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!"