Manna Cafe & Bakery

Greetings Sketchers

November 10 we convened at a cafe I have only recently discovered on the east side of Madison, Manna Cafe and Bakery. This is a place people love and if you haven't been there, you need to go.

The meetup was scheduled for Saturday at 10AM and when I arrived and saw the crowd I got a bit nervous, but not to worry, these people are accommodating and quickly organized a table for our group. The food is amazing and the drawing was plentiful.

Eight of us arrived on a very chilly Saturday proving it was smart to switch to indoor only at this point in Wisconsin. Down in front is our new friend Suzie who was visiting from the Twin Cities. I love it when we get sketchers from other places.

Next up is Java Cat Coffee, still sticking with the eastside of Madison, this time near the Pinney Library practically in Monona. We'll meet on a Sunday, December 9, 1-3pm to celebrate our holiday spirit whatever it may be.

Remember to keep sketching and stay creative...

Ruth

Lakeside Coffee: Drink & Draw - November 15th

It was quiet but very pleasant for sketching tonight at Lakeside Coffee.  I think there were 5 of us.  We've been to Lakeside Coffee before but I always missed those and I was very impressed with what a nice space it is.  Lots of room and plenty of tables.  I look forward to sketching there again.

Jeanie and Mercedes

Gretchen was our model for the evening

Our sketches for the evening

Drawing Attention: November 2018

Here is the link for this month's Drawing Attention from Urban Sketchers.  Lots of good articles and examples of great urban sketching.  https://mailchi.mp/urbansketchers/drawing-attention-november-2018-correction-1077397?e=b8b408aaee

Drink & Draw: Monday Oct. 29th

Four sketchers turned out for our first Drink & Draw of 2018.  The Old Fashioned turned out to be super crowded so we relocated to the Brocach Irish Pub.  We left word with the hostess and waited for awhile in case any one turned up a little late but so far as we could see it was just us 4.

It was a bit noisy at Brocach as it was trivia night but we had a big table and got some sketching done and catching up on art news, etc.  Tsela recently was juried into the Madison Art Guild which sounded very interesting and she has several pieces on display at Creative Energy Designs, 125 S. Dickinson.  Gretchen had seen them and was very impressed!

Hope to see some more of us at the next D & D which should be quieter and less crowded.  If anyone has ideas and suggestions for good D & D sketching sites please let me know.  I will be doing posts for any upcoming sketching events so if you want an email reminder just submit your email on the right where it says:  Follow By Email and you will get an email of every new post.  You can also always find the upcoming schedule on this blog under Events and on our Facebook page.  The schedule so far is: 

                                         
                                         
                                             Sat. Nov. 10th @ Manna Cafe  10am-noon                     
   
                                            Thurs. Nov.  15th @ Lakeside Coffee House  7-9pm
             
                                            Thurs. Dec. 6th @ Vintage Brewing Co. 7-9pm         

                                             Sunday Dec. 9th @ Java Cat Coffee  1-3pm

My Inktober sketch done at Brocach but I only drank a half pint of beer and no shots!

UW Arboretum....Brrrrrrrrr

If we need a reminder that summer days are definitely in the past you should have been with us 5 brave sketchers Saturday morning at UW Arboretum. A chilling experience. This is why you will see only indoor meetups for the future months until summer makes a 2019 appearance.

Kellen gets inspired

I had forgotten that the Visitor Center opens at 12:30 on the weekends so inside was not an option. Undaunted we forged ahead. Of course Gretchen saw no problem with the weather and heading off to a pine grove to sketch. Louisa was looking for turkeys and our remaining 3 (Toni, Kellen and myself) stayed close to the area that surrounds the Visitor Center.

Toni tries to draw a straight line with a frozen hand

We all enjoyed our sketching, such interesting colors in autumn this time of the year. An hour and a half into it we suddenly realized - We're Coooold!!! Pictures were taken haphazardly and I apologize especially to Gretchen...she was coming from her sketching area as the rain drops were falling harder and Kellen and I needed to head off to our respective homes to warm our toes.

Louisa and Toni try to hold their cold hands steady for the camera

Kellen is proud she has used her new colored pens

Next time? A cafe, I promise.

And that's me, heading home for tea...

I practice a bike, Kellen draws....and there is a cool hydrangia bush

Join us on the east side at Manna Cafe & Bakery on November 10. This will be a Saturday morning 10-12 meetup, Manna is not open Sunday pm.

And in the meantime of course,
Stay Creative

Ruth

Upcoming Sketching Events

The next few dates for urban sketching can be found on the Events page here and on Facebook.  I am also going to do at least a monthly blog post so anyone who follows USK Madison on email will get an email with the post.  (If you want to do that just submit your email over in the right hand column where it says Follow by Email)

October 27th  @ UW Arboretum  10am to noon

October 29th  @ The Old Fashioned, Madison  7pm  to 9pm

November 10th @ Manna Cafe & Bakery, Madison, 10am to noon

Anyone 18 or older with an interest in sketching is welcome to join us.  For more information click on any of the headings in the right hand column.

Drink & Draw Monday October 29th 7-9pm @ The Old Fashioned

  

We will have our first Drink & Draw of the year Oct. 29th at the Old Fashioned located on Capitol Square.  It is a popular place but there is no baseball that night and neither the Packers or Badgers are playing so I was hoping it would not be too crowded.  Good food and over 50 beers on tap.  If you are coming it would be good if you could get there by 7pm so we know how big a table we need.  I plan to get there by 6:45pm.  

If anyone has ideas for locations for more Drink & Draw sketch dates please let me or Ruth know.  When the weather gets worse it would be good to have a place that has its own parking lot but hopefully it will not be snowing on the 29th! 

Fall Sketching

Greetings Fellow Sketchers!

It's been quite the weather in Madison for the past few months and I applaud any of you that made our sketch dates and kept up with your practice.

I've just returned from my own drawing expedition back east and had a great time sketching new places.

Just posted a couple meet-ups on our events calendar as we move to the cold weather coffee shop model. Our next meetup is at the Arboretum and I'm hoping to see you there.

Please remember to check times and days for sketch meetups as we go forward. I have decided to schedule only one per month and it could be Saturday or Sunday. Remember that you can come up with your own ideas and post them, especially easy on Facebook, we'd love to have your ideas.

In the meantime, stay creative

Ruth

Just a reminder that it is Inktober month again and here are this year's promts from the Inktober site.  An extra challenge could be how to do an urban sketch featuring the day's prompt.   Read all about it at:     https://inktober.com/

Tuvalu Cafe in Verona

That was a splendid day for sketchers.

After that long period of rain that seemed endless over the past week or two, 12 USK sketchers came for a wonderful afternoon of food, friendship and art making.

Tuvalu is a great location, lots of interesting spots inside the cafe and it was nice enough to head outside if you chose. I think we'll head back there again sometime.

Next couple meetups are on the Events Calendar. The end of September is the Discovery Building downtown on Saturday morning and the October meetup on Sunday afternoon 10/7 will be at Forest Lawn Cemetery.

I'll be on my own Sketching Expedition for 2 weeks during that time, heading east, so I'll send out my usual plea for others to please post your work.

I'll see you all the end of October, in the meantime, keep sketching!
Ruth

Sketching Location Change for September

Greetings Sketchers!

Due to our endless rain in the Madison area this summer I've decided to put off the trip to the dog park  in Verona and move to Tuvalu Coffee Shop, located on Main Street in Verona.

Thanks to our member Edna, I also found out lots of Triatholon traffic will be coming through Verona on our previously scheduled Sunday date, SO

New Date, New Location

I'll see you on
Saturday, September 8, 1-3pm (note - NOT our usual 10-12 Saturday format)
Tuvalu Coffee Shop, 300 S. Main Street, Verona

Happy Sketching!

Ruth

Field Trip to Cross Plains, odds and ends

We've had some intense sunny days this summer sketchers. Our Sunday sketch meet up in Cross Plains was no different. A small but mighty group came and found the best shade in the area, under an umbrella in front of the coffee shop.

As usual a good time was had by all.

As the day progressed there was some interesting traffic developments on that main road toward Madison. We increased our volume as the motorcycles, tractor trailers and other oddball modes of transportation came roaring by.

Undaunted and happy we sketched and talked and shared.

That's really what it's all about.


And an update along that line dear blog followers:

Next up is a Saturday date at the WI Medical Society along the lake in Olin Park this weekend August 25, 10-12. I will be out of town hopefully sketching in the Twin Cities. Anyone who attends, take pictures, post.

September tries two suggested locations, a Verona dog park and The Discovery Building in downtown Madison. October has Forest Lawn Cemetery and UW Arboretum featured and that takes us back to coffee shop time in WI as the temps fall.

Do you have a suggestion? Let me know! I plan to schedule only one Sketch date in November, December and January. We can always have more if you suggest it.

Happy Sketching
Ruth

Drawing Attention 2018 is published

And it's a great issue, news of Porto and other nifty stuff

Here's the link I got, but just go to the urban sketcher website and you'll find it....

http://www.urbansketchers.org/2018/08/drawing-attention-august-2018.html



Enjoy!

Ruth

Olbrich Park

What an incredible Wisconsin summer day this was. I'm really pleased with our location this time because it really offered a lot of variety; people, boats, landscape, buildings. Something to please everyone.

But really, a mosquito free experience and sketching with others, What could be better?

Thirteen sketchers in all, 6 who were new to our group! Hello to Vyann and Barry (who came from Iowa) , Laura, Karen, my daughter Emily and Luis (who both came from Spain). Thanks Luis for taking the group photo!

Next up is the field trip to Cross Plains on Sunday afternoon August 12. Lots of variety there, we'll gather somewhere near the coffee shop.

Stay creative, keep sketching...
Ruth

Union Terrace

Wow, you can see I'm in summer mode, I saw these pics on my phone and remembered I wanted to share them with you!

July 8, on a warm Sunday, I biked down to Union Terrace on the lake. A gorgeous day with lots of people out and about.

Ran into fellow sketchers Helen (first timer) and Genie while I was starting my first sketch. Genie and I met up on the overlook.

On my way back to my bike I finally saw why I hadn't run into anyone else; they had smartly grabbed tables around the corner in the shade, so altogether, 11 productive sketchers took advantage of a beautiful summer day in Madison.

Next meetup is Olbrich Park along the lake. Meet by the beach near the pavilion. I'll be out of town, so if you go, please post.

Stay creative...
Ruth

West Washington Train Station

My fingers were crossed and mother nature did come through, sparing us from the daily showers we've been receiving for the past few weeks. Ten sketchers gathered at the old train station to share sketches and draw together. Given the chilly temps, a few spent their time in Porter's Coffee Shop, not a bad idea.

work by The Gang

my own, without too much further work at home this time...

And a welcome to new sketcher Stephanie, on the left next to Gretchen...Lora had to leave early

Thanks all for sharing and drawing together.....and remember to stay creative.

Ruth

Sketching on a Warm Memorial Day Weekend

Looks as though we had a good crowd at Vilas Zoo this past Saturday.

Big thank you to Cindy and Tsela for posting on Facebook, they reported a few new faces which is always nice to hear. Saturday morning meetups are often hard for me to get to, so it's nice to find others taking and sharing some pictures.

We love to see what you do!

I walked over to Sequoya Commons that afternoon to sketch those coming for ice cream. There was a beautiful light breeze, it was fun to watch all different types of people arrive for what I'm pretending was their first taste of summer.

Stillman & Birns Zeta Sketchbook, watercolor first, pentel ink pen on top

Who knows? The Ice Cream Shoppe is open year round....

Next meetup is the Sunday afternoon one at the Washington Train Station downtown.

Take care and keep sketching
Ruth

Afternoon at Agora

It was a quiet Mother's Day at Agora in Fitchburg. Three of us gathered together and by some miracle dodged the rain for the afternoon. I was familiar with the front of Agora having driven past it several times, but discovered the peace and quiet behind the buildings where we gathered to sketch.

Rebecca, Colette and I all decided to sit in an open area that gave great views of the building and the grassy area. This place offered a lot of variety, areas to spread out your painting materials, places to duck under if it rained, parking and the cafe was open.

I say we should visit once again.

Rebecca had a great Mother's Day pondering the landscape and working in colored pencil

My friend Colette from the Madison Art Guild, joined us and spent her time working on perspective of the buildings

and I just enjoyed working with other sketchers, sharing ideas, being together

Join us for our Saturday meet up at Vilas Zoo at the end of the month and please bring good weather with you!

Stay Creative,
Ruth

Always Something to Sketch

It was so wonderfully beautiful this weekend. I reserved my Sunday afternoon to head off on my bike with my sketching gear, this time turning away from center city on the bike path toward Verona.

bike bridge over the beltline near Home Depot

I headed over the bridge on top of the 12/18 beltline and found some shade close to the overpass. I provided a lot of amusement to other bikers as I laid out my various tools, watercolor, etc. I enjoy a little spectacle.

Stillman & Birns Zeta sketchbook, watercolor and Faber Castell ink pens

I think I'll put a bit of shadow under the bridge in the background, but other than that I was pleased. I painted first, then redrew with ink pens. I like disagreeing lines.

There's always something to draw!

I'll be in Fitchburg next Sunday afternoon for our meet-up near Promega at Agora, come join me and...
Stay creative
Ruth