Five squares in London’s spring
[By James Hobbs in London] Think of a square in London, and it will probably be Trafalgar Square or Leicester Square, perhaps Parliament or Sloane. Among the paved piazzas are hundreds of garden squares, providing greenery and tranquility in the centre of the city. With the arrival of spring, they are probably at their best. […]
The Hidden Gardens of Alcatraz
[By San Francisco Bay Area Sketchers in San Francisco] On April 7, 2018, San Francisco Sketchers were invited to go to the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary for a private tour of the hidden gardens created by the inmates. It was a prison for the worst criminals, and was closed in 1963. Escape was supposedly impossible since the […]
Wandering the exotic gardens of Palermo
[Guest post by Maria Francesca Starrabba in Palermo, Italy] [Translated from Italian by Béliza Mendes] My passion for gardens leads me to choose pleasant locations rich with vegetation during my outings of plein air drawing. At the Palermo Botanical Garden (see sketch above), I recently sketched under the shade of a giant fig tree (Ficus […]
Many shades of green in Andalucía, from Cádiz to Jerez de la Frontera.
Drawings by Sharon Frost. Cádiz. Alameda Apodaca. Un pescador. (A fisherman) Stephen Leyendo en la Alameda Apodaca — nuestra última mañana en Cádiz.dd caption. (Stephen reading in the Alameda — our last morning in Cádiz.) Jerez de la Frontera. Barrio Santiago. Casa Rosalleda. Calcetines en el tenedor en el jardín. (Socks on the line in […]
Bringing the Garden Inside
[By Marcia Milner-Brage, in Cedar Falls, Iowa, USA] In autumn, the change of the season is always a shock, a poignant time, here in the Upper Midwest. In the first days of November, even with the waning light, tuberous begonias were at their peak in outside window boxes; my kitchen garden was still supplying peppers […]
Drawing in an Urban Garden
I have a special fondness for gardens, parks and green spaces where people come to unwind and enjoy a little nature in the middle of a city…here are sketches made at a favorite of mine, Descanso Gardens, in La Canada, California, in the hills above Los Angeles…
Urban Sketchers mention in Walter, the magazine of Raleigh, N C.
For illustrations of the J C Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh for a city magazine, I used different sketching tools and styles, trying to give a sense of the visual variety of the place. This article appears in the June/July 2013 issue of Walter magazine… named after Sir Walter Raleigh, of course!
Potfest weekend in the Lake District
This weekend, John and I made a flying visit to the Lake District. We leapt in the car on Friday night straight after work: We have some old friends who live right on the northern border of the national park, very close to the coast, and they invited us to visit and go to Potfest with them […]
More Spanish drawing, across New York City, as the term moves to a close.
At this point I can’t get on the subway without trying to think in Spanish, or at least read. And since I do so much drawing in the subway as well I’m beginning to associate the two. And I suppose I’m beginning to draw in Spanish. Inevitable. My husband have both been studying Spanish for […]
Halloween to the Day of the Dead and one more plaza, Jerez de la Frontera.
Skulls: from Halloween to Day of the Dead: more heads than bodies on the clothesline. (Another view of the garden of our apartment building in Jerez de la Frontera.) We breakfast in the Plaza del Progreso: panfry of eggs. Sketchblog: DayBooks