The Memphis Urban Sketchers met downtown at Beale Street Landing last Saturday. It's a new park, overlooking the Mississippi River, with lots of different possibilities for sketching. Here's what we got:

 I scanned mine in when I got home.

October Sketch Group at Beale Street Landing

Next sketch group

Saturday, October 4

Beale Street Landing 

10:00 AM

We'll meet at the front entrance of the Beale Street Landing entrance, which faces Riverside Drive. There is parking adjacent to Beale Street Landing, but it is kind of high, so you might want to arrive a bit early and look for parking elsewhere. The weather should be lovely!

Please comment here or in our Facebook group if you plan to attend. 

Drawing in the Dark at the Memphis Symphony

Several attempts at drawing in the dark

Letting the music guide my hand

Opera at WKNO

Opera Memphis continues to do opera outside the box under director Ned Canty. I think this is the third year they've done "30 Days of Opera,' popping up and doing free bits of opera at the dog park, along the parkway during rush hour, at an arts fair, really just about anywhere. Today they were out at WKNO, our local public radio station. They did an hour's worth of opera on the patio at lunch hour, broadcast on the radio, of course, and invited folks to show up with their lunches to listen. I love sketching at music events, and I've been working hard to put together my 2015 calendars and prep for fall shows, so I decided I was due just a fun sketching break and went out. Plus I love seeing all the 'KNO folks as well as Ned. I got a ton of hugs, did some fun  sketching, and enjoyed breaking away from my computer for a while. Thanks to both organizations for a neat event!

The Montreal Botanic Garden

Lion statue at the entrance to the Chinese Garden

While visiting Montreal last month, I spent four days exploring, sketching and photographing the botanic garden. Four days were not enough time.

Tower of the Gathering Clou

One of the rocks inside the tower

One bonsai in the Chinese garden

The Japanese garden

A garden of stone and sand

Some of the most popular attractions at the Japanese garden

Japanese lantern

Part of the perennial garden

Two of the many gardeners working in the perennial garden

Sculpture overlooking the perennial garden 

Part of the color display in the experimental garden

Inside the greenhouse during a summer shower

First Congo," invited the Memphis Urban Sketchers to draw during their worship service this morning and show our sketches at the back of the sanctuary afterwards. They have a ministry position devoted to the arts, ably filled by Mary Button, and they change art installations regularly. We were invited to celebrate the beginning of a season where they focus on the creative spirit of God.

It was a neat invitation, and I enjoyed walking in and seeing so many friends and neighbors there. We sang a couple of neat hymns and had a lovely table service, and otherwise I concentrated on my drawings. I did one longer term watercolor and then did several quicker pen sketches.

Le Mont Royal

Monument to Sir George-Etienne Caertier

Mont Royal was just up the street from our apartment in Montreal.

I never quite got the figure at the top of the monument right.

 People selling things at the base of the monument

View from Belvedere Kondiaronk

View from Belvedere Camillien-Houde

Outside Maison Smith

View from Chalet du Mont-Royal

Cimetiere Mont-Royal

Memphis Farmers Market

 Our group met at the Memphis Farmers Market this morning. It's a marvelous place to sketch, with so much color and vibrancy as well as good friends cruising past every so often. I enjoyed sharing a bench with Tom Pellet, our most prolific sketcher. He's always trying new markers and materials and is generous with his excellent advice.

 As a bonus, I took home an excellent lunch of cherry heirloom tomatoes and a mushroom tart.

Quick Sketches at the Checkout Line

Last fall I sketched checkout lines at various grocery stores.  It was an exercise in quick sketching. Except for one store manager, people ignored me.