Sketchers Abound at the Memorial Union

Such a great way to start a weekend, a good sized group of sketchers doing what they do best; sharing tools, enthusiasm, and sketching.

I decided to stay at our meet-up spot in Peets Coffee with Mercedes and Mary, but many went off in different directions. The weather was lovely (it's hard to keep track of that in WI this winter). We reconvened as usual for photos and examining our sketchbooks together.

we had to have two photos of sketchbooks, we had such a good showing!

great place to sketch at Peet's Coffee...not to mention good coffee

Stillman and Birns sketchbook, micron  pen and watercolor

Continue to check both our blog and our Facebook page for updates....and if you ever have any great new ideas for sketch meet-ups let us know, we'd love to hear from you.

Happy Sketching
Ruth

Next Sketching Date: Saturday January 27th - Memorial Union

We will meet this Saturday from 10 am to noon at the Memorial Union for sketching.  Meet just inside the main entrance (outside Peets Coffee).  We usually spread out a bit but if you come late just look around and you are sure to find a sketcher at work.

As always we draw what we are seeing around us with the art supplies of our choice.  Below is an old ink and watercolor sketch of mine of a student studying and a frozen Lake Mendota.

Lake Mendota from Memorial Union winter 2012

A Few More Photos from the Chocolaterian on Jan. 14th

Front row left to right: Ben, Ruth, Mike, Mercedes
Back row left to right:  Joel, Gretchen, Louise, Pam

Sarah shooting her cocoa

Left to right: Carolyn, Tsela, Deborah, Linda

Deborah, Linda and Cindy

Waiting for my tune up at Smart Motors

A small sketch to start the weekend. With the warmer weather maybe I'll venture outside to sketch.

Article by Madison Sketcher

Madison sketcher, Vivien Ahrens, had an excellent article about Urban Sketchers published in December on the website Emergent Art Space.  http://emergentartspace.org/forum/50746/  We met Vivien in November when she came to our Sun Prairie Sketchcrawl.  She is from Germany and has sketched with USK groups in Europe and the US.  We are happy to have her in our Madison group!! 

Vivien and Carol at the Sketchcrawl lunch

Sunday January 14, 2018 - Chocolaterian Cafe - Middleton

We had a record number of sketchers today (19) including 3 new sketchers who were most welcome.  The food was great and the staff welcoming and kind enough to take this picture of the group. 

And we now have a Facebook page where we can post photos of people, places and sketches.  Our upcoming events will be posted on Facebook under the Event tab as well as on our Event Calendar on this blog.  The link to our Facebook page is:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/946377982180736/

This link can also be found on our blog under "How to Participate").

Thanks to everyone who came out today to share their sketches and got 2018 off to a great start for USK Madison!!  We will add a another sketch date for January soon and will meet at Olbrich Gardens on Feb. 11th.  Keep warm and keep sketching!!

Great turnout on a cold winter's day!

Cabin Fever

I didn't do near the sketching I had hoped to do this holiday, but one day after the New Year while my daughter was visiting me we declared a state of Cabin Fever and planned an outing. One important part of the trip was a stop at The Shoe Box. I think I should go back there when its warmer to draw it, it's quite the place.
But of course first we had to have lunch.

La Mexicana on Water St. in Saulk City WI

This is the view from the inside as we happily ate burritos. Ignore the shoe if you are a rigid urban sketcher. I drew it from life, but later in the house.

Mostly I wanted to show you our coffee stop in Cross Plains, on the way back from the shoe store. Another nice area to revisit when it's time to draw outside. This was a perfect stop during single digit weather.

Crossroads Cafe, Cross Plains, WI

Both sketches done with micron pens, my little watercolor kit , a few colored pencils , and all on my Stillman and Birns sketchbook.

Stay Creative!

Ruth

My 1st Urban Sketch of 2018

After lunch with friends at the Concourse Hotel (the best salad bar in town!!) I had a latte and sketched  one of the patrons.  I like the Tombow brushpens.  Watersoluble so no odor and they come in lots of colors.  Artist and Craftsman downtown has a big selection and good prices.  

Tombow brushpens & Stillman & Birn Beta softcover sketchbook

Happy New Year to Urban Sketchers Madison!!

Hope you all had lovely holidays and a chance to do some sketching.  The meeting scheduled for Saturday January 6th has been cancelled due to the severe cold weather which is forecast well below zero Saturday morning.

 Our next meeting will be on January 14th at the Middleton Chocolaterian Cafe from 1 to 3pm.  We have been to the east side location many times but this is our first outing to the Middleton cafe.  It looks very nice and has the same goodies on offer.  Hope to see you then when it will be a bit warmer, too.  Please post any urban sketches you did over the holidays!

The new format for Drawing Attention, the monthly online newsletter from Urban Sketchers has a new format and is like an online book.  I love it!!  The link is here:  www.urbansketchers.org/2017/12/drawing-attention-january-2018.html

Also re: our email list.  It  has been getting longer and a bit more difficult to keep updated.  I want to make sure everyone who wants one is getting an email reminder about meetings, etc.  If you did not get the email reminder I sent Thursday morning and would like to be added to the list please email me at: pwafer@charter.net    Also if you would like to be removed from the list at any time just let me know.  Thanks!!!    Pat