Weekly Theme: Food Glorious Food

Tomatoes sketch by Mel Barranco

ART and FOOD are creative channels that nourish our health and well being. We love both, so why not combine them? This week's theme was suggested by Susan Chavez after viewing the colorful salads that Sophie Cheung makes with vegetables from her garden. For this week's theme we will be sketching and painting the various foods that we buy, prepare and eat. Let's look for some foods with eye-catching, appetizing colors, and draw from life to make interesting images of preparing, cooking and presenting food in creative ways. Play and have fun. Give your foods some personality or experiment with different forms of food. Remember foods make great models - they stay still when they pose for you.


Need some ideas for inspiration? Here are a few suggestions:

 Colorful Foods, Seasonal Fruits

Pear sketch by Joan Tavolott

Onions sketch by Margaret Casagrandes

Cherries sketch by Shawne Cooper

Eye-Catching Arrangements with Fresh Garden Vegetables  

 

Vegetables from Sophie Cheung's Garden

Interesting or Unusual Produce at the Local Farmer's Market

Vegetable sketches by Sophie Cheung

A Beautiful Salad

Colorful Fruit Salad prepared by Sophie Cheung

An Artistic Table Setting

Lemons sketch by Lynne Friedman

Apples sketch by Elaine Marks

         

Well, you get the idea. Remember to post your work on https://www.facebook.com/groups/nycurbansketchers/ 

and add the hashtag #nycurbansketchers.
If your sketch is not done from real life, please add NUS (not an urban sketch) to your post.

SATURDAY - Collaboration Creation

This weeks virtual sketch event - designed and hosted by Danna Feintuch

For this week’s event, on Saturday June 27, 2020 we will be working together in groups of 5 in our Breakout rooms on Zoom to create one collective piece. You will be given a photo before the event and each person will be assigned a section of the photo to draw from or in.

MORNING SESSION:
Brownstones
The photo will be of 5 buildings in a row. It’s attached in this email. You will draw only one of the buildings. (Example: building #3)  You will decide these assignments upon entering your Breakout room. See the example drawings also attached. *** Please keep your heights restricted to around 8” to make it a lot easier for your Tech Leaders to combine them all.

Lunch break / editing time for our Tech Leaders

AFTERNOON SESSION:
Garden Bed
The assignment is to create a garden together. Attached is a photo of an empty garden bed and you will create your own plant that will take up a section in it. Remember to draw it from a slight above angle. See the attached example.

INSTRUCTIONS:

    At the end of each session you will email a photo or scan of your drawing to your Tech Leader and they will edit all 4 images together to create your group’s collaboration creation! They will then upload it to the NYC Urban Sketchers Facebook page and tag you as one of the artists.

In the case that your room does not have a Tech Leader, please email all your drawings to one member in your Breakout Room who will then forward them all in one email to Danna at aswingkido@aol.com


Please note:
    This event is organized by how many people we have. Once you RSVP, your name will be randomly put in a group with 4 others. They are counting on your attendance to complete the piece. Please RSVP responsibly.


REGISTRATION:
Closes at noon on Friday
Click here to regisgter
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/saturday-collaboration-creation-tickets-111030069928

SATURDAY: Sketch Vegas

Las Vegas also known as Sin City, and the Gambling Capital of the World, is an absolutely unique place.  It is among the most visited places on earth, and has an architectural style all it’s own.  It is an American creation and the architecture is one of the truly American styles. 

The Las Vegas style has been imitated but the original resides here in the US.  It’s not a place that instantly comes to mind when you consider sketching the urban environment, but, why not?  Last week we loved the wonderful architecture of Providence, RI, but the styles were, for the most part, an imitation of European design.  Not Las Vegas.  Love it or not - it’s us, and there’s a lot we can express with our drawings.

Feel free to use any source you like.  The morning will focus on the outside - the buildings themselves and the afternoon will focus on interiors.  Although we’re working from photographs  you should challenge yourself to do more that just be a copiest.  Add your creativity, change things, create pictures that are uniquely your own.

The event starts on Saturday June 20th  at 10 AM EDT promptly.  The afternoon session begins at 1 PM.  You are invited to enjoy both.  Registration ends at noon on Friday.

To register - click here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/saturday-sketch-vegas-tickets-110047509062

Weekly Theme: Using Alternative Drawing Tools

A few weeks ago our weekly theme was using alternative substrates.  Anything would do from shopping bags to cardboard boxes, from different papers to old journals. This week's theme will take the use of alternative materials one more step by using different mark making tools.

KK Ch'ng, one of the USk instructors, has been teaching workshops on using twigs and ink as primary drawing materials.  Having attended his workshop and being handed a chiseled twig from his garden as a pen, I realized I was never without a drawing tool.  Just look around on the ground and there would be something that can make a mark on a page.   Then the other day I picked up a piece of burnt wood from our backyard fire pit and was delighted with my newly found supply of charcoal.

KK Ch'ng

This week anything goes: ball point pens (try using 70% alcohol to dissovle and blend the ink), sponges, burnt matches, cotton swabs, gauze pads, plastic wrap, net bags from produce, old toothbrushes, plastic forks. fingers, hair, string, leaves and branches. The list is endless.  Anything that can carry your ink or paint to the substrate is game. And try using something other than paints and inks.   Use anything that will stain your page such as coffee, tea or tomato sauce. (it has been rumored that someone made a copy of the Mona Lisa using peanut butter and jelly!).

Here are some articles that can help fire your imagination:

https://thevisionaryartworkshop.com/pages/art-project-ideas

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_TQttCpZFbdSmE5OHVLd2Zud3M/view

https://www.studentartguide.com/articles/inventive-mixed-media-techniques

SATURDAY: Sketch the “Cottages”

With special thanks to Cecilia Maricel Evasco for suggesting this event - we are off to visit the “cottages” of Newport.

The Gilded Age: The mansions of Newport are where Gilded Age splendor still resides. In classical understatement, the rich referred to these breathtaking mansions as "cottages”.  In the lavish era before income taxes the wealthy tycoons of New York and Philadelphia built summer homes in Newport, in the second half of the nineteenth century.

The Breakers. Marble House. The Elms. Rosecliff. Chateau-sur-Mer.   The names themselves stoke the imagination.  Everything there is fair game for our sketching event, including the “cottages” themselves, the grounds, the gardens and anything that delights you in the interior.

Your starting point can be this wonderful website Cecilia discovered, or you can use any other internet resource.

• Our mornings will concentrate on the exterior
• The afternoon will focus on the interior.

Take a look: https://www.newportmansions.org/expl


The virtual sketch event starts at 10 AM EDT on Saturday, June 13, 2020.

Click here to register:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/saturday-sketch-the-cottages-tickets-109061036496

Registration closes at noon on Friday. You will receive login information for the video call on Friday afternoon.

Weekly Theme: "All Aboard to ALBANY " (Sort of!)

       

Had there not been the Covid-19 pandemic, we would be drawing and painting in the New York State's Capitol this week. We had to defer this special trip to a time that will be healthier and more relaxed. In the meantime, let's virtually explore and draw in the footsteps of Alexander Hamilton and the Roosevelts. Albany offers a treasure cove of art and history. Let it inspire you and wet your appetite for the time when we can return in person. Use Google Maps, Street View, or any other sources to spark your imagination. 

Suggested Drawing Itinerary:        

                                            

1. Empire State Plaza which houses Nelson Rockefeller's permanent modern art collection https://www.albany.org/listing/empire-state-plaza/1057/               

       

 

                                

2. New York State Museum http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/ - This oldest and largest museum in the country is dedicated to exploring human and natural history of the state. Here you will find 911 artifacts and an 1890's carousel.      

                                 

3. Albany Institute of History and Art https://www.albanyinstitute.org/ - This second oldest museum in the country has a wealth of art and historical objects documenting life and culture of New York's Upper Hudson Valley, including a collection of Hudson River paintings.

                                        

4.Schuyler  Mansion Historic Site https://parks.ny.gov/historic-sites/33/details.aspx - The home of Revolutionary War Major General Philip Schuyler (father-in-law to Alexander Hamilton) and his family.

5. New York State Capitol Building  https://www.albany.org/listing/new-york-state-capitol/893/ - A marvel of 19th century architectural grandeur, this extraordinary landmark took 32 years to build. It features three grand staircases, stunning stonework and a Senate Chamber considered one of the most beautiful legislative chambers in the world. 

• A Fascinating Video Tour of the NYS Capitol  https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/video/george-m-borrello/senator-borrellos-virtual-capitol-tour 
• A Behind the Scenes Look Inside the NYS Capitol https://untappedcities.com/2020/06/05/behind-the-scenes-inside-the-new-york-state-capitol-in-albany/

                              

Need further inspiration?  

• The Discover Albany Online Visitor's Guide https://www.albany.org/about/request-visitors-guide/visitors-guide/ provides a wealth of information to inspire your sketches.             

                                   

 

Happy Travels! 

Post your sketches to https://www.facebook.com/groups/nycurbansketchers/

Use the hashtag #nycurbansketchers 

Add NUS (Not an Urban Sketch)

SATURDAY: Stories and Sketches

SATURDAY, June 6, 2020 

starts at 10 AM

Adding words to your drawings and paintings can add an extra dimension to your sketchbooks. It can enhance the mood you've created, give power to an idea, and evoke powerful memories. And you don't need to be a poet to express your unique authentic voice.

Shawne Cooper will be leading this session. On Saturday, she'll show some inspiring images that combine words and pictures. Shawne is an active Urban Sketcher with a professional background as an advertising copywriter. She's a firm believer in the beauty of combining the visual and the verbal—that 1  + 1 can add up to more than 2.

Morning Session:  10 AM to 11:55 AM EDT

Something or someone that you miss.

Afternoon session:  1:00 PM to 2:55 PM EDT

Something good that's come out of these last few months for you.

You're free to interpret the assignment any way you like. Or, you can choose another topic entirely. You can draw inspiration from objects in your home, from the great outdoors, home movies, personal photographs, the internet, or your imagination.

Registration closes on Friday at noon.  You will recieve log-in details on Friday afternoon.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/saturday-stories-and-sketches-tickets-107920348668

Weekly Theme:  

Painting Outside the Box.....or Just Use The Box!

Have you wondered if you could do something better than just throw out all those delivery boxes?  For this week's theme we will not just think outside the box...but use the box to create art. 

Danny Gregory, in his book "Art Before Breakfast" suggests newspapers, old boarding passes, coffee cups, ..... as substrate for art.  Some other ideas include: pizza boxes, old ledger papers, leftover gift wrap, seashells and rocks.  Just about anything that will hold the mark making. 

Use these links for inspiration: 

https://www.doodlersanonymous.com/post/2687/cardboard-art/

https://mymodernmet.com/animal-drawings-mark-powell/

https://hudsonvalleysketches.blogspot.com/2020/02/transform-old-book-into-art-journal.html

http://www.jordanfretzdesign.com/#/illustration/

https://www.boredpanda.com/drawing-with-waste-paper/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

Use your left over boxes, old books and letters, sheet music, ledger books, AND lots of imagination to intertwine you art with the materials at hand. 

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