Thursday, October 6, 2011

October Events

October 8th - The "509 Urban Sketchers and Painters" have another outing planned beginning at 10 am in the 509 Artspace parking lot.  Place, item, or event, has yet to be determined, but whatever it is we will have a good time.  Plan on lunch if you can.  That's when we share our work and talk mostly about ... art. 

October 15th - Normally the third Saturday of the month is Figure Drawing; however, Oct 15th has been designated as the "33rd World Wide Sketchcrawl," so we'll be out in the community drawing, sketching, painting again on this day. 

We will leave the parking lot at 10 am, as usual, and since the WWSketchcrawls are actually designed as marathon sketching days we will keep the option open for those who want to continue after the lunch into the mid/late afternoon.  Bring your supplies, snacks and drinks and if you can, plan on spending the day with us!!

October 22nd - If we can find a model, we'll be back in the Big Studio at the 509 Artspace.  Stay tuned.

October - History

October 1st - We had our second session with Sara Liebe, the ballerina.  Sarah has proven an exceptionally fine model for us.  We have her scheduled for three sessions, but due to conflicting events through the remainder of the month and most of November, we will bring her back for the third session either in December or sometime soon after the first of the new year, 2012.  Click here to see the images.  

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

September - History

September 2nd - "Farmers' Market - Richland"

Six of our "509 Urban Sketchers and Painters" converged on the market this morning to capture the people and events of the day there. You can find our work at at this link, (click on "show info" to see which artist created the image on the screen).


September 17th - "Ballerina, Sara, in Studio"

We had a "packed house" for this session and another beautiful ballerina, Sara, to model for us. Though Sara had never held still for long poses, she performed perfectly for the artists holding the same pose through three 30 minute sessions. She will be with us again on Oct 1st and 15th as we work through this ballerina series.

September 24th - The "509 Urban Sketchers and Painters" began working on a collection of images designed to capture the flavor, aroma, and architectural styles of the many coffee shops here in the Tri-Cities (all puns intended).

 

Friday, August 26, 2011

August - History

August 13th, 2011 - "Perspective in Downtown Kennewick"

We decided to work on perpsectives in downtown Kennewick this morning. Lunch as at "Willingham's" which closed the next day. Too bad, the food was good and priced reasonably. Maybe they should have advertised more. They were in the old "Between the Bridges Diner."

Another great day sketching and sharing.

See the sketches at this link.

August 27th, 2011 - "The Panorama of the Benton Franklin Carnival"

There may have been only two of us skteching today, but we still had a good time drawing, painting, and talking art.

Most of the conversation centered around the art scene in the tri-cities and how difficult it is to motivate other artists to come out and sketch.

Of course, it is summer. People are busy with family and vacations; and the heat these past few weeks has been in the upper nineties. One's home air-conditioner is similar to a nice cold popsickle to a kid in summer. That cool air is just way too nice to go outside, even for something fun!

Posted in left margin at "Aug 27," is a little watercolor Nancy did with her new Koi Watercolor kit. It's about 4"x4" and spectacular, don't you think?

Click here, or on the pic dated "Aug 27, 2011" in the right-hand margin to see the other images created at this fun spot!

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

July - History

June 23rd: "32nd World Wide SketchCrawl"

We traveled out north of Pasco this day to a farm owned by a friend of our friend, Jan Watson. Most of us, mostly the guys, couldn't keep our eyes off the 1928 Chevy truck parked in the drive-way.

See our sketches here on our forum page at the "SketchCrawl" site.


Friday, June 3, 2011

June - History

June 4th: "Figure Drawing at the Space"

We had another great day figure drawing in the "Space" today. Jessica was our model and everyone really enjoyed the time we spent together. Jessica is a very comfortable model and that always makes for an enjoyable session.

Click here to see the pics.

June 11th: "Pasco Rail Yards"

We met at 10am in the parking lot at CBC, nearest the old Hawk sign there on the corner, then caravaned over to the railroad yard in Pasco to do some sketching of the old cars and wheels and tracks and other mechanical stuff lying about.

Click here to see the pics.

June 18th: Figure Drawing - "Cellist, Sydney"

We had a super session with our model, Sydney, today. She brought her cello and serenaded us throughout the draw. What great fun we had with this delightful young lady!!

See the pics here.

June 25th: Urban Sketching and Painting.

Summer got smack-dab in the way of this day. Everyone had other things to do, so we drew blanks.

See you in July.



Wednesday, May 25, 2011

May - History

Saturday: May 28th - Urban Sketchers and Painters

We met at 10am in Columbia Park this morning at 10, talked art for a while, then laid out our plans and went to work sketching the trees, the river, some of the people, and the sno-cone vendor.

The weather gods smiled down on us today with warm weather and blue skies for another great outing. Check out the pics at this link, or click the pic in the left-hand margin labeled May 28, 2011.

What great practise and such great folks, with common interests, to hang out with for a few hours.


Saturday: May 21st - "Ballerina"

The "509 Artspacers" enjoyed a very special session today with an 18 year old ballerina from the Mid-Columbia Ballet as a model.

Kaileigh will graduate high school in a few days and begin her college studies at UNLV in Las Vegas next year where she will study dance.

This summer she will spend a couple of weeks at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City in a workshop format with the Rockettes.

Saturday: May 14th - "Sketching the Old Tower"
Facing cold, gray and wet weather this morning, seven artists charged ahead and met with Malin Bergstrom of "Bergstrom Aircraft" who provided escort onto an area of the tarmac unavailable to the general public where we spent a few hours sketching and having a fun-filled time. Click here to see the pics.

Saturday: May 7th - Figure Drawing at the "Space"
Only two were here today, Nancy and Jim; and the model, William. We had a good time, but cut the time to two hours rather than three due to the model expenses. Thanks to William for graciously accepting the modification in his time and pay.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

April 2011 - History

Saturday - April 30th: The "509 Urban Sketchers and Painters," met at the corner of Dayton and Kennewick Ave to record the old Methodist church downtown. After a tour of the building and viewing the stained-glass windows from the inside, we settled outside on the sidewalks and went to work. Afterwards we headed over to the Ice Harbor Brewery for a great lunch and sharing of our work. To see the pictures from today, click the link above.

Wednesday - April 27th: "Last Wednesday Workshop." Four artists, Nancy, Greg, Dave and Jim, came into the "Space" this evening for a fun-filled evening of drawing and painting a couple of still lifes. As usual, Dave provided the music and the conversation was lively and fun. There was plenty of room for others to join us and we hope that maybe those of you who haven't tried the "Space" yet will do so soon...

Saturday - April 23rd: Figure Drawing with Jessica. Though our numbers were low today (it's hard to compete with ol' Mr. Sun!), we had a lot of fun drawing with Jessica today. Find the pics here.

Saturday - April 16th: The "31st World-Wide Sketchcrawl" - For a rather cold and definitely blustery day, we had seven artists join us for the SketchCrawl which started in Howard Amon Park, then moved to the ParkWay, and then on to Uptown Richland. The event was photographed and posted at the sketchcrawl.com forums, located here.

Saturday - April 9th: The urbansketchers was cancelled due to the proximity of this date to next Saturday's World-Wide SketchCrawl.

April 2nd: Figure Drawing - Thank you to Laura G for taking the lead on this session. As it turned out, she and John F were the only two who were able to be there as this was a busy day elsewhere for so many of our patrons. William modeled.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

March 2011 - History

Wednesday - March 30th:Patrick Fleming conducted the "Last Wednesday Workshop" last night with a fun-filled evening of creating the perfect "Still Life." Working in acrylics were Greg and Dave, Jim B tried charcoals, Pat brought his oils, and two participants, Laura T and another Jim were there. Laura T did line drawing, and the new Jim was working with graphite.

It was fun doing a still-life; no pose changes after a few minutes, just nice and slow with a lot of conversation and good music.

You can see the pics by clicking here.

Saturday - March 26th: When we arrived at the Old Hotel Gallery this morning, they were actually waiting for us. They had a room set up for us to use, if we wanted, which we didn't because we planned to be outside with our sketchbooks. Heidi took us on a great tour of the 99 year-old building and told us about it's somewhat sordid past; then she invited us to the wine tasting later in the afternoon and gave us a map showing where to go to find the Sandhill cranes.

We drove out into the pothole area and marveled at the beauty of the scablands with all the basalt outcroppings and other geographical features. We found a large flock of the birds, but we weren't allowed to get close enough to do any sketching of them. We did a little sketching of some of the basalt, took some photos, and drove back into Othello around 2pm.

On our way back to the Old Hotel Gallery, which we had planned to sketch when we got there, we decided to stop into a local tavern to try out Othello's version of "tav food."

While there Nancy received a call from one of her sisters in Nebraska telling her that her father had experienced a brain aneurysm and was in ICU. Since Greg drove up in his truck and Nancy rode up with me, she and I immediately headed for Pasco.

On the way, she got another call - her father had passed away.

She was scheduled to leave this coming Friday morning for three weeks in China to visit her daughter. I just got news from her a few minutes ago that she's off to Omaha tomorrow and will return on the 20th, so I am assuming she will leave Omaha in a few days and head on to China.

Greg stayed a while and after showing them that nifty portfolio of his work he carries, he was invited to be their featured artist this coming May. Congratulations, Greg! After the stories we heard about the Old Hotel today, we had already commented that his work is particularly well suited to the place!

We send our prayers and condolences to Nancy.

Saturday - March 19th: Figure Drawing with Audrey
Another great day figure drawing in the "Space" today! We had nine figure drawers with Nancy calling out times and great music provided by maestro, LaPoynte. The model, Audrey, did a nice job and we really appreciated her style and panache to model nude. It was her first time, and she was super! You can check out the pics at this link.

Saturday - March 5th: Figure Drawing with William
Another great session with model, William. See the pictures of this session at this link.

Wednesday- March 2nd: "Long Pose Make-Up Session." Our model, the same one who at least notified us last time, was a "no-show" again, without notification this time. Fortunately we have William who always is willing and able to pose for us. We called him about 6:15 and he was here in 15 or 20 minutes. Finding reliable models like him is not easy. We have had some very fine models, and we still do; but there are a few who lack responsibility. We only wish some of them would realize how much hardship it creates for all of us when they aren't here as scheduled.

Click here to see the pics from our session. Apologies to Greg for not getting a shot of him, but we did get his work!

Thursday, January 27, 2011

February 2011 - History

Saturday - Feb. 26: "509 Urban Sketchers and Painters"
The temperatures were well below freezing this morning when four of us met at Zip's. Having a bit of trouble deciding if we really wanted to brave it or not, we went inside and had some coffee to either bolster our resolve, or just decide to go back home. After downing the hot coffee we decided to be "men" about it (none of our lady friends were there), and head across the river to our pre-planned destination.

But, because it was so cold, we each drove our own vehicles so we could sit in them, with heaters running, and draw. Pat was the bravest though, opening the back of his van and sitting on the bumper with his easel and his oils in front of him.

As it turned out, we had a great time sketching and painting, just like we always do. There is literally a few tons of interesting things over there to draw: machinery, old RR cars, big-tall-cranes, and thousands of little tiny details in everything. You can find our pics at this link.

One has to admit it isn't a very feminine location, but us guys had a good time.

Saturday - Feb. 19: Figure Drawing -
Another great turn-out at the Artspace today with nine people attending the session. Wendy Sugarman Lee was our model and she did a fantastic job posing and holding her poses for the allotted times. Everyone enjoyed the time together, and we are looking forward to our next session, Feb 23, with a long pose. Bring your paints for that one!! Click on the image in the left margin, dated Feb 19, 2011, for pics of today's session.

Saturday - Feb. 12th - "509 Urban Sketchers and Painters"
Four of the newly formed "509 Urban Sketchers" had a great time today on Clover Island sketching the boat houses, the new lighthouse, one of the new buildings, and a tree or two. You can find our pictures either at the new "509 Artspace" flickr site, or click on the image in the left-hand margin under "Feb12."

Saturday - Feb. 5th - "Costume" drawing
Another excellent turn-out today for our first "costume," rather than "figure draw." Becky Poynter, Flamenco dancer, and model extraordinaire modeled for us today, and gave us a wonderful sampling of her skills! Another great session at the "509 Artspace."

Click on "slideshow" just above the pictures at this link on our new Flickr site.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

January 2011 - History

Jan 22: The World-Wide SketchCrawl. Once again, we were concerned about the turn-out, and once again, we shouldn't have worried. We began with ten people and ended up with eight. Everyone had a great time, and we are all looking forward to the next one. SketchCrawls were orginated by Enrico Casarosa in San Francisco a few years ago where rather than crawling pubs with pints of beer, he decided to crawl with sketchbooks and pens. It has become a global phenomenon, usually held three times per year. You can find our pics either at our new Flickr site, here, or at the sketchcrawl.com site, here. Enjoy, and join us next time! Stay posted for details.

Jan 15th: This was our first Figure Drawing Session since Nancy returned from New York City and organized the 509 Artspace. We were a bit nervous about what kind of turn-out we would get, but we almost had a standing-room-only crowd. See the pictures for this session, here.

"Nancy in New York City Workshop"

Jan. 26th - "Figure Drawing Workshop with Nancy Thurston"

Our first Workshop was led by Nancy Thurston who recently returned from 3 months of art studies in New York City. See the pictures here.

Thanks Nancy for a great Workshop.

Our next Workshop is scheduled for February 23. A long-pose figure drawing session with model, Ashley Simonton, is scheduled.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Calling All Area Artists

For any and all Visual Artists in the Tri-City area, we would like to invite you to send a link to us for your blog site, web site, or other site addresses and, if approved (we just want to discourage anyone who might want to post something inappropriate, or off focus), we will link to them from our blog here at the "509 Artspace."

Please feel welcome to join us.

Contact us at: 509artspace@gmail.com