Elsie sent me a few of her drawings from the Henry Vilas Zoo and the Chazen Museum to post. Thanks Elsie!

Giraffes are such fun animals to draw. Their proportions are so unusual and they stand still very well.  And, did you know that giraffes can touch their nose to the tip of their tails? Oh the things you learn while drawing.

I'm looking forward to participating in WW SketchCrawl 35 with Draw: Madison.  We're 'crawling' in the downtown / State Street area on Saturday, April 21st.  I'll post about our exact route once it is determined.

The Chazen Museum

We had a few more sketchers join us as the Chazen on Sunday. It was great sketching with you all. I enjoyed sketching on the Bridge, and people explore a number of other galleries. Chamber music from the "Sunday Afternoon Live at the Chazen" concert series combined with good company and a beautiful setting made for a fairly magical Sunday afternoon.

This is my drawing of the view from the Bridge down East Campus Mall to Lake Mendota.  I forgot to write down the name of the artist who made the glass sculpture in the foreground. I drew it with graphite and added color in Photoshop later on -- I think the color really helps distinguish the foreground and background. I've also posted the drawing before I added the color.

Do people think it's okay to post drawing's modified with Photoshop? I like this aesthetic, but is it cheating?

Elsie sent me two of her sketches from the last few weeks.  The first one is the view from the Overture Center looking east toward the Capital. I believe it was done with Tombow pens, which have water soluble ink that can be blended with a watercolor brush. I really enjoy how playfully she used color and line.

This drawing was done at Victor Allen's on Monroe Street on March 4th.  It's a combination of watercolor and pen.

Thanks for sharing Elsie!

It was great to meet Jane, Linda and Greg. Linda, as it happens, is organizing a contest called "Wisconsin in Winter" on Fine Art America. The contest is open to any medium (photography, painting, drawing, etc). The artists don't have to be from Wisconsin but all images should be of the Badger state. The deadline is tomorrow (sorry for the late notice!) but anyone can vote for their favorites after all the entries are in. Check it out their website.

I enjoyed drawing with my Prismacolor markers again today at the Overture Center. I used a few more colors that last week, but I'm still enjoying the limited color palette. What do you think?

Overture Center

This is a view of State & Dayton from the Overture Center. We had a great time sketching today with 3 new sketchers! Welcome Jane, Linda and Greg! Hope to see you next week at the Chazen. The staff at the OvertureCenter was very accomodating and found a table and chairs for us.

On this sketch I used a Pentel Brush Pen, Gelly Roll White Pen and Neocolor II crayons on Stonehenge Kraft Brown Paper.

Sunday March 4th

My sketch of Dana was done on Stonehenge Kraft Brown paper using a Prismacolor pen and Caran d'Ache Neocolor II watersoluble crayons. First time I've used these crayons and they are nice for getting color down fast. The paper is great to draw on and colors really pop but it tends to crack on the fold so isn't ideal for handmade sketch books. Thanks to Samara for coming to interview our little group and hopefully other sketchers will join us in the weeks to come. Drawing can be a pretty solitary activity and it really is fun to have some company. Pat

As foretold, a reporter from the State Journal came and interviewed us today at Victor Allen's on Monroe Street. Look for a story about us in the paper tomorrow on page 3. Hilariously, the interview, combined with a second cup of coffee for the day, made my hand very jittery, as you can see from my drawing below.  I was using the fat tips of my Prismacolor markers to explore the use of positive and negative space. The color fields seem to add a lot of interest and depth to an otherwise fairly jittery/wonky drawing. I think I'll keep exploring this technique.

I just learned from Pat that the State Journal is going to interview Draw: Madison at Victor Allen's this Sunday! I'm thrilled -- hopefully they run a story about us. It's great to see our group gaining momentum.

Here are some of Elsie's sketches from last Sunday at Memorial Union. The first shows people ice fishing on Lake Mendota.