
Cuenca is an old city perched between two deep river gorges. Fantastic landscape and architecture and a sketchers heaven if it wasent for the torrid temperatures!
ABOUT
Urban Sketchers is a network of artists around the world who draw the cities where they live and travel to. We have this blog, which is by invitation, and a Flickr group where anyone can share their location drawings. USk was started by Seattle journalist and illustrator Gabriel Campanario.
Our Manifesto
1. We draw on location, indoors or out, capturing what we see from direct observation.
2. Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live and where we travel.
3. Our drawings are a record of time and place.
4. We are truthful to the scenes we witness.
5. We use any kind of media and cherish our individual styles.
6. We support each other and draw together.
7. We share our drawings online.
8. We show the world, one drawing at a time.
More about USk
If you want to start your own USk blog and connect all urban sketchers in your city, here's how to go about it:
1. Get a group of a minimum of 3 sketchers together interested in launching an USk blog for your city. 2. Send your names and e-mail addresses to urbansketchers at gmail dot com with a brief paragraph stating your interest in launching the blog and how you plan to keep it fresh and engage your community. You will be the blog's administrator and will be expected to run it following the rules of the group. A blog that becomes a showcase of drawings made from photos or doodles will obviously not fly. 3. We'll create the blog and give you full access to it. You'll be able to invite people to participate, personalize it with your own flag, add links and more. So, what are you waiting for? Get your fellow citizens out to sketch!
To become a member of the Urban Sketchers network email us a link to your urban sketches (blog tag or flickr set) and we'll add you to the list. Note: That will not make your drawings show on the blog but we'll keep a close eye on your work as we look for new correspondents. We also feature work by USk members on the blog on a regular basis. Send an email with your name, city and URL to urbansketchers at gmail dot com to join.
Keep up with fellow
|
|
| Subscribe to Urban Sketchers |
| Email: |
| Visit this group |

Finally did some on-site sketching. I was in Buena Vista, CO for the long weekend, and made the time to do some en plein auto drawings of the town. I drew from the car for two reasons: when the wind wasn't blowing gale-force, it was too hot. Plus, I was working on-the-run.













In Coney Island, Nathans hosts a 10 minute hot dog eating contest and this year Joey Chestnut won by eating 68 wieners. The Orlando take on this contest is a bit different in that the contestants have 10 hours in which to eat the hot dogs. When I arrived at Dandelion Communitea Cafe, Brian Feldman had eaten only 3 hot dogs and he only took a few bites from another politely using a knife and fork. If anyone asked who was winning, they would respond with, "How do you define a winner?" They were not competing it seems based on simple numbers but it was a more refined competition based on savoring the moment. Caroline Johnson, who is from Spain, was reading excerpts from a novel while Brian and Zac Alfson slowly tasted their vegan hot dogs. Caroline was also a contestant since she had a small mountain of uneaten hot dogs in front of her, but she never tried a hot dog while I was sketching. Eight hours into the competition, the contestants had honestly lost count of the number of hot dogs eaten. The hot dogs were wrapped in a pita like bun called a Snuggles which are made locally in Orlando by Toufayan Bakeries.
The very popular view if the Milennium Bridge in London is from the platform at the southern as you turn to go down to walk down the Tate Modern.A fairly quick and loose pencil sketch of the Weiler building.
I liked the aspect of this sketch - sitting in a doorway looking uphill towards the street above.
I can imagine the offices in this old building don't turn over too often, those big generous arched windows look out over the inner harbour with all of it's maritime and aviation activity and life.
I don't mind the distortions and inaccuracies in this sketch as it's compensated by a sketchy immediacy I think.
The preservation architect who restored this building and several others in the immediate neighbourhood happened to walk by and took an interest in the sketch. We had a nice chat. He mentioned that his first thought was "oh my, another street person sitting in a doorway" - he seemed thrilled to see a sketch of a building he obviously has a strong connection to.

