Raging Grannies at the Capitol

Draw Madison had a meet-up on the Capitol Square last weekend and Gretchen turned me on to The Raging Grannies, a great group of women playing their hearts out (parodies to songs you know, pure Madison stuff). An awesome sketch opportunity.

Sketching on the Square Saturday September 24th

Ruth and Gretchen drawing the Raging Grannies in performance

Mike and Tsumugi

Gretchen and a young sketcher and his dad

Some of our morning sketches

Pat, Gretchen, Mike and Tsumugi at Wasabi for lunch

The weather cooperated Saturday morning for a good time sketching on the square.  The Raging Grannies were performing their songs of political protest and were a colorful group for us draw.  Gretchen and I met a young sketcher who did a great sketch in Gretchen's book while his dad and I looked on.  I wore a card encouraging people to "Ask me about Urban Sketchers Madison" and several did and said they may come sketch with us in the future and we hope so!  Tsumugi suggested lunch at Wasabi on State St. which is her favorite Japanese restaurant and it was excellent.  We decided Olbrich Gardens would be a good place for next month's sketching on Sunday October 9th from 1 to 3 pm. 

Urban Sketching at The Prado

It's not often you get a chance like this, working live from the Prado in Spain. To be able to spend time with  my daughter AND see the amazing exhibit El Bosco (as the Spanish refer to Hieronymous Bosch).

I filled a sketchbook of my trip, but this is one of my favorites. What you see is the incredible line of people waiting to get in. The day was hot and sunny, I used a micron pen in my moleskine book, and

painted later with a tin of watercolors I brought on the trip.

El Museo Prado, Madrid, Spain

Sketch Date - Farmer's Market and State St. Sept. 24th 10 am to 1 pm

We will meet for sketching and optional lunch on Saturday Sept. 24th.  All sketchers are welcome.  These sketch events are always free and open to all skill levels.

For details click on the events calendar for 9/24.  Hope to see you there!   

Free Urban Artist Worshop with Faber-Castell Artist, Don Colley October 1st

Below is a recent newsletter excerpt from Lynn's, an excellent local art supply store located at 5928 Odana Rd.  www.lynnsofmadison.com/

NEWS FOR ARTISTS & STITCHERS
FEATURED CLASS
**URBAN ARTIST WORKSHOP WITH DON COLLEY**– Saturday, October 1st choose either from 11 am to 12:30 pm or 2 pm to 3:30 pm.   Instructor: Don Colley, Faber-Castell working artist  Workshop is FREE, but space is limited so REGISTRATION IN ADVANCE IS REQUIRED.
Join Don in a free and casual workshop where he share his tips and techniques of drawing, his passion for sketching life around him and a discussion of what it's like to be an artist on the go. We have seen Don at several art trade shows and this is definitely very worth attending! 

Here's the link to the page for his current Faber-Castell Road Trip  http://www.doncolleysroadtrip.com/about-us

Sketching trolls and their town - Mt. Horeb Sunday Sept. 11

209 Main St. in Mt. Horeb, Wi.

Mike's sketch of Main St.

Tsumugi and Mike

Elsie and her sketch of one of Main St.'s iconic buildings

Chris and her Main St. Sketch

Two Main St. Trolls 

My finished sketch 

 Yesterday was a perfect day for sketching in Mt. Horeb regardless of the fact that we went there to avoid the Ironman only to find the east road into town blocked by the race but downtown Mt. Horeb was peaceful enough and while the Grumpy Troll was super crowded we found a quiet space on Main St. and a lovely tea shop that also does light fare.  It's called Telsann Tea and Coffee and is in the building above along with Hop's House which looked like a very interesting restaurant.  The tea shop and MANY kinds of teas and I plan to go back when I have more time to inspect them all.  We also welcomed a new Urban Sketcher, Mike Hirshon, who is a free lance illustrator and whose sketchbook we all admired for the beautiful line drawings he does.  All of us were inspired by his excellent pen and ink sketches.  Mike's most recent sketchbook had wonderful scenes from Thailand and he said he had a chance to go sketching with USk Bangkok.  USk is such a great way to meet people from anywhere and instantly have one very important thing in common - a love of drawing our environment from life and sharing the experience with others.  Thanks to everyone who came out yesterday - it was fun!!  We agreed that Mt. Horeb was a great small Wisconsin town with lots of interest to sketchers.

Note:  Chris I don't think I have your email.  If you see this please send it to me: pwafer@charter.net. Thanks!!

Sketch date: Mt. Horeb, Wi. 1 - 3 pm Sunday Sept. 11th

 We will meet for sketching at The Grumpy Troll bar and restaurant 105 S. 2nd St. in Mt. Horeb for sketching from 1 - 3 pm.  The restaurant is just off Main St.  The Ironman race in Madison has made many venues difficult to get to but there should be no parking problems in Mt. Horeb and there is good food and coffee and trolls!  (I will have copies of the Troll Map for anyone who wants to search them out but there are several at places along Main St. and there is plenty of interesting architecture.)  It has been several years since we last sketched here.  Schuberts is also open for lunch but closes at 2pm.    As always, anyone with an interest in drawing is welcome to join us and for questions feel free to contact Pat or Elsie (just click Contact for our email links.)