Manifesto Monday: International Urban Sketchers Manifesto

Overview: Manifesto Monday Series
One of the features of Urban Sketchers art movement is it has a Manifesto. Each Monday I will post an article taking one of the 8 items in the International Urban Sketchers Manifesto and bring out some positive experiences and personal musings as to how the Manifesto has added to my experiences with the Urban Sketchers.

To get things started I am posting the whole Urban Sketchers Manifesto. All the elements work together at the same time. I'll discuss them one by one to keep each posting brief and to the point. Unlike most rules and restrictions elsewhere, I've found that they have guided and enriched my Urban Sketcher art experiences. It's been fun. I'm glad we have them.

Please add your own comments, reactions, and art in comments below. Let's get the conversation started.

Our Manifesto

1. We draw on location, indoors or out, capturing what we see from direct observation.
2. Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live and where we travel.
3. Our drawings are a record of time and place.
4. We are truthful to the scenes we witness.
5. We use any kind of media and cherish our individual styles.
6. We support each other and draw together.
7. We share our drawings online.
8. We show the world, one drawing at a time.

Gotta Make the Doughnut Shop

A brilliant sunny morning and the carpenters are hard at work building the new doughnut shop. The crew crawled across the massive tangle of fresh lumber. It appeared as shiny mass surrounded by dark rich soil. I can only imagine the 1800s family next door planting the fields that will soon sprout doughnuts.

I'm always trying new things. Today I used a Lukas Aquarell Studio travel watercolors kit. I also used round medium (pink cap) Kuretake water brush.

Papers in the Rain

City of Trenton New Jersey is foggy, rainy and cold today. Yet life in the State Capitol goes on.

Today's sketch is a vendor standing in the street selling newspapers to passing cars and trucks. A clear plastic bag keeps the papers dry. This painting has a lot of challenges like fog, rain slick streets and constantly moving vendor and traffic. Repeating motions were my friend. My paper curled after a while and I had to move to nearby fast food shop.

I was approached for some money. He offered to do a drawing of Popeye and did 3 characters from memory in a few minutes.  I've included one of Kevin Horne, Jr's characters as part of today's post. As an interesting slice of what happens when Urban Sketching.

I also recommended if he liked doing art he could get supplies and exhibition of work towards sales at a local charity Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. The program is so successful the City is arranging for the art program to get its own building later this year. He was very happy he could get paid for doing something he liked to do. He knew the food program and both of us knew several of the volunteers and staff there. He finished off with "Maybe he'd see me there".

Coming Soon ... Doughnuts

I miss the precious few warm and sunny days we had last week. Bright highlights, rich shadows, and delightfully warm dry air for Urban Sketching. Unfortunately, it was only a brief preview. Today is just above freezing, flat grey skies, and drizzling rain on and off. Not so nice for artists, but perfect for pouring concrete footings. 

Today's sketch captures the early stages of the forthcoming Doughnut shop. Yes, right next door to an 1800's gem of a house. (One of the downsides to being near a major intersection.)

My vantage was from across the major highway sitting in a fast food restaurant. I used waterbrushes. My sketch is in Sakura Koi watercolors with touches and outlines from black Copic Multiliner pens with waterproof ink. The paper was so thirsty I struggled to get loose washes for the large masses.

The Copic Multiliner pens are a dream to use if you want a consistent width line that is truly and instantly waterproof. I'm told they are refillable with the Copic waterproof pigment and separate parts are available if you should damage or wear out one of the tips.

Catching up with the news

It's a chilly and rainy day in Hamilton NJ has driven most everyone inside today. The local coffee shop is filled with people warming up for a few minutes and checking the news. This fella was doing that and was quickly captured in a sketch. Sakura Koi watercolors were added on site. Shading and setting was filled in after he dashed.

Not Quite Spring

That calender may say it is Spring, but the weather is not quite Spring.  This past Sunday I returned to Duke Farm to paint in the freezing cold (literally; more on that later) as it seemed like a good idea.  I have not painted much of late and needed to be outside, so off to Duke Farms I went.  It was supposed to be in the 40's that morning but was actually 25 degrees when I stepped into the park (the iPhone weather app, apparently, does not always tell the truth).   As I set down to paint and started mixing the colors, ice crystals began precipitating out of the wash as the water, literally froze on the pallet. It would have been cool if it was not so cold.  Ice crystals clung to the brushes and glomped on the painting, making the process somewhat strange.  I completed 90% of the painting on site and added finishing details in the cafe.  All in all, it turned out well, but I truly wish for Spring to really begin. 

                                         Watercolor, Pen & Ink on 140 lbs block 9X12

Neighbor's Tree with Snow

The last (hopefully) snow storm of the winter provided the opportunity to paint my neighbor's tree covered in snow.  I tried something different and chose colored pastel paper, which strictly speaking, is not made for washes.  I taped it down (you can see the perfect straight lines at the top and bottom) and kept stretching it after each wash as the fibers in the paper swelled with water.  The painting was finished off using white gouache (which I recently found I had been mispronouncing all my life), using both sponge and brush.

                     Watercolor and gouache 9x12 on 75 lbs Canson Mi-Teintes pastel pater