Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Drawing and Sketching Others’ Work - Connections

Drawing and Sketching Others’ Work - Connections
Correspondent: Beverly Choltco-Devlin

Please forgive the length of the preface of this post regarding the work of several great artists.  A connection to urban sketching and our recent outing to the Tacoma Art Museum follows, I promise.  

One of the most compelling exhibits I have ever experienced was the monumental showing of the works of Domenikos Theotokopoulos, otherwise known as “El Greco ,” in October 2003 at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. This had been the first showing of a number of his his works in the US in over 20 years. I was in awe of the massive and dark nature of the work.   

But those paintings are not what resonated most with me. In one of the galleries that comprised part of the exhibit, I was struck by several amazing sketches by the abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock that had been inspired by El Greco.  

We all know Pollock for his paint-splattered paintings that have been denigrated by many as being “not really art” or accompanied by comments such as “my cat could do that.” With the guidance of my high school art teacher, I never felt these things about Pollock. His work has intrigued me and helped me understand the expressive nature of art. 

What I did not know or learn until this exhibit was how heavily influenced he was by the 16th century artist’s work. Because Pollock was poor, most of his education came from looking at black and white illustrations of El Greco’s work in books. Here is a link to information about that exhibit.  To the right is an image of El Greco's famous work "The Annunciation."




I also learned in my subsequent studies that Pollock was taught in his early years by Thomas Hart Benton whose works are also represented in the Tacoma Art Museum.  The piece to the left, "Still Life, 1952"  is currently on exhibit in the TAM's People's Choice Award gallery and it struck me that in this work Benton is also evoking the vertical sinuous structure so prevalent in El Greco. If you compare the two works, you can see the connections and influence in color, in flow, in key. I am sure the comparison has been noted elsewhere, but, I am excited to say, I made this discovery on my own. 




I don’t have permission to post images of Pollock’s sketches and paintings, but I encourage you to do the following Google Image Search (type everything in all at once):  “Jackson Pollock” “El Greco” “Thomas Hart Benton.”  You will be amazed…and inspired.  

What, you may ask, does this have to do with Urban Sketching and our visit to the Tacoma Art Museum?

I was eager to attend this session, but for an odd reason.  I have always had a sense of discomfort in sketching and drawing other people’s artwork (and even others’ crafts or creative decorative objects representing those in real life). I hadn’t, up until this point, ever thought about why except to think that somehow when I am sketching another’s vision or creative expression, I am once removed from being creative myself. So I set out to discover if I could learn more about my thinking. 


I sat on my stool and began sketching a bronze sculpture by Harry Jackson of Chief Washakie upon his horse.  In the manner of urban sketching, I worked quickly (in pencil as required by the museum) and got the basic outline of the sculpture down along with vague intimations of the 3 canvases hanging on the wall behind it. As often happens when I sketch other people’s work, I tend to create a cartoon-like sketch, somehow, in my head feeling that I am not able to capture the artist’s experience. 


I then turned on my stool and began to sketch the gallery where Georgia O’Keeffe’s painting “Pinions with Cedar” hung flanked three other paintings and in the foreground a magnificent bronze of a bear in a glass case. I had visited this painting by one of my favorite painters several times and O’Keeffe’s work and life has been a huge influence on my own. 

Sitting in awe in a room of work touched by the hands of some of the greatest painters ever to hold a brush or sculpt a form, I, surprisingly, became focused on the bear, and the perspective of the glass case, and the shadows under the frames. While I was sketching I remembered Pollock and El Greco and remembered that Thomas Hart Benton’s work was not far away from me in that gallery. Again, my sketch was little more than a contour.

Suddenly it occurred to me that I wasn’t even trying to learn how to draw or to become a better artist by copying the works in the traditional atelier style, but rather to evoke them in my shorthand way as a method to document the experience and my thoughts on the importance of other’s art in my life and even in theirs. I used the experience to learn something about myself.  

I thought a LOT about art and sketching this past Wednesday.  I thought about Georgia O’Keeffe and Jackson Pollock and Thomas Hart Benton and El Greco. Usually when I embark on an urban sketching outing,  I zone out in a meditative way and don’t think about much of anything except getting the perspective in some semblance of order and articulating the line. But on Wednesday, the connections started percolating in my mind.  El Greco to Benton, to Pollock with a little O'Keeffe thrown in on the side. And then, to be honest, to me.

On this outing, I learned that urban sketching helps us to make connections in our minds and hearts about art; what art means to us and how those who inspire us can change how we experience and create. We can never faithfully recreate another’s vision but we can express our experience in their presence. We can be inspired by them as Jackson Pollock and Thomas Hart Benton were. We can appreciate that we live in the City of Tacoma where we are fortunate to exist in a geographical space where we can spend time in the presence of great art and not have to rely on black and white illustrations in an old book as Pollock did. 

I also reflected that I wish that I had been an urban sketcher back in 2003 at that eye-opening exhibit to document the impact it had on my life. I know now that doing so would have enriched that experience even more than it did.  But we move forward and grow. I know our outing this past Wednesday will be remembered as one of those points of awe and discovery in my life. While my sketches are simple, I am oddly happy with them in their incomplete state. My discomfort has fallen away. THIS is what urban sketching can help us do. 


Monday, February 22, 2016

March 10th Sketch Outing

Everyone's heard of celebrating "Christmas in July!"


On Thursday, March 10th, at Urban Sketchers-Tacoma's regular Second Thursday sketch outing,  we're leaping into the season even earlier by sketching at:

 "The Christmas Shop" and its attached sister shop "Beach Basket Gifts"

We'll meet on the porch  at 10 am for announcements.  There is ample on-street and off-street parking in sight of the store.






 Watch for the Red building located at 4102 Harbor Drive NW, Gig Harbor, WA 98332






From Hwy 16, take either Pioneer Way or Soundview Drive toward downtown Gig Harbor.
Turn left on Harborview Drive at the bottom of the hill.


The Christmas Shop and Beach Basket Gifts will be on your left, after you pass Stinson Ave.
It is directly across the street from the Harbor History Museum.


At our 12:30 Sketchbook Sharing and Group Photo time, we'll decide on our lunch location:
There's both a Thai Restaurant and a Gourmet Burger Restaurant right next door.
Come for a coffee, a snack, or a full lunch: fellowship is why we gather after the sketch-out!


Mary McInnes   (posted by Kate Buike

Friday, February 19, 2016

Ad Hoc Outing in Gig Harbor-Thursday, February 25th






3006 Judson St #110…… From Hwy 16, take either Pioneer Way or Soundview Drive to downtown; Judson St. crosses both of those streets.

 All who would enjoy sketching with us are welcome to join us. There is no membership fee to participate in Urban Sketcher outings. Just bring the sketching supplies you would enjoy using.


Meet host, Charli Meacham, outside the front doors of 7 Seas at 10 AM


858-449-7851 charlimeacham@gmail.com
 
PLEASE be aware of not being in the way of customers after the shop opens.
 

"

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Sketching TAM

We met at the Tacoma Art Museum (TAM) yesterday (Wednesday).  I think everyone gained admission to the museum to see the exhibits since some of the group who are members shared their passes.  However, nearly everyone sketched outside or in the lobby area.  It was sunny, moderately warm morning so outside sketching was possible.

It seemed half the group sketched Leroy, the museum mascot.  He moves around the museum but today he was well positioned in the lobby.
Kris sketches Leroy from above
Darsie (front) and Eric (back) sketching Leroy.
Feather sketching Leroy
I've always wanted to sketch this sculpture outside the main entrance.  This seemed a good chance to do so.  It is called Blanket Stories.  The dome of Union Station (now the Court House) is in the background.



Blanket Stories: Transportation Object, Generous Ones, Trek, 2014 by Marie Watt.  "Marie Watt transforms the blankets and stories shared by community members to create her sculptures.  Her title references the traditional name of the Puyallup Tribe, S'Puyalupubsh, and the importance of blankets in the American West."   More info:   "This sculpture reflects on the humble yet significant role blankets play in our lives, in Native American communities, and in the settling of the West."

As seems always to be the case for me, I had about 45 minutes remaining.  I went to the 2nd floor classroom area and sketched this view sitting at a table, looking out a window to the west.  There is the conical hotshop in the Museum of Glass, the bridge and the Olympic Mountains peaking out from under clouds.




Since so many people sketched Leroy, I figured he should also be in our group photo.





More photos

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Meeker Mansion Maid's Room

This sketch was done at the Meeker Mansion outing some time ago. I kind of surveyed the rooms and found this great sewing machine in the window of the maid's room. I started with a light graphite sketch to get the right proportions and then finished with brush pen and watercolor.

Saturday, March 5th sketch outing

March 5th - First Saturday Sketch Outing....


The Swiss Restaurant & Pub
1904 Jefferson Ave, Tacoma, WA 98402

http://www.theswisspub.com/


They will open their doors to us at 10 am with coffee and tea available until they officially open at 11 am. For best sketching and lighting they will have tables in the front of the pub set up for us.   Once they open for food service, let’s support this sketcher-friendly venue by partaking of their good food while we sketch their unusual and unique interior.
 

The Swiss Restaurant & Pub is housed in an historical 1913 building in the midst of downtown museums, retail shops and the University of Washington, Tacoma Branch.

Come and see Dale Chihuly’s collection of Venetian glass that sits atop our bar while enjoying lunch and dinner every day. We have something for everyone: kids menus, pool tables, games, live music, dancing and artwork from local artists.

A very cool 360 view from Google:  See Inside


Parking:

There is some street parking.

There is a UW pay parking lot just down the street on Jefferson.

Also, pay-to-park lots across Pacific Avenue at the Washington State History Museum and Tacoma Art Museum and also north of 17th Street at the Tacoma Convention Center.  The walk will be up a steep hill. 

Free parking can be had at Freighthouse Square.  Then take the free Link Lightrail to the Union Station stop.  Walk up the steep steps to The Swiss at the top of the hill.  


Posted by Kate Buike ( most info from Darsie Beck)

Saturday, February 13, 2016

March 16 outing to Old Post Office

The 3rd Wednesday Sketch Outing is March 16  at Court House Square (Old Post Office Building)

1102 A Street, Tacoma

We'll meet staff member Madeline Murquhart in the area right across from the Post Office front desk at 10 am. We'll have a tour of all the sketching locations in the building.

There is an entrance at the red circle in the middle of the building, right next to where we'll meet Madeline (inside). There is also an entrance on the end of the bldg., which is a closer way in, if you stopped at Starbucks on the way to the sketch-out
.


This map shows the locations of the Old Post Office, a parking alternative and our lunch spot:




 
Parking choices:

There is free parking at the Freight House Square parking garages (although they fill early on a weekday) If you find parking there, take the Link Light rail to the Commerce Street Station (see detail map second under)

There is another free parking area shown on the map below. There is probably not a time limit there....if there is, it is several hours long. There are usually spaces available...with about 20-25 spaces in the lot.

The free parking lot is right under the 509 bridge.  It is the lot for the 21st Street Park: 2101 Dock St, Tacoma, WA 9842      You can walk along the water  (via the
Foss Waterway Public Esplanade) to the Museum of Glass (or walk along Dock Street if you like)  and, when you get there,  use the Museum of Glass elevator up to the  Bridge of Glass. Cross the bridge and it's only a few more blocks north on either Pacific or A Street. You can take the free Link train if you don't want to walk.  Get off at the Commerce Street Station and then walk west 2 blocks.  




Link to Google map of the route.         It is not quite half a mile.  

Commerce Street station to Old Post Office:


 After our group photo, come hang out with your sketcher-friends at the Fish Peddler Restaurant. Have a beverage, or a snack, or even order a lunch if you wish: fellowship is the main goal.

1199 Dock St, Tacoma, WA 98402

This can be a lunch time adventure that includes some 'getting to know more about Tacoma' fun: Take the elevator on the 11th street bridge down to the Dock Street level. You'll be almost in the parking lot of this restaurant, and half way back to your car if you parked under the 509 bridge---to get to that lot, you'd just walk back past the Glass Museum to the parking lot.


Friday, February 12, 2016

Making History in Gig Harbor

2nd Thursday Urban Sketchers Tacoma group at Harbor General Store in Gig Harbor.
A few diligent artists hard at work
Today Urban Sketchers Tacoma had a phenomenal turn out for thier 1st sketch  outing dedicated to 2nd Thursdays. This brand new event,  scheduled predominately for the area west of the Tacoma Narrows bridge brought together more than a dozen happy sketchers to Gig Harbor to document life at the Harbor General Store.
                             
Taking on the pineapple
balloon. 


There was plenty of room for folks to work solo or group together for a chat while sketching.
Multi tasking
Oohs and auhs of drawing delights.
 
A counter full of sketchbooks.
Then we all came together to cover the counter with our efforts and share sketches before the group photo... and a good time was had by all!




Sunday, February 7, 2016

Learning During Sketch-outs and from Blogs and Sites for Urban Sketchers




KNOWLEDGE GAINED FROM HAVING A GOAL  'IN THE FIELD'

Below are my sketches done in Tacoma from the day before our First Saturday Sketch-out 2/6/16, and during the actual sketch-out. The first sketch is from Tully's Coffee Shop at Broadway and 9th, the others from inside of Sanford and Sons, both in downtown Tacoma.(The sketch of the autos was from looking out the window towards Commerce St.)  I did the first two the day before our group sketch-out...and the lower two during our sketch-out.

The car on the left drove away when all I had was pencil lines, so there is a lot of guessing going on here!
The first three sketches took at least a couple of hours...and the one below was less than 20 minutes.
 I did a fast (and not too accurate) light pencil drawing for each of these sketches (contour drawing or just plain fast scribbles to work out the shapes and composition) , then I corrected each of the sketches or fully drew the form using a Micron .005 ink pen. The pencil lines are a nice, comforting security blanket for when I begin using non-erasable ink.

In the past I almost always did linear shading for forms, which took forever (!!): hatching, cross hatching, dots...whatever a rigid ink point could offer me. I'll continue using that technique when I feel like it or have time. However, in these sketches my goal was to learn how to do my values much, much faster using Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens. I've used a couple of values for each sketch and saved the whites of the paper for the lightest value.

I discovered if I put down the lightest value everywhere except where I want to leave white, I have a bounded area or matrix upon which I can add subsequent darker values either by adding more layers of  one pen...or using a next-darker value pen. I think this is similar to how one builds up a watercolor.

KNOWLEDGE LEARNED FROM FELLOW SKETCHERS
Below are some blogs I presently receive in my email inbox, because I subscribe to them. My list of favorite blogs evolves from time to time, depending upon what I am interested in learning. I highly recommend every single one of these if you want to improve as an artist/sketcher!

The Craftsy blog is a bit different from the others: I sign up for online classes on this site when they are on sale...even if I don't currently have time to give them attention. Once I have paid for a class, I can take it whenever the time is right for me. It remains online, ready for my attention, indefinitely.
 

Brenda Swenson....(watercolor demos)....http://brendaswenson.blogspot.com/

Gurney Journey....(James Gurney)....http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/

Roz Wound Up....(Roz Stendahl)....http://rozwoundup.typepad.com/

The Sketchbook....(Shari Blaukopf)....http://shariblaukopf.com/

Love to Draw....(Paula Ensign)....http://love-to-draw.com/

Craftsy....(Inexpensive online classes taught by sketchers)....http://craftsy.com/

Citizen Sketcher....(Marc Taro Holmes)....http://citizensketcher.com/

Urban Sketchers Chicago...(blog)....http:urbansketchers-chicago.blogspot.com/


I love when people tell me about educational blogs for Urban Sketchers which I haven't yet discovered.(Hint!) Perhaps our other USk-Tacoma Blog Correspondents will offer their current favorites too.

Best Regards,

Frances Buckmaster 



Saturday, February 6, 2016

Sanford & Son

We met for our 1st Saturday outing at an antique shop, Sanford and Son.  It was 3 floors packed with things to sketch and I was a bit on overload.  I walked all three floors and finally picked this old, curving staircase to a library balcony.



As is typical, I had about 30 minutes left.  I wandered a bit more and found this odd painted mannequin in the Vintage Record shop. 



 We gathered in the large, open bottom floor to share sketches and have our group photo. 



More photos here.

Friday, February 5, 2016

Sketching in Stealth Mode

7x11- watercolor & micron
@ top pots on Alki Beach Seattle
   Needing an outting (and some warmth) I visited Top Pot & Doughnuts for a sketch. Unknowing it was Elvis Presley's birthday, TP was celebrating with "the King" doughnut which I missed trying. I found that the place was rather crowded so I took up the space at the end of a table. There sat a patron, innocently enjoying his breakfast while he texted frantically, completely oblivious to the fact that I wasn't drinking coffee but rather watching him for well over an hour just sketching away... or was he? Perhaps I had on my cloaking device to shimmer into the background of other customers just trying to kill time?  He sure made a good model and by the time I left with my drawing, the sun had come out. -Feather

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

SKETCHING GEAR AND MOODS


Galway Urban Sketcher, Blogger and Teacher Roisin Cure suggests in the Rules of the Road for travel journal sketching, the number one rule is, never leave home without your gear.

I know this rule is true for me and no doubt for you too, because without our sketch gear no matter where we go the best we can do as we travel along is look at the scenery as it goes by. With our sketch gear in hand, we can go from looking to seeing, to making record of the thing that excites our sketch neurons.

With our sketch gear at our side, the opportunity to turn the ordinary into the extraordinary is eminently possible.

There is always something to sketch, even if it isn't necessarily something one would go out of their way to sketch. I have a habit, regardless of where I am and especially in waiting situations to look for something interesting about what I'm seeing to sketch. Sketching slows me down, reduces and usually eliminates any anxiety about waiting I might otherwise have. As a daily ferry boat commuter I learned years ago just how valuable sketching was to my overall well being.

It's one thing to be waiting and looking for something interesting to sketch and another to see something you absolutely must sketch. I can tell by looking through my sketch books the difference between the things I saw that stopped me in my tracks, things I just had to make record of and the things I struggled to find that something that made it worth sketching.

Growing up and living on an island accessible only by ferry has provided me with a limitless opportunity, a deep appreciation and desire to sketch things maritime. Regardless of how many times, how many years I've spent going back and forth on the ferries, the magic of the experience never seems to leave me. The moods of the maritime environment keep me ever vigilant and ready with sketch gear in hand to try and capture the essence of what I see.

Monday, February 1, 2016

Wednesday, Feb. 17 sketch outing

Wednesday, Feb. 17 sketch outing 

 Our next Third Wednesday sketch outing will be  Feb. 17 at the Tacoma Art Museum
 1701 Pacific Ave, Tacoma, WA 98402

 
Unless you want to do so, you don't have to pay to go through the Museum.  There is plenty to sketch within the lobby area without actually paying admission.   Meet at 10 am near the admissions desk.

Parking info is here   


There is free parking at Freighthouse Square garage but on a weekday it might not be available.  If you get a spot, take the lightrail... it stops within walking distance of Tacoma Art Museum at Union Station.

For those who wish to venture further afoot there is the Union Station Court House - also free. It has a beautiful Victorian dome inside.



And as many of us know TAM is a great place to lunch after.

Additional information:  Museum Guidelines

http://www.tacomaartmuseum.org/visit/plan-visit/museum-guidelines/

    Carry bags by your side, rather than over your shoulder or on your back. Bags may inadvertently bump into the artwork. Please leave backpacks and large bags in your vehicle or use a locker in the coatroom.
   
    Pens are not permitted in the galleries. Pencils are available upon request for note-taking and sketching.

Non-flash photography is permitted in the museum unless otherwise noted.  The use of “selfie sticks” or any other form of photography attachment (including tripods) is prohibited.