What Do You Propose?

Workshop Proposals Are Due January 31!

Just a reminder, if you're planning to submit a proposal to teach a workshop at our July seminar they must be uploaded to JotForm by January 31.

Here's the direct link to the proposal form.

We have exciting submissions coming in! It's going to be a great time!

What Do You Know?

Are You Willing to Share?

Thanks to the dedicated crew of Chicago Urban Sketchers and instructors, we've hosted five fun and successful sketch seminars!  USk Chicago's sixth seminar will be July 17-19, 2020 and is in the planning stages.

As in the past, we're hoping for experienced and novice instructors to volunteer and share their areas of knowledge and love of urban sketching with us all. Each 2.5-3 hour workshop is taught twice, once on Saturday and again on Sunday. The rest of the time is yours to enjoy the USk camaraderie and fun!

We're looking for a variety of Urban Sketching topics. Workshops will be given outdoors, in the streets and parks around Palette&Chisel Academy, 1012 N. Dearborn. All our instructors, planners and admins are volunteers. Depending on a number of workshops submitted, there will be a selection process.

Interested?

Here's a direct link to the proposal form. 

If you have questions about creating a proposal or about details of your workshop, please reach to Alex Zonis or Barbara McCafferty Weeks, we would love to help! You can also send us an email, urbansketcherschicago@gmail.com.

The new blog posts will be mentioned in the Facebook group but if you’d like to keep up to date by email just fill in your email address in the place provided in the upper right corner under the banner. We look forward to hearing from you.

HASHTAG PROJECT: SHOW CHICAGO ONE DRAWING AT A TIME

HASHTAG PROJECT: SHOW CHICAGO ONE DRAWING AT A TIME
by Andrew Banks & Wes Douglas

With the planning of our 2017 International Symposium well underway, the collective use of Twitter and Instagram by USk Chicago will help draw attention to our community and create buzz and awareness of our event.  By no means are these intended to replace our Facebook group.  Rather the use of Twitter and Instagram are intended to re-direct people back to our roots in the Facebook group.  For those who are completely new, don’t worry, they are both user friendly.  Here are some “benefits” and basic “how to’s” to get you started:

Step 1: Sketch your favorite Chicago scene, from observation on location.

Step 2: Scan/photograph your sketch and post it to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Step 3: In your captions, tell us where the sketch is from, make sure to tag @uskchicago (in Instagram), @usksymposium (in Instagram), @usk_chicago (in Twitter), and include the hashtags: "#uskchicago2017" and "#uskchicago"

NEED MORE INFORMATION AND STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTION?

TWITTER (https://twitter.com/usk_chicago)
Follow @USk_Chicago 

Twitter is a short form blog where users make posts called "tweets".  Tweets are 140 characters or less. 

How to use Twitter
1) Download Twitter App on your smartphone.  Or, sign up for an account on your computer.
2) "Tweet" - post text or photos

Examples of Tweets:
"Heading out to sketch with @USk_Chicago today"
"A sketch from today's @USk_Chicago sketch meet"
"Found this @USk_Chicago blog post helpful"

3) "Re-tweet" - sharing other's posts
A re-tweet shares another user's tweet with your followers.  For example USk Chicago (@USk_Chicago) could re-tweet one of your sketches.

4) Follow other people, groups or organizations (individual urban sketchers, other urban sketchers chapters, artists communities, organizations, businesses etc...)

5) Hash tags (#)
Hash tags make your post searchable.  When a hash tag is placed in front of a word, that word is sent to a database that can be viewed by anyone searching for that word.
For example, #urbansketchers.  Other urban sketchers around the world use this hash tag when they tweet.
When you search #urbansketchers you will find thousands of other tweets related to urban sketching.

6) Tag (@)
When tagging (@) another user in your post, the user you tagged will be notified that you tagged them.  So, when you tweet your sketches, help USk Chicago know that you are tweeting your sketched by including "@USk_Chicago" in your Tweet.

INSTAGRAM (https://instagram.com/uskchicago)
Follow @USkChicago & @USkSymposium

Instagram is another type of short form blog dedicated to posting and viewing photographs and short video clips.  Unlike Facebook where you can make folders to organize images, an Instagram account holds all of your photos in one location.  

How to use Instagram
1) Download Instagram App on your smart phone
2) Post your sketches/pictures to Instagram
3) Hash tags (#)

Include these hash tags (#) in your caption:
#USkChicago
#USkChicago2017
#Urbansketchers

4) Tag (@) in your caption
@USkChicago (Urban Sketchers Chicago) 
@USkSymposium (International Symposium)

10 Years x 10 Classes Registration is Open!

Register Here

https://bookwhen.com/uskchicago

Do You Know What's Happening on March 15?

Whether you're telling a little story, a medium tale, or an epic in your sketches, add to your visual vocabulary with our 10 talented instructors in our "10Years 10 Classes" program. Sharpen your visual storytelling skills while you celebrate the 10th anniversary of Urban Sketchers.

Registration Opens Here

https://bookwhen.com/uskchicago

Tomorrow

Wednesday, March 15

 at 10 A.M.!

You may register for one or more workshops. Workshops vary in cost. If you register for all 10 workshops, you will automatically receive a 10% discount. It will be applied to your final cost.

Workshops are held on 10 consecutive Saturdays, in various locations, beginning on April 15. Most are scheduled from 12 Noon to 3:00 p.m.  There is one 6-hour workshop that starts at 10:00 am.

Classes begin April 15!

See the full course schedule here:

http://urbansketchers-chicago.blogspot.com/p/course-schedule.html

Meet Our Next Group of Great Instructors

Great Stories: The BIG Picture

June 3,  "Sketching the World from Your Perspective"       Instructor: Andrew Banks

Andrew Banks is an artist and freelance illustrator. Andrew works with watercolor, pen and ink and graphite and his subject of choice is architecture, architectural landscapes and cityscapes. Andrew has always enjoyed sketching, but it wasn’t until a 6 week study trip to Europe in 2008 that his passion for on location sketching solidified. Visiting cities such as Rome, Florence, Venice, Paris, Copenhagen, and Stockholm, he was inspired by the ancient architecture, urban fabric and vibrant city life. For his entire trip, Andrew captured these experiences in his sketchbooks, illustrating and telling the stories of architecture, and the sights, sounds and smells of each location.

June 10,  "City in Motion"                                                            Instructor: Lisa Flahive

Lisa Flahive is most widely known for her expressive drawings and watercolors of jazz musicians, created live, in the moment, on the bandstand. This allows her to improvise, react, and communicate with the musicians. She chooses watermedia because it reflects the life of the music and must be created boldly, in the moment. Lisa paints what inspires her, such as cafes or chefs in the kitchen. She also loves to capture the energy of a city in her vibrant street scenes, and paints many en plein air, at night. Lisa is the artist in residence for Chateau Chantal Winery in Traverse City, MI and paints live on the bandstand every Thursday during their popular Jazz at Sunset series. 

June 17,  "Team Sketching, An Exploration of Scale"           Instructor: Peggy Condon

An Urban Sketchers-Chicago member since June 2014. Peggy’s education includes a BFA-painting and drawing, a certificate in mechanical drafting. Work and courses in landscape design and landscape architecture have strongly influenced the development of this class “Team Sketching” to explore merging scale drawing techniques and individual drawing styles to create a mosaic site illustration.

Urban Sketchers Chicago Comes To Fermilab

Where:          Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab)

When:           Sunday March 19, 2017, 12:00pm – 3:00pm    

What:           Let's Sketch with Urban Sketchers Chicago and Fermilab

Fermilab advances particle physics research using a range of techniques, asking different questions and using different tools. All ultimately aim at the same scientific goal: a complete understanding of the laws of nature and the cosmos.  For more information  http://www.fnal.gov

How:   For Urban Sketchers, simply show your photo ID and let the security officer know you are “meeting Georgia Schwender at Wilson Hall.” Urban Sketchers Wes Douglas and Peggy Condon will also meet you there.

We will meet in Wilson Hall (15-story high-rise building resembling the letter “A.”) by the reception desk in the Atrium. You'll see it sticking up off the prairie. Weather-permitting, some of you may wish to sketch outside. There are wild buffalo just to the north on the property.

A valid photo ID is required to enter the Fermilab site, and you must also tell the security officer the purpose for your visit. All U.S. state-issued IDs are accepted at the security checkpoints.

Directions: Fermilab's main entrance is located at the intersection of Kirk Road and Pine Street in Batavia, Illinois, about 45 miles west of Chicago. Delivery trucks need to use the entrance at Kirk Road and Wilson Street. There is no street number assigned to this entrance location. When using a GPS navigation unit, please enter the intersection as your destination. Signs posted near the intersection will point you to the Fermilab entrance.

http://news.fnal.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Fermilab_SiteMap.pdf  

From Chicago, travel west on the Eisenhower (I-290) to I-88 (80 cents). Exit I-88 at the Farnsworth exit, north or right (toll). Farnsworth becomes Kirk Road. Follow Kirk Road to Pine Street. Turn right at Pine Street, Fermilab's main entrance.

From O'Hare Airport, take I-90 east toward Chicago. After just a couple of miles, take I-294 south, toward Indiana (toll). From I-294 take the exit to I-88, the east-west tollway, toward Aurora (toll). From I-88, take the Farnsworth exit (toll). Turn north onto Farnsworth. Farnsworth becomes Kirk Road. Follow Kirk Road to Pine Street. Turn right on Pine Street, the main entrance to Fermilab.

From Midway Airport, Take Cicero Avenue north to the Stevenson Expressway South (I-55) to I-355 North (toward northern suburbs). Take I-355 to the East-West tollway (I-88). Take I-88 West for approximately 10 miles to the Farnsworth North exit and turn right. Travel 2.9 miles to the Pine Street entrance to the Fermilab site.

BY TRAIN:

You can also take the Metra UP West line to Geneva.

NOTE: If you decide on this option, please be sure to let Wes Douglas (wed317@gmail.com) or Peggy Condon know so that we can pick you up and drive you to Fermilab. 

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/

Know It All?

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. 

Morning light in the alley

There's always something new to learn! I spent Saturday in Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood at the workshop "FEARLESS Sketching in Pen, Ink and Watercolor with Adriana Gasparich."  What a fun day! The workshop was held in Ingrid Albrecht's studio in Ravenswood.

As an artist, no matter how much experince I have or how much I know (or think I know) there's always more to learn. That certainly was the case last Saturday. Thank you Adriana and Ingrid for an inspiring, friendly and encouraging day!

These sketches were done in a Stillman & Birn Zeta Series sketchbook.

Afternoon light 

I'm looking forward to the wealth of knowlege coming our way at the Symposium next summer!

The Hancock Tower – 360° and 365 Days – Chicago

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. 

Northwestly view from Olive Park

The Hancock Tower is the fourth tallest building in Chicago and surely one of the city's architectural icons. I don't know if it's one of my favorite building to draw, but from the number of times I've sketched it, it sure calls out to me. Though sometimes it plays hide-and-seek, it's always there for me to draw. 

It's my directional beacon. It's also my neighbor, greeting me when I look out the window.

Looking East

Good morning, Chicago!

It's always there, calling me home.

USk Chicago Spotlight Sunday: Meet Lewis Achenbach

Today, I have the pleasure of introducing you to a very talented artist and founder of a fresh new sketching experience. His name is Lewis Achenbach and he is an artist, painter and the man behind the “Jazz Occurrence” music experience. We’ll talk about “JazzO” a little bit later but I think you will find what he is doing to be quite inspirational and very much like urban sketching. I often see Lew with buckets of paints and brushes in his hand but other times he is sitting with a sketchpad and pastels or markers, capturing however the music moves him.

So without further ado, let's meet Lewis!

Wes Douglas (WD): Hello Lewis and thank you for taking the time to chat with me here today. I used to wonder, Lew, if what you are doing at the JazzO music events relates to “urban sketching” at all. I mean, you sketch on location, you draw/paint from observation, and you share your work online. Those are all Urban Sketching guiding principles and even one more “we welcome all styles and mediums.” That seems to fit within the urban sketching manifesto if you ask me. What do you think?

 Lewis Achenbach (LA): Wes, let me first define my versions of the terms ‘sketching’ and ‘painting’, or at least compartmentalize the two via process and media. I use those terms interchangeably. ‘Sketching’ always comes off as an informal enterprise compared to the high-art word weight of ‘painting’. It is creating that is getting done, and that is what should stand out. 

I don’t differentiate between black and white and color either. It’s either dry or wet. Dry is sketching. Painting is wet. That is how I categorize the process. And the gig usually dictates dry or wet. But I will use the term ‘sketch’ to make it simple. 

WD: Why do you sketch? How does it help you?

LA: I create to music, mostly, or at least it is what I’ve become known for, which is cool with me. So I sketch to hear the music, in the way my brain likes to hear it. 

In general, I sketch to get a grasp on what is going on in the world. It’s my vehicle to understand; my default tool in my toolbox. Sketching slows thing down for me, so I can hear, and even rewind what I’ve just heard. I can look at a drawing the next day and residual hear the gig from last night, in a sense.

WD: What is your favorite sketching tool?

LA: I like the caveman grit of charcoal, right now. Pastel, chalk too for the dry work. Acrylic is the functional wet on-sight media. AD markers for small moleskine sketches.

  

WD: Where is your favorite place to sketch?

LA: I love Constellation Chicago. It’s the vibe of the place. I feel welcomed there, to create. And I have a mental archives of great sound experiences from there. And they have me formally paint large scale on canvas. Which you cannot do without permission from the owner, and blessings from the musicians. So it’s a relationship thing too. 

Also, sketching on the beach is becoming a haven. 

And I like to combine the music and exterior spaces thing, which is why music festivals have become a favorite gig.

WD: What is the inspiration for the sketches you selected?
LA: Well, music is the simple answer. But it’s really knowledge that I seek through sketching, and wisdom through that. How else, as artists, are we to communicate to others, except through our gifts/talents/tendencies? I get to ‘tell’ the musicians how I have just felt about the live performance, by showing them a live document of my experience. I dialogue through visual means. So my inspiration is also the ability to ‘be heard’.

WD: Why are these scenes special to you?
LA: So the artworks are special because they represent a personal memory (a concert) but they also embody this impossible task and continuing adventure. The task of capturing fleeting live music while it’s lingering in the air. And the adventure of documenting this impossible gig: trying to sketch something that doesn’t really visually exists (except in my imagination). And I’m trying not to force the colors and forms onto the music. I let the music tell me what to do. What colors and line quality to use. The music tells me what personal references to touch on, and use as push off points, to create an authentic artwork, where I am just a vessel, present in front of the paper/canvas, getting the music ‘out’. If that makes any sense. 

WD: What do you do when you are not sketching? Does your day job incorporate your sketching skills?

LA: I do a decent amount of organizing, networking and self promotion. Which has all to do with the Jazz Occurrence project; where I produce events so that I can curate and paint larger scale next to the musicians, and really physically get ‘into’ the music. If I am part of the show, I can cut loose and even influence the music happening in appropriate ways. 

I also educate; teaching improvisation and ways/means of cross influence and collaboration with students. 

And I paint houses. And I have a small animation studio in my basement, where I do free-lance animations and videos for various corporate franchises. It’s all brush in hand, clay in hand, col-erase pencil in hand kind of work. Actually the live music (in the moment, broad brush stroke) sketching bore out of a necessity of contrast to the tight pencil on paper draftsman day job of animating at a studio in NYC. But that’s another story (and I wont get into getting arrest for graffiti on the lower east side during the Mayor "Rudy" Giuliani administration).

WD: If anyone wants to follow you or to find out more about Jazz Occurrence, do you have any links online?

LA: Yes, there are a number of links where I post information about Jazz Occurrence and when the next events will be:

Website: www.lewisachenbach.com

Facebook:    
Lewis Achenbach 
Jazz Occurrence Art Exhibition 
@jazzoccurrence

Twitter: @lewisachenbach #jazzoccurrence

Instagram:     lewisachenbach #jazzoccurrence

Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/149828834  
(at TEDx Naperville 2015)

WD: Lewis, I greatly appreciate the time you’ve given us here today and I really enjoy how your Jazz Occurrence project has redefined common perceptions of what a “sketch” can be. I look forward to the next time you and I can hang out with one of your group of jazz musicians and sketch together. 

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