Chicago!

Had the opportunity to attend Urban Sketchers Chicago sketch workshops this past weekend.  Had an amazing time.  Met quite a few fellow Urban Sketchers which was terrific.  Very talented and dedicated folks.  Learned a lot and tried several new techniques and materials that pushed my comfort zone.  Refreshing, energizing and eye-opening all at the same time.  Stopped in Springfield, IL on the way home to see some of the Lincoln sites.  Got in a bit of sketching there too.  All of these sketches are in a Stillman and Birn beta series book. My sketch materials range from pitt pens to pitt big brush markers to a pentel brush pen and koi watercolors.  Quite a variety for me.

It has been quite some time since I've posted here.  In fact, it has been quite some time since I've drawn anything to post.  I took a bit of my time this past Sunday afternoon to go out and do some sketching around my hometown of Indepencence, MO.  What you see here is the result.  I need to make this a habit again.

Kirkwood Amtrak Station

Kirkwood Amtrak Station
©2015 Steve Penberthy
Watercolor in Strathmore Visual Journal (140-lb CP paper)
5" x 7" (13 x 18 cm)

I met up with the St. Louis Drawing & Painting Meetup Group at this month's Urban Sketching outing.  We sketched the historic and picturesque Amtrak train station in Kirkwood, Missouri.  There were so many people out on this beautiful early fall morning; people walking dogs, shopping, and attending a nearby farmer's market across the street.  Several trains (both freight and passenger) moved through the station area while we sketched; the freight trains operated at deafening levels and seemed to take forever to pass by.  But very cool nonetheless.

I had intended to substitute out a few paints in my kit (Quin Gold & Hematite Burnt Scarlet) before heading out to the event, but forgot in my haste to get out the door on time.  Both of these pigments work well on my larger palette, but I feel that I like the weak opacity of a true raw sienna when I'm sketching on location, as I use it a lot for rendering stone, masonry, etc.  I have been experimenting with Quin Gold as a substitute for Raw Sienna, but again, seem to be preferring the Raw Sienna.

Sketching the Sketchers

Sketching the Sketchers
©2015 Steve Penberthy
Watercolor and Micron pen in Moleskine sketchbook
5" x 16.5" (13 x 42 cm)

I attend life-drawing sessions every so often to work on my observational and figure-drawing skills, but I've always drawn the model--never considering that I could draw the people who are drawing the model. So, my goal was to do just one drawing during the evening and try to sketch the sketchers--to capture those who were intent on drawing the model.  At the beginning, I was unsure what sketchbook/format would work best; I finally decided on my watercolor Moleskine since I felt a panoramic format would be best.  I first roughed in the figures in pencil, then followed up with a Pigma Micron 03 pen; watercolor washes followed.

Olive Garden

Olive Garden
©2015 Steve Penberthy
Watercolor and pencil on
Strathmore 140-lb cold-press watercolor paper
in Strathmore Visual Journal sketchbook
9" x 12" (23 x 30 cm) Sketched on location in Richmond Heights, Missouri.  I sketched this scene during lunch while sitting in my car in a parking lot across the street from the restaurant.  The weather was warm but, with the windows down, there was enough of a breeze to keep things comfortable.   

Midwest Sketcher in South Beach

Recently work took me to South Beach Miami where I had a few evenings free to wander and sketch. These are two of my favorites. I hope you enjoy them.  Watercolor, brush pen with warm grey ink, and a Noodlers Ahab flex fountain pen

with Polar Black. Both drawn and colored in relative dark so the colors are always a bit of a surprise!

These last two are iPad sketches using Procreate.

 

 

 

James Nutt