Monday, January 30, 2012

Elms Hotel Sketchcrawl


The Elms Hotel's had a lot of of owners over the years, even in my memory--I've lived nearby since the late 60s.  The latest is doing MAJOR renovation, and we got to go tour the demolition phase for our sketchcrawl.  It was amazing, and the plan is to be open again for business in April!  It's pretty much down to bare stone and brick walls in a lot of areas, so I hope to have another tour when it's a little farther along.  They're expecting a LOT of construction crews on hand starting this week.

This is the once-and-future spa area...

the hallway ramp that led to the spa...

This area's more or less unchanged at this point...Joseph and our tour guide got ahead of me...

Vicky and Joseph and I got a bit of sun in the semi-circular library, upstairs...
This was the view I chose, though I wish we'd had more time in the catacombs!


The broad window ledges made a handy sketching table.
We were SO fetching in our hard hats...but rules is rules...and OSHA Rules!
One of Vicky's wonderful palette sketches...

After, Vicky, Kelly, and Joseph and I met at Ventana Gourmet Grill for hot tea and an early dinner, and to share our sketchbooks.  (The Mediterranean Chicken was to DIE for...)

So was the chai tea...

All in all it was a terrific sketchcrawl, even if there WERE only four of us this time.  Thank you, Keith Winge and Bari Allen for letting us explore, and for the folks at Ventana for taking such good care of us!






You can find a few more photos on our parent blog, Urban Sketchers, HERE.

Ink and watercolor on tan paper, with just a bit of white Prismacolor pencil.

4 comments:

  1. Great place for a sketch crawl! I love seeing that deckled edge on the tan paper. Looks like a hand bound book. Nice. Cahty, what is the white you use in these?

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  2. It is, Marcia! We've had several there over the years...Vicky and I met last summer when they were having a dog retreat, and got to sketch all kinds of animals, that was fun too. They've had jazz concerts, Dickens/Christmas Carol events, and more...and yes, I bind my own journals, usually. The white is a Prismacolor colored pencil, it's nice and soft but doesn't smear.

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  3. Kate, It was really cool to see your work in The Art of Urban Sketching. I received my copy last week. Congratulations!

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  4. Thanks, Mike, isn't that a wonderful book? I've been drooling over it for days...

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