date night at Houston's Eisenhower ISD high school

After finishing this fun little e-book, Bill and I had a date night, eating out at Freddy's (they seem to have followed us from Kansas to Texas), then on to our son-in-law's spring band concert. Fabulous music, from jazz to symphony to wind ensemble! But I only got a bit of a jazz band rehearsing before lights went low and it was too dark to sketch.

It's been a music kind of weekend...

Friday Night was Art Crawl...

Our friend Shawna makes instruments out of the oddest things...cigar boxes, sure, but also cookie tins, ammo boxes, and whatever she can find with a hollow body!

Copper Creek Band was playing Friday night, and I sketched quickly with a bent-nib calligraphy pen...love the brushlike marks.

Switched to a Black Cherry Prismacolor pencil on CP watercolor paper for the closeup...

Saturday night we hit the big city to hear our godchild Molly Hammer play at the Broadway Jazz Club...

Back to that fun bent-nib pen!

Added color and a little collage the next day at home...

Love that jazz face on Brian Baggett, the guitarist...

Last sketch of the evening, quick pencil drawings...

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!

Urban Rural of Auburn, KS

Or is that Rural Urban? We had our monthly jam at our regular spot, the Auburn Community Center. Auburn has a population of 1121. Our gathering is a big community event to a town that size. The Community Center qualifies as the center of town, so it's Urban to me.

The building are quite the collection of various periods of architecture. That's how schools expand over the years. When the schools walked away from the building, an individual bought it all and converted it for community use. We are all grateful he did. It houses their Library now, and many groups have activities there. It feels good to be part of a community.

I went early to the jam so I could sketch. After driving around I found a good spot to sit and sketch. A non-profit group comes to set up a meal they sell as a fund raiser. Slowly people come, carrying guitars, fiddles, mandolins, banjos and basses. I finish the top 2/3 of the spread from a picnic table and finish the rest at home. Artist markers, watercolor pencils, waterbrush, Velin Arches text woven.

Molly Hammer Band, 18th & Vine, Jazz, R & B, and FUN...

We went into the City Saturday night to hear godchild Molly Hammer rock Kansas City's historic Jazz District!  We sat right next to the band at Danny's Big Easy...it was FANTASTIC. Joseph and I even danced, a little.  And I sketched like mad, with a colored pencil, ink, and graphite--added color later, from memory.

Danny's is right across the street from the American Jazz Museum...so far I'm never there when it's actually OPEN, because I'd love to see it.  The famous Blue Room is across the street, too.

Another spread on our parent blog, Urban Sketchers...just click the link.