Last night I arrived in Chicago. I planned to get here early so I could have a few days on my own before everyone else arrived. So far it’s been a great decision as I feel relaxed!
Note: Sometimes on symposium trips I get a bit stressed out on the very first day as there are other people already in town and wanting to catch up.I spend a lot of time on my phone answering messages!
Note 2: Sorry the above photo is a little blurry though it accurately represents what I saw that first evening!
For the #oneweek100peoplesymposium challenge I managed to sketch 56 people in one sitting while I was waiting for my flight as I was delayed by 1 hour. I felt very rusty and a little bit anxious about the impact of the delay on my connection in Dallas, and I think this reflected in my linework. But by about #40 I was starting to get in the groove. I didn’t sketch any people as such on my 15 hour flight (just the view from my seat), and spent the whole time in DFW worrying about whether I would make my connecting flight due to some long lines. I was too tired for my second flight to do much sketching.
Arrived to my hotel around 7.30ish (I had a 30+ hour long Monday), dumped my bag in my room and then headed out to catch the last of the light. I sat on the steps of The Institute of Art for this sketch. I was pretty sleep deprived and knew my eye-hand coordination was a little out. But it’s always worth having a go, and trying to stay up till a reasonable hour on the first night after a long haul flight.
Then I walked up to The Bean for this quick line sketch.
Today(Tuesday), I headed to get a local SIM. Thanks to Fernanda’s advice I got sorted out easily, and just popped into Blicks to have a look.
Note: I didn’t buy anything! I will wait until I have a buddy or two before going through in detail. But just for the record, I am much less of an art supply junkie these days. (Maybe the fact that I now live in a very small flat might have something to do with it).
I walked around The Loop and the Riverside walk and then waited outside the Institute of Art to meet up with a (non-sketching) friend. I was sitting in the shade of one of the urns so this was the best view I could sketch.
Lovely afternoon with my friend (thanks Tobi!) and then, before dinner, I headed back to Michigan Ave to find a ‘good’ building to sketch. So here it is – a fun study of the Fine Arts Building. I like sketching buildings like this – complex but with lots of variety and not too much repetition. Tomorrow I will tackle something harder. There are a lot of hard buildings to sketch here in Chicago!
Anyway, it’s just been a quick update for today. In summary, I am LOVING Chicago and it was good to spend most of the day walking around and getting a feel for this town.
I’m not sure how often I will be able to write an update article, but I will try.
10 Comments
I grew up 2 1/2 hours south of Chicago and traveled there frequently as a child with my mom on day trips. I adore the architecture in downtown Chicago, especially anything by Louis Sullivan. Your sketches are wonderful and brought back happy memories. I hope you have a wonderful experience in one of my favorite cities.
I am one of those people interested in your Buildings class, but need to take your other two classes first since I am a beginning sketcher. Thanks for including that recommendation in your recent newsletter / email about the Building’s class.
I’m so glad you’re in Chicago. This is going to be really fun to see, I work in the city and went to school downtown. I love the Monadnock Building at Jackson and Dearborn, but that might have something to do with housing a coffee shop I also adore. Inside is quite pretty in the passageway too, a lot of the railings and other decorations have been preserved.
Oh ah. I love that building too and walked past it yesterday but didn’t notice the coffee shop. Looking forward to meeting you somewhere
Glad you are liking Chigo! It is a great town. Looking forward to all the Urban Sketcher postings to bring back memories of having lived not far from the Loop. Have a great time and Happy Sketching!
Love your sketches! I am overwhelmed by the massive buildings but you have easily mastered them so impressively. I am encouraged to continue to try my best at such attempts of nearby buildings. I live in a suburb of Cleveland and we have many impressive structures here too. I will draw up courage to try. Thank you as always for posting.
Love seeing your Instagram explorations of Chicago so far. She is a great city.
As Roz Stendhal once wrote, ” Drawing is love.”
It’s great to see Chicago receive attention, having watched USK’ers sketch Paraty, Singapore, and Manchester, the past few years.
I wonder if you will be able to sketch the skyline from the end of Navy Pier, or even from out on Lake Michigan……
Be safe.
It is always great to see how you settle in to enjoy sketching in a location. As always your buidings are impressive…hopefully after your workshop mine will be too. I’m arriving on Tuesday afternoon so I at least have part of one day before everything starts.
I love that your speedy Bean sketch includes reflections 🙂
It’s been so great to see you sketch my adopted home town, Liz, having followed you for so long. Thank you, and safe travels!
It was wonderful to finally meet you in person in Chicago! I had a marvelous time at the Symposium!
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