Thursday, December 11, 2014

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Rockefeller Park Greenhouse



Here are 2 pastel drawings by George Czyrba from the last sketch crawl Nov. 30 at the Rockefeller Park Greenhouse. He really caught the spirit quickly and finished these in less than an hour!

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

November Sketch Outing

Join us on Sunday, November 30th from 2pm-4pm at the Rockefeller Greenhouse.  The weather outside might be frightening, but inside the greenhouse, it will be nice and cozy.  There is plenty of free parking, but there is limited seating inside, please feel free to bring a stool.  But, as always, be considerate of those who are walking around to visit this great space.

You can find the greenhouse just east of the Cultural Gardens and just south of 90.  The address is:  750 East 88th, Cleveland, OH.

We hope you can make it!

Friday, October 31, 2014

Dinosaur at Natural History Museum


Great fall day to be out sketching at the Natural History Museum! My first dinosaur!
Watercolor & woodless graphite on Moleskine. 

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Sketch Outing Tomorrow (Sunday, October 26, 2014)

Just a reminder that the monthly sketch outing is Sunday, October 26, 2014 from 2:00p-4:00p.  It's at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.  Please feel free to post any questions here or on our blog.

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Oct 18th, 2014 Sketch Outing at Transformers Display Is Canceled

So sorry, the weather is not cooperating today.  It's going to rain all day and be chilly  :-(

Friday, October 10, 2014

October Ad Hoc Sketch Outing

Saturday, October 18th, 2014 from Noon to 3pm.  4807 Wichita Ave, Cleveland, OH.  Wichita Ave is off of Pearl. 

Join us for a bonus sketch outing in October.  Let's get as much sketching in as possible before winter settles in.

We'll be sketching the Marin Family's Halloween display.  They've been doing this for a few years, and this year is the biggest yet.  They made these giant Transformers themselves, and they have them on display right now.

This is a residential street, so please be considerate of parking spaces, driveways, and lawns.  There is an empty parcel just slightly diagonal across the street from the display, so this is a good place for us to congregate.

Please comment to this post, if you have any questions.

Monday, September 29, 2014

Merwin's Wharf on the Cuyahoga River

Quick Sketches
It was a wonderful sketch outing at Merwin's Wharf, next to the closed Columbus Bridge. Here are some quick thumbnail sketches. On the left are a series of two minute sketches (1 x 1.5") and at the right are 15-20 minute sketches (3 x 2.5") using General's Woodless Graphite on sketch paper. Plenty of interesting activity on the river and the patio.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Merwin's Wharf Sketch Outing

A great turnout today on such a beautiful early fall day.  We gathered at Merwin's Wharf which is a restaurant that is owned by the metroparks and sits right on a sharp bend in the river.  Everyone found such fun things to sketch, and it seemed like no two sketchers faced the same direction.  I actually found this scene from the parking lot.  Several others sat along the river.  It was great to see some new faces out sketching.

Let's hope that we have weather like this for one more outing the last Sunday of October. 

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Tremont Arts and Cultural Festival

Met up my sketching friend this morning before the Tremont Arts and Cultural Festival started.  We sketched for a bit before walking around, shopping the booths, and getting some food.  This isn't one of my better sketches, and I don't think it does justice to how many booths were set up.

As a side note, the one booth is "SubRosa."  The guy in the booth was always in the way of the second half of the sign, but I thought at one point, I saw a "d," so I went with "Road."

Thursday, September 18, 2014

September Sketch Outing

Sunday, September 28, 2014
2:00p-4:00p
Merwin's Wharf restaurant
1785 Merwin Ave, Cleveland, OH
Meet at restaurant entrance

Please join us for our September Sketch Outing.  We'll be meeting at Merwin's Wharf restaurant along the river.  It's owned by the Cleveland Metroparks.  Since we plan to sketch from their patio, weather permitting, it would be best if everyone orders at least a drink or food.  There will be other places to sketch in the general area to sketch, if you decide to not stay on the patio.  If it were to rain, we will sketch inside the restaurant.  Of course, you can choose to sketch inside if you want, regardless of the weather.

  I will post more specific directly this weekend, as the Columbus Ave bridge is still closed.  Please watch here or on our Facebook page for more information. 

All sketchers, all ages, all abilities, and all mediums are welcomed to join us.  We love to give tips to those just starting out.  If you have any questions, please feel free to post in the comments. 

We generally meet up at 2pm, and then scatter to sketch what we find interesting, and then we meet up at 4pm for photos and show and tell.  You are more than welcomed to start earlier, come later, or stay longer.  It's very addictive once you start up.

This may be our last good outdoor sketching event before the cold weather sets in, so please consider coming out with us. 

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Sketching From Outlook Near Sokolowski's


It was a nice, but chilly morning, this past Sunday with a friend drawing from the overlook on Abby Road near the new bridge and Sokolowski's.  It give a great view of the downtown skyline.  Would be a great spot to sit and watch fireworks.

My friend was painting, and how the sun kept coming and going was causing her some problems.  But, since I knew she'd be working longer than I would, it was nice to do a sketch that involved more than what I would usually do.

I did find that sketching from further away did help me get the proportions better and work tighter.

Monday, September 8, 2014

Cleveland Public Library


This sketch crawl was the most URBAN of all! We had 2 panhandlers hitting us up for money, bridal parties coming out of the Hyatt, smelly bus exhaust and the roar of the Blue Angels overheard.

Monday, August 18, 2014

Vegas Trip

I made a trip to Las Vegas two weekends ago and here's two sketches from it.

Friday, August 8, 2014

Monday, June 9, 2014

Thursday, May 29, 2014

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

June 2014 Sketch Outing

Join us for our next sketch outing.  We'll be at Playhouse Square to sketch the sites, including the new chandelier.

Sunday, June 29th, 2014
2:00pm-4:00pm
Corner of Euclid Ave and East 14th
Meeting spot is in front of the Starbucks on the corner
We'll meet there to start at 2:00pm and again at 4:00pm for our end of sketch outing show-and-tell

This event is rain or shine.  If it rains, we should be able to sketch the sites from inside the Starbucks. 

We meet the last Sunday of every month from 2pm-4pm at different locations in the city to sketch.  Everyone is welcomed.  It's free and open to the public.  No prior drawing experience required.  Beginners are warmly welcomed and encouraged.


Thursday, May 22, 2014

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Another 5th Street Arcades

Here's another sketch from our sketch outing at the 5th Street Arcades (Formerly known as the Euclid Arcades, also formerly known as the Colonial Arcades).  We went Sunday afternoon, and we were still pretty surprised at the amount of people that come through there.  It is a good "cut through" to get from Euclid to Prospect.  I've been in there on Fridays, and it's pretty hopping at lunch time with the little food court (much better food options than Tower City's food court), the farmers' market, and all of the little shops open.

We should have sketched them, but they had these weird rolly/rocking chairs that almost looked like thumbtacks that we all took turns trying.  They were shockingly comfortable.

I'll be posting our next sketch outing in the next day or so, so keep watching here or find us on Facebook at Urban Sketchers Cleveland.  We'll be sketching the last Sunday of every month from 2-4pm.  Though, we'll have some ad hoc ones here and there based on special events or just when the mood strikes us.

Monday, April 28, 2014

5th Street Arcade (old Euclid Arcade)

Here's my attempt at the old fashioned staircase, near Euclid. The angles and perspective were a challenge. Really enjoyed the outing and drawing with our group of awesome sketchers.

5th Street Arcade Group & Sketches


It was a real sketch outing and here are the photos to prove it. We stayed inside the arcade, most of us drew this staircase. Interesting to see so many different styles!

Monday, April 7, 2014

Sketch Outing

Join us on Sunday, April 27th, 2014 from 2pm-4pm at the 5th Street Arcades for a sketch outing.  You have a lot of sketching opportunities in this area including the 5th Street Arcades (formerly Colonial Marketplace), Public Square, East Fourth, and the Old Arcade.  There are indoor spots in case of rain.  We'll meet under the giant cupcake a Colossal Cupcakes on Euclid Ave.  Parking should be ample, as there is no Indians' game in town that day.

Everyone is welcomed.  Beginners are warmly welcomed and encouraged.  Free to all.

Suggested items to bring, sketching material of choice and a chair or blanket to sit on.  Feel free to post any questions in the comments, or visit us on Facebook at Urban Sketchers Cleveland.

Monday, March 31, 2014

Tower City Fountain

Thumbnail sketches at Tower City Fountain
 
 
Exciting to sketch while the Cleveland International Film Festival 
was happening at Tower City. Especially fun for me because
Beth Harrington - director of The Winding Stream 
stayed with us and we had a Syracuse reunion.

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Federal Courthouse

This is a sketch of the Federal Courthouse at W 9th and Superior.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Phone Sketches

Here are sketches I created on my phone. It's great for value studies, although it takes some getting used to. The first two are of the Fulton Rd. and Clark area and the third is Uptown in University Circle. 


And here are some sketches of people while waiting to get my car fixed.


Friday, January 17, 2014


Night out at Playhouse Square just before Christmas, 
the beautifully decorated State Theatre with a sold out crowd seeing Wicked.


Playhouse Square at night certainly was a challenge, all those lights?!