“New on the Block”
Posted: June 22, 2015 Filed under: USkO | Tags: house, oil pastel, pen Leave a commentMost houses I have come across on the island have a subdued beige or grey/white hue. Exceptions can be found in the roof color where red or green make an occasional appearance. Recently though, I came across two residential houses in Manoa whose owners made bold color choices. In my sketch an aged and paled turquoise home can be seen on the right, and, on the left, a house that was just freshly painted in a new color. Originally a subtler hue like its neighbors, this residence now truly announced its presence.
I used a gel-based rollerball pen and oil pastels to portray the vivid colors.
Crossing Paths with SF Bay Area Urban Sketchers
Posted: June 5, 2015 Filed under: USkO | Tags: Bay Area Urban Sketchers, Pedro's Brazil Cafe, Westbrae Biergarten Leave a commentFor the second time this year, at least one of us was able to make it to the San Francisco Bay Area Urban Sketchers‘ First Thursday event. It was held in Berkeley at Pedro’s Brazil Cafe & Westbrae Biergarten and was attended / hosted by a very welcoming crowd, as usual.
After settling in, I looked for subjects that were challenging with regard to depth / perspective and began my work. For reasons that are still somewhat mysterious to me, some of the children playing in the outdoor area found me quite captivating, and I fielded many questions about what I was doing, when I would start my next sketch, and why I was not using colour. After some time the nearby parents rescued me (though I will admit that I enjoyed talking to the young’uns) and I continued with the mission at hand.
It was a pleasant evening with many subjects to focus on … from the swiftly moving to the stationary! One of the evening’s high points was the show-and-tell session; the sketches exhibited were impressive and intriguingly variable in the styles presented. As before, I left inspired and anxious to continue practising. Two of my sketches are included with this post.
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- Well-blended sketchers, patrons, bandeira do Brasil, and barrels.
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- Sketch of handle that operates the umbrella / sun shade.
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- Show and tell.
July 11 Event Update
Posted: June 5, 2015 Filed under: USkO | Tags: event announcement Leave a commentAs a fellow sketcher kindly pointed out to us, one of our originally marked parking locations is now a construction site. Apologies. The announcement has been updated.
Next Event: July 11 in Kaka’ako
Posted: June 3, 2015 Filed under: USkO | Tags: event announcement Leave a commentWe are excited to announce our next outing – with a little lead time. Save the date, tell your friends and family… and hope to see you there!
Memorial Weekend Sketch Event
Posted: May 24, 2015 Filed under: USkO | Tags: ala moana, construction, crayons, pen, pencil, shopping mall, watercolor pencils Leave a commentOur chapter held a sketch event this Sunday morning at Ala Moana Shopping Center. It was good to see a few returning sketchers, as well as newcomer Mayumi. The weather was great – occasionally overcast and breezy. From the top level of the parking garage we had a view of the shopping center in front of Ala Moana Beach and downtown Honolulu with the Ko’olau Range as a backdrop. Although chosen for just that reason, our location proved almost overwhelming due to the plethora and detail of targets. It was a challenge not only to pick a scene, but also to distill it while truthfully depicting the subject. This is a location with so much potential that we will have to return someday.
We jumped in at 9:30 and were yet again surprised by how quickly 11:00 arrived – time for show-and-tell. Pencil, pen, watercolor, crayon, and watercolor pencils all made an appearance. Given the similar subjects we chose (e.g., cranes, the shopping mall with scaffolding, and downtown Honolulu), it was interesting to see how differently the challenges of perspective, depth, and contrast were tackled. I came away with a greater interest in crosshatching and a desire to explore the technique more in my own sketches.
Hope to see everyone at our next event!
Urban Sketchers Symposium – Singapore 2015
Posted: May 14, 2015 Filed under: USkO | Tags: symposium Leave a commentRegistration is still open for the International Urban Sketchers Symposium in Singapore July 22-25.
Join the amazing faculty for top-notch programming open to sketchers of all levels, experience, and backgrounds!
Workshop passes and Sketching passes are still available – standard registration is open through May 31.
For more information about the Symposium including schedule and registration information, please visit http://singapore2015.urbansketchers.org/.
Evening Shopping Rush
Posted: May 14, 2015 Filed under: USkO | Tags: pen, people, shopping, watercolor Leave a commentIt seemed as though I joined every valley resident at the Manoa Marketplace last Wednesday. 5:00 p.m. is the magic hour – everyone is getting home from work and is either shopping for dinner or dining there.
For this session I decided to sit down in front of Safeway to do quick drawings of people passing by, walking in and out of stores, and dining. My two sketches are time-lapses of everyone I saw over the course of an hour. I made an attempt at a fisheye view of the entire strip but found it to be a more challenging perspective to draw than I expected, due to the strongly curving lines. Instead, I settled for two standard, undistorted views in opposite directions. In terms of composition, I wanted the focus to be on people so I decided to leave the color out of objects I did not want to draw attention to.
Cars
Posted: May 6, 2015 Filed under: USkO | Tags: cars, pencil, watercolor Leave a commentI have always found that old cars have more character than what leaves the factories today. Over the past three days I went around the neighborhood to sketch a few I have noticed on my commute. It took me a little while to get the proportions right – I always struggle with perspective when my sketch subject has essentially no straight lines. Wanting to take a break from my standard pen sketches, I also had to re-familiarize myself with pencil. After about three hours of sketching these were my results.
Following a little online investigation my guesses as to what I sketched are a 1980s Buick Riviera, 1990s Jaguar XJR-S coupe, 1990s VW Vanagon, and possibly a 1990s Suzuki Jimny.
Of course, just when I was finishing, a truly old car passed me – a beautifully kept 1960s Mercedes convertible. Got to track that one down…
AIA Architecture Walking Tour
Posted: April 28, 2015 Filed under: USkO | Tags: AIA, Aloha Tower, architecture, colored pencil, pen, pencil, watercolor 2 CommentsLast Saturday we (AJ, Harald, and I) attended the American Institute of Architect’s (AIA) Architecture Walking Tour “Downtown Honolulu – 20th Century Architectural Styles”. Although AIA regularly offers tours throughout the year this one was only offered once in 2015 as part of Architecture Month.
For two hours I learned about the history and styles of buildings in the business district – a place I have spent little time in and have not cared for much before. By the end of the tour I no longer saw downtown as just a jumble of high-rises. Each building has its own story. For example, the No.1 Capitol District Building was originally the site of the first Royal Hawaiian Hotel commissioned under King Kamehameha V and opened in 1872 to host foreign dignitaries and friends of the royal family. The hotel was then converted to a YMCA in 1917 and used by the military in World War I and II. In 1926, while in military use, the hotel was demolished and a Spanish mission revival style building was erected which has housed the Hawaii State Art Museum since 2000. An art museum in Honolulu that I was aware of, but had not been to. Will have to pay it a visit soon… It is located on the aptly-named South Hotel Street.
The final historically significant structure we visited was the Aloha Tower. Built in 1926 it originally served as a lighthouse but was decommissioned in the late 1960s and is now being revitalized by Hawaii Pacific University. The view from the observation deck is outstanding. In order not to be in the way (and view) of other visitors to the deck, we decided to sketch the tower and its surroundings from the marketplace.
May 24, 2015 Sketch Event
Posted: April 27, 2015 Filed under: USkO | Tags: ala moana, event announcement Leave a commentJoin us for a morning of urban sketching at Ala Moana Shopping Center where we can gain a close-up view of current construction work as well as a bird’s-eye view of shoppers and cars below!
Where: Ala Moana Shopping Center – Parking garage level 8 (free parking throughout)
When: 9:30am – 11:30am
What to expect: An informal and leisurely morning of sketching for artists of all levels and ages; show-and-tell at 11:00am (participation optional)
What to bring: Art supplies of your choice and lots of enthusiasm (also suggested: sun protection, personal food and drink, stool or chair)
For directions see Upcoming Events.
Hope to see you there!
AJ Tauber
Harald Ebeling
Terri Dux
noah kutaka
Susan Li
Sebastian
uskoadmin
Urban Sketchers O‘ahu 