The last few weeks I’ve been sketching a bunch of random things. In September I sketched with Urban Sketchers Twin Cities at Irvine Park, a historic neighborhood in St. Paul. I love the old houses, central park with fountain, gazebo, and tons of mature trees. I arrived late, so sketched a blue house with white trim. The trees covered part of it, so I just gave the impression of leaves in the sketch. I love just the sliver of house, it makes it visually interesting, and I was able to complete the sketch in a short time.
We had a bunch of rain a week or so ago, and with that, came mushrooms in my yard! I noticed some puff balls under my pine trees and just had to sketch them! Nothing like getting on the ground and sketching fungi. They are actually kind of interesting in their own right.
I went up north to Banning State park to see the fall colors, and on the way back stopped at a gas station in Hinckley, Minnesota. While my hubby pumped gas and washed off the buggy windshield, I did a quick sketch in the car of a large propane tank across the lot. I got the basic sketch done and added color at home. It looks like a giant white pill!
My last two sketches were done recently. One was at CVS when I was waiting to get booster shots. People were standing in line to pick up prescriptions and I was able to do some very quick sketches. Color block was added at home. The woman in the middle had bright pink hair and a bright pink dress. But I chose to leave them all colorless.
Finally, a sketch I just did yesterday at Nina’s Coffee shop in St. Paul. The shop was crowded with people meeting and those who were obviously working remotely on their laptops. Many were on devices, which made it easy to sketch them. The trick is to draw quickly, look for repetitive actions, and try to get the sketch done before they leave! I decided to use my Sailor fude pen and black ink and watercolor for the two main subjects, then switched to a blue Micron pen for “supporting cast” and a little of the brick arch in the background. I like how it turned out!
I have a lot of fun sketching random subjects, that’s the beauty of urban sketching. You just go out with your sketch book and who knows what you will come home with! Take some time and see what random subjects you can find this week.