! As a teaser of all the sights in store for you next year, over the next few weeks, we'll be sharing some of our sketches (both new and old) of our beautiful, diverse, and exciting Chicago.

The Bean.  Fountain pen and Faber Castell PITT pens in a 5.5"x8.5" Stillman and Birn Epsilon soft cover sketchbook. © Andrew Banks

The Bean.  Millienium Park.  Sears Tower....  If you are visiting Chicago these are probably just a few of your must do's and must see's.  If you are a local, however, you've probably been there and done that.  You commute past these architectural landmarks on a daily basis and after a while they may start to blend in with the rest of the buildings and sights in the city.  Not for me...

Even after having lived in Chicago for 6 years now, urban sketching has kept all of the "touristy" places in Chicago intriguing and enjoyable for me to visit.  I've sketched here before, but there is always new inspiration for capturing it differently than before.  I've found that as my skill sets develop, and as I continue to explore different media, there is always some new or improved way of seeing and representing a scene.  These iconic spaces, structures and views aren't recognized around the world for no reason.  If you have even have the smallest interest in design, art, or architecture, it will be hard not to have a great time in Chicago.

This sketch took about 45 minutes, and as I sat on the ground, on a particularly busy day at The Bean, I had the chance to chat with several people who were interested in what I was working on.  I always enjoy sharing my work, and popular public places like this are great for introducing people to your work and to the Urban Sketchers community.

The Bean.  Fountain pen and Faber Castell PITT pens in a 5.5"x8.5" Stillman and Birn Epsilon soft cover sketchbook. © Andrew Banks

See more of my work:

• www.andrewbanksillustration.com
• www.instagram.com/abillustrator
• www.twitter.com/abillustrator
• www.andrewbanksillustration.tumblr.com/

Back to the Bean

It was"back to the Bean"in more ways than one. This week our Monday sketch group met at the Bean in Millennium Park. I've sketched there several times this summer so this time I chose a different point of view. I sat with my back to the sculpture. A beautiful day, great company and sketching – a delightful start to the week!

Meanwhile Back at the Bean

Cloud Gate, a.k.a.  the Bean, in Millennium Park in Chicago is a go-to-place for tourists and artists alike. Watching as people experience the Bean for the first time is great. It brings out "the kid in the funhouse" in everyone. As you can see from Alex's post, it was a fun outing for Urban Sketchers Chicago to meet with Miriam from Munich. What a great time! Thanks to Alex and Miriam for setting it up!

Our Monday sketch group was there yesterday but sadly, I couldn't make it. (Um - maybe not so sadly since it was raining all day.) I've sketched many of the features of Millennium Park but I figured I'd post sketches from a few past outings to the Bean. Different size sketchbooks, different types of paper, different levels of success but it's always worth the trip! I highly recommend it!

Sketching with Miriam

The Bean - Sketching with Miriam in Millennium Park

We have hosted our first visiting Urban Sketcher! Miriam Ben from Munich Germany was in Chicago on a business trip and wrote to me about sketching together. I was delighted! To me half of the fun of Urban Sketching is meeting other sketchers.

I put a call out on USK Chicago FB. Miriam had some air travel delays (air travel grrrr!) and finally arrived a day late. The four of us - Barbara, LuEllen, Martha and myself - met Miriam at the Palmer House and took her to sketch to Millennium Park, to The Bean. Officially it is Cloud Gate sculpture, but I don't know any Chicagoan who uses this.

Miriam, it was wonderful meeting you! You must come back, we'll sketch some more!

Here we are sketching.

Alex, Miriam, LuEllen, Martha and Barbara

And here there are suddenly more of us!

USK Next Generation: Giola, Lucia, Robin and Pablo

A group of kids got very interested in what we were doing. Pablo discovered us first, but wanted to keep this discovery to himself. He kept sending the rest of the kids back their parents. But Giola, Lucia and Robin would not be deterred and milled around. Then they wanted to draw with us. Sheets of paper and pencils were produced and shared, and we were in business! Then Lucia wanted to paint! Then the others wanted to paint! No problem! Paint we all did.

Miriam was fast and made a delightful sketch of the young artists.

Our sketches

Tourists photographed us several times as a local curiosity: "Look, Mike! Chicago artists! Quick, take my photo with them!"