Yo Yo Ma -Chicago Symphony Orchestra open rehearsal

What a way to beat the cold! Yesterday Bob and I braved the cold and walked over to Symphony Hall to hear Muti conduct a rehearsal of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (they have a great logo BTW). YoYo Ma and Giovanni Sollima were the featured cellists. What a treat!

I scribbled this sketch on the back of my program before I got totally lost in the music. I dropped in the color at home. I'm not sure about the color but nothing could spoil my day!

What Happened to Summer?

I was doing some computer file maintenance and discovered some sketches from a spring vacation to California. What happened to summer? I don't even know what happened to spring! The first sketch looks like fall at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. It was actually done in April but that's how the colors looked to me. The second was done later in the week in San Francisco. Vermeer is one of my all time favorites and I was thrilled to catch this exhibit!

Surfs Up Chicago!

There are beach hazard warnings today in the Windy City. This is a quick 4 inch square sketch I did this morning at Oak St. Beach, just one block off the Mag Mile, the shoppers' paradise. "My Kinda Town Chicago is"!

For the Birds

On Monday I was up at the Peggy Notebaret Nature Museum in Chicago. It was a delightful day. Shade, a cool breeze, geese and a duck for entertainment. The city, despite its many problems, has done a wonderful job reclaiming some of the wetlands and replanting native flora. It's great to see so many of the native animals return too. There were several beautiful birds, whose names I don't know,  around the pond outside the museum. Their camouflage made them difficult to see let alone draw!

What can I say? I'm a sketcher not a photographer!

So Much More Than Fly Over

On a recent road trip to Ohio I was reminded of when I first moved to the midwest over twenty-five years ago. I thought "the sky is so big and the trees are so small!" I still think that and I still think it's beautiful!

The Final Palmer House

This is a quick sketch of Potter Palmer's final resting place.  The Palmer House Hotel in Chicago was originally built as a wedding gift for his wife, Berthe. She's buried here too. I did most of this onsite but had to finish it up at home. It seems the ground crew wasn't informed that our Monday group had received permission to sketch in the cemetery and told us to pack up and leave. I hate when that happens. Being a peaceful group we complied but not before registering our disappointment with the manager. 

All in all, though, it was a delightful time touring the cemetery and getting a little sketching in while enjoying a beautiful day.

Shhh–It's a Secret!

Lincoln Park, Chicago: The Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool is one of Chicago's best kept secrets. It's a beautiful little pond filled with wonderful surprises depending on the season. Monday there were geese and goslings, ducks and ducklings, water lilies and irises, and urban sketchers. We had a great time!

Date Night–Dance to the Music!

There are so many fun night spots and music venues in Chicago. Each neighborhood has its own flavor and favorites. This is a sketch done at one of ours, 12 West. The band was Rhythm City. They play mostly Motown and Soul. Great for dancing, great for listening!

Spring? Maybe!

Our Monday sketch group met in Old Town today. It's was pretty chilly but the sun was glorious! I finally exerted some discipline and made myself sketch something a little different for me - buildings (well, building). The name of this florist is Green and its window expresses my delight that spring is finally getting to Chicago. I'm still loving working in my Stillman & Birn Beta series sketchbook.

Let the Sunshine!

Yesterday our Monday group met at the Lincoln Park Conservatory. We hoped the sun would be shinning and it would be warm enough to sketch outside. If not the spring flower show was going on inside. Some opted to sketch inside but I stayed outside in the glorious sunshine. I probably did more looking up at the sky and smiling than sketching. Today it's back to rain and gray. Ah, but yesterday there was sun!

This is done in a Stillman & Birn Beta series, 5x8 book. I love how the pencil feels on it and how it handles the watercolor!

Food Glorious Food!

For many years I was the art director for Food Product Design and Culinology, two business-to-business magazines that are concerned with bringing good tasting and healthful food to our tables. As a city folk, my husband and I frequent the Green City Market and belong to a CSA.  He shops. I sketch. So… needless to say, I was delighted when one of my sketches from these outings was chosen for farmer ID button for the Good Food Festival in Chicago. Bob and I attended the Festival in March–he shopped, I sketched.

I really enjoyed hearing Chef Rick Bayless talk about his involvement with local farmers to use fresh and local ingredients at his restaurants. We all win in that scenario–the farmer, the restaurant and the consumer!

I'm looking forward to more involvement as Urban Sketcher meets Urban Farmer!

Road Trip!

Last weekend my daughter, two granddaughters and I took a road trip to Ohio for the weekend.  It always amazes me how the landscape on this route is the same but yet is continually changing. Along with the clicks of the tires on the road, it's a very soothing rhythm. 

The four of us went to celebrate at a bridal shower for my niece.  I only did one sketch – too busy gabbing and eating. We had blue skies, gray skies, rain, snow, sun and a great time. 

Good News and…

Chicago, IL: It seems you can't go three blocks in Chicago without seeing a Starbucks but we all have our favorites. Recently "mine" closed. Shock! The good news is it didn't really close. It just moved two blocks north. The better news is they serve wine in the evening!

Eureka!

I really had to hunt to find this to join the scavenger hunt!

This is a sketch of St. Lad's in Chicago. I did it several years ago while waiting in the parking lot. It was a chilly late-fall afternoon.

Tell Me a Story

So many Urban Sketchers capture their cities in the architecture but for me it's the people. There's nothing like people-watching in the city. It gets my creative juices flowing! So many stories, each unique and yet somehow universal.

It was a cold, cold day in Chicago today but the rink at Millennium Park was filled with skaters. There were tourists and locals, novices and pros, kids and the forever youngs and of course the speedsters. HA! When you're trying to sketch them they're all speedsters! Some told their stories in their skating style and some made fashion statements.

I used my Stillman & Birn Beta prefect-bound sketchbook for the first time. Love, love, love the fresh white heavy-weight paper that takes watercolor beautifully and it lays flat when open!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

We went to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey at Navy Pier, Chicago, yesterday. This thumbnail records a Wow moment for me. The color, the light and the shadows looked just like the temperature felt…Brrr.

A Caffeinated Mind

My last post mentioned Mandy Patinkin. His voice is incredible! That got me to thinking about some of  my favorite songs I've heard him sing. That got me to thinking about Coffee in a Cardboard Cup, a song from a musical 70, Girls, 70. That got me to thinking about Starbucks and how much time I spend there catching my breath and sketching while running errands. It's a very different take on coffee in a cardboard cup than the one presented in the song.

That got me to thinking about the song's basic premise and I still think it's a good one.

"The trouble with the world today, it seems to me,
Is coffee in a cardboard cup.
The trouble with the affluent society
Is coffee in a cardboard cup.
No one's ever casual and nonchalant,
No one waits a minute in a restaurant,
No one wants a waitress passing pleasantries
Like "How're you, Miss?"
"How're you, Sir?"
"May I take your order please?"
The trouble with the world today is plain to see,
Is everything is hurry up.
It's rush it through, and don't be slow,
And BLT on rye to go,
With coffee (I think she said)
Coffee (I know she said)
Coffee in a cardboard cup."    70, Girls, 70

Thursday at the Theater with Bob

A long, long, long time ago I saw Sunday in the Park with George in New York, starring Mandy Patinkin and Bernadette Peters. It was fabulous. When we headed out to Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Halloween night to see CST's latest version of the show I must admit I was afraid. I couldn't imagine how it could live up to a show I loved and that had been further polished by fond memories. SURPRISE! Jason Daneley, as George Seurat, and Carmen Cusack, as Dot, did not disappoint - they were fabulous! The show was great. It was a night for treats.

The scribbled sketches were boxed and colored later at home. The CST logo is from the program.

When you're in Chicago be sure to stop at the Art Institute and see George Seurat's masterpiece, A Sunday on La Grande Jotte. It won't disappoint either.

The Hazards and Joys of Urban Sketching

Monday a small group of us went to Navy Pier in Chicago to sketch. It's a great venue with indoor and outdoor sketching opportunities. Since the outdoor sketching season in Chicago is drawing to a close (oh dear, no pun intended) we decided to brave the wind and sketch outside. I found a great place with a table in the sun until…

Before the boat docked my view to the south.

After the boat docked I turned to the west and sketched the landscaping.

Meeting Mr. Wright

These are little sketches done at our recent USk Chicago meet. So much to see and so much to take in, I opted to sketch some of the details on the Chicago Avenue side of his home and studio. The first is one of the sculptures above the walkway to the hidden door. The second is of the tourists and the reliefs that line the walkway.  I walked across the street for a closer view for  third sketch. It's a detail of the reliefs – the repeated stork motif and lastly a rough rendition of the logo.

Now I must go back to Oak Park and actually sketch Wright's glorious buildings! There was so much to take in at once.  In a five block area there are about seven houses designed or remodeled by Wright. What a feast for the eyes and imagination. The overall feeling of his work is monumental but his attention to detail is what really amazed me. It was a quite a day!