Sketching Again

After a hiatus of nearly six months the Austin Urban Sketchers finally regrouped.  We are a Meet-Up group that tries to get together every month and sketch whatever urban area where we are meeting.  That’s been the problem; it seems we were never able to decide where to go or what time to meet up.  One of the members suggested we meet the second Saturday of the month – period – and one month we meet in north Austin and one month we meet south.  Problem solved!

Austin Urban Sketchers

This meet-up was at the Domain; an upscale north Austin shopping complex that reminds me more of California, than Texas.  There were about a dozen of us who showed up.  After reintroducing ourselves and welcoming new members, we spread out to find our own space to spend the next couple hours sketching.  I found an empty bench with a nice view of some of the shops and broke out my gear.

My Subject

Since my watercolor technique could use some practice, I decided to do a watercolor.  I have always thought that if I’m not good at something, avoiding it won’t make me any better, so I practice.  With my ruler and 2H graphite pencil in hand, I outlined the buildings, trying to pay attention to the perspective, distance and scale of the buildings.  After laying out the buildings and roughly sketching in the trees with pencil, I turned to a black .05 Prismacolor pen.  I found by first inking in the foreground, I can avoid having something in the background crossing over the front of something it shouldn’t. So using my pencil lines as guides, I methodically worked my pen from front to back.  Once inked, I erased all my pencil lines, making it appear I had used pen alone.

Chatting with another sketcher

I typically carry water-soluble pencils on my outings, but this time I included my portable Winsor-Newton water color kit.  For the hour or so remaining, I mixed and blended and painted.  I tried to pay attention to the areas of shadow.  In the wide walkway the shadows were mottled with the sun shining through the leaves. Behind the curved wall and under the Cru awning, the shadows deepened.  However, the leaves themselves, didn’t turn out quite as I would have liked.  More practice needed.

Sharing our work

After a couple hours, we got back together to share our work with each other.  This is a good time.  Our group is comprised of basic beginners and professional artists, which is reflected in the results of our work.  But no one’s work is ever criticized; the group always provides positive comments and helpful suggestions to each other.

I’m looking forward to next month when we meet at St. Edward’s University, in south Austin, and sketch again.