More Drawing in the Dark

I'm picking up from Barbara Week's post: Drawing in the Dark. I love to draw the night. Seeing what you're doing is really a challenge. It feels kind of crazy, like driving without headlights.  Drawing the darkness outside from inside when it's winter is particularly difficult. Any light used to illuminate the page and the palette causes reflection, making it difficult to see out.

Here's a watercolor, "Star in the Window", of my backdoor neighbor's house here in Cedar Falls, Iowa. It was done on the longest night of the year (2011) from a second floor window. It's a good thing I'd memorized what color is where in my palette:

"Back Door Light", a Neocolor II, was done a few nights later, looking out another second floor window to my side neighbor. No moonlight, only the illumination from under the door overhang and the reflection off a more distant house as seen through the silhouetted trees. I really got eye strain from doing this one and all my crayons ended up on the floor. It was hard to keep it all together, working in the dark.

"Moonlight from Lapa" was done on the first night I was in Lisbon for the Urban Sketchers Symposium this past July. We were staying in a flat on the top floor of a building that was on one of Lisbon's many hills looking out over the Tejo River. There were no screens on the windows (therefore no reflection to contend with) and the moon cast more than enough light to see. This night sketch was a cinch.

This was done at a laundromat in downtown Cedar Falls for an Urban Sketchers Theme of the Week. Inside was bright. What was outside was unclear--I drew what I saw, but it came across as an almost abstract smattering of lit shapes and colors.

From my bedroom window, I drew in the dark, hardly able to see what I was putting on the page for "Moonrise and Contrail".  When I turned on the light to look, I added white to the moon and its rays.

This was my first drawing of the night.  It was 1977, I was backpacking in Crete with a friend. We were sleeping out in the Samaria Gorge. The moon was SO bright. I was too scared to sleep; we were told there were scorpions. I sketched a lot on this trip. I had only one drawing tool: a technical pen with black ink.

If you'd like to see a few more here's Moonrise over Waterloo, House Across Clay Street, and a twilight cityscape of Portland, Oregon, when I attended the 1st Urban Symposium, July 2010.

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.

Drawing in the Dark

A friend of mine, who is a theater critic, has learned to write in the dark. She tells me it takes a lot of practice. It seems so does drawing. I'll have to come back here often to work on drawing, as well as dancing, in the dark! Chicago has many neighborhood store-front theaters and music venues. This one, 12W, is pretty new. I hope it sticks around!

Downtown...to add color or no...?

Joseph and I made a sketch trip to Kansas City the other day...he needed star anise for his Chinese 5-spice, I needed sketch time, so we invaded Planters Seed to inhale, browse, and shop, and then sat in the car so I could sketch the old buildings at the City Market.  I love this area, the original downtown, near the City Wharf.  Much traffic on the Missouri River, once upon a time, and barges still bring in this and that.

We just missed the farm-to-table lunch at The Farmhouse restaurant, so went on to Crown Center, a huge hotel-and-retail complex, and the Streetcar Named Desire, the entry of which was once part of the interurban line from KC to St. Joseph to Excelsior Springs.  They have TERRIFIC burgers, so I try to get there once a year or so...

So.  I sketched madly with my Noodler's Ahab pen and Lexington Grey ink, intending to add color, later.  But...maybe not!

Cedar Falls, Iowa: Introducing myself

I've been an Urban Sketcher since April 2010. I'm delighted to be part of this Midwest group and be in such good company. I've lived in Cedar Falls, Iowa for 25 years. I travel a lot (especially since I retired from my day job 5 years ago), but my favorite place to draw is my hometown. Here are a few:

January Full Moon

October Backyard

Love Seat and Winter Yew

The Spice Merchant, Wichita, KS

(54) urban sketch - The Spice Merchant, a photo by vickylw on Flickr.

I went here yesterday to buy some tea . . . . I ended up picking up a few more items, including a blueberry-filled chocolate bar from Germany. Yum!

This old Spanish-style building was built in 1909 to house the Mentholatum Company's headquarters and factory. (Mentholatum was invented in Wichita in 1894.) Sometime later, after the company left Wichita, Louise Brooks, a former silent film star, ran a dance studio here.

Now it is home to The Spice Merchant, a gourmet coffee roaster --- even though I don't like drinking coffee, I always love the aromas when they are roasting! And it's a great place to find unique tea blends, spices, and cooking stuff.

Church, Elsah, IL

The entire village of Elsah is nestled in a wooded ravine that is accessed by traveling north on the scenic Great River Road from Alton, IL. Entry to the town is between to two tall limestone bluffs named Mount Radience & Mount Pisgua that overlook the Mississippi River. Picturesque and quaint perfectly describe the architecture and the layout of the historic village. At the end of Valley Drive sits the carpenter gothic style United Methodist Church built in 1874. According to the village web site a “Mrs. Ames donated the small Sunday School Room at the rear of the building.” The sketch-worthy play of light and strong shadows across its facade at mid day caught my eye.
Church, Elsah, IL, 01/15/2012; Michael Anderson, watercolor on Canson 140lb cold press, 7″ x 9″.