I had a great time yesterday with Urban Sketchers Twin Cities and our sketch crawl at the Doors Open event in Minneapolis. Basically, over 100 buildings open their doors to the public over the weekend, allowing them to learn more about their places in the history of Minneapolis. They might allow visitors to access special areas or see things one doesn’t normally have the chance to see. Our sketch crawl consisted of 7 hours of walking to and from selected buildings every hour in the downtown and North Loop area of Minneapolis. Despite cold and windy weather, we had a nice showing of sketchers eager to learn and sketch some of our more famous buildings. The first building on our crawl was the Foshay tower, a historic skyscraper named after businessman Wilbur Foshay. It was modeled after the Washington Monument and was designed by Leon Eugene Arnal. We rocketed up on the elevator (key access only) to the 30th floor and stepped out into a small museum with displays about the history of the building and Foshay himself. There was a small set of stairs and a door, which put you out on the observation deck overlooking the entire city! Concrete walls and curved bars prevented visitors from falling off the deck while providing a breathtaking view of the city. Due to very limited time (we had roughly 30-45 minutes at each location), you had to decide quickly what to sketch and jump in right away. Though windy and cold, I quickly stood and drew the Target center and Field sandwiched between two buildings (see sketch above). I used Faber-Castill Pitt pens and added watercolor later. (see finished sketch below). This was a great experience to be on the observation deck of the Foshay overlooking the city and one I will always remember! I will share additional sketches from other buildings in future posts, so look for those this week!
