Calgary Urban Sketchers

Last summer I was able to take advantage of the sunny warm weather and do a series of sketches on the Stephen Avenue mall, some of which are posted below. Last November, I was fortunate enough to be in Hong Kong where the subtropical sun made outdoor daily sketching a pleasure. I shall post and describe those sketches in a another blog.

Back home in Calgary, in the cold and the dark, I wondered if it was possible not to mention practical to do the same in our northern winter. Here is what I found out!

On January 14, the forcast was plus 6 degrees, I grabbed sketchbook, pencils, pens and watercolours and headed to Olympic Plaza. Nothing says urban winter like skating.

On January 30, I was less brave and sought out an indoor yet mostly public and still urban in a sense. Taken from the fourth floor food court where coffee is available.

On February the tenth, my courage returned and I headed over to the old courthouse. At minus four degrees my fingers got cold after 30 minutes and its hard to draw details with gloves on.Did the water-colour later, at home!

February 13, Chinook conditions, have sketchbook will travel, Stephen Avenue.

My conclusion about winter sketching is that it is quite possible, best above plus 5 degrees. Dress warm, have a hot drink and a seat pad or stool because benches and concrete steps can sap your body heat afer a time. Looking forward to meeting everyone on a future sketchcrawl

This was my first sketching session with the local sketch group in Calgary. Here are few sketches from our session. We met at the cafe at Indigo bookstore in Dalhousie station. It was a busy morning and the cafe was packed. We managed to find a small table for the group, overlooking stacks of books.

Vietnam was a pleasant surprise! I began only 2 years ago to carry my sketchbook with me when I travel so while on a rather intense tour of Vietnam last October I was ready when we had free time to make a visual record of our visit.

The first sketch is of an historic storefront in Hoi An Ancient Town across from which is a comfortable coffee shop serving that delicious thick Vietnamese coffee.

This one was sketched from another coffee shop ( my favourite condition for sketching ) in Ho Chi Minh City.

I started this one on the street trying to capture the vendor ladies but finished it later from my photos. The bustle of the street life, the colours and diversity were a challenge to capture.

 

 

I have often found Calgary to be a city which is very underestimated in its beauty. Living at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, it’s easy for it to be overshadowed by the majestic natural vistas that abound just an hour away from the bustling city. But if you’re willing to take the time and explore, there are countless beautiful urban scenery and details to be discovered right in our own backyard. I wanted to share some of my favourite sketches of my home from the past few years.

The first is the view from my old desk at work towards the Bow Valley Square buildings, downtown. Each of the four highrises in the building are situated on a corner of one city block, so from my vantage from the 12th floor across the street, it always seemed like looking out through a tunnel.

I confess that this next one was done from a photo, but it was such a chilly day! I caught this shot over lunch in Chinatown, with everyone rushing to get indoors.

Winter sketching outdoors is actually enabled every few weeks when the warm chinook winds blow in! This was finished over couple days during a particularly warm January.

by Rod Zillman

The pedestrian promenade that stretches for several blocks in Calgary’s downtown core provides ample opportunity to the urban sketcher who wants to sit at a local cafe enjoying a cappuccino,  or grab a seat on one of the many benches and sketch any or all the numerous classic buildings that adorn the strip.

 

by Peter Norman

Welcome to the Calgary Urban Sketchers. Our hope is that this will become a gallery, an information sharing network, a billboard of events and a home for the urban sketchers of the Calgary area. We invite you to reach us through the Contact page and request access to this site. We will respond with everything you need to write your own posts and upload your images. Keep in mind that this is a new venture and that there is a steep learning curve involved. Beginning a new site/ blog on behalf of urban sketchers of Calgary is a daunting task for one who has never seen WordPress, much less used it to construct something legible (I’m initially resigned not to shoot for attractive). The learning curve is littered with landmines, just waiting for me to press an ill-advised key and blast away hours of work.

Nevertheless sketchers, I will WordPress on and soon we will have a useable, postable site for the dedicated sketchers of the Calgary area.

I’m sure that with a lot of time and effort, the work will become easier as the tasks become more familiar and committed to memory. In the meantime, stand by. The Calgary Urban Sketchers platform is almost ready to receive your fabulous artwork. Now, where did I see the instructions on setting up a gallery, hmm…

by Peter Norman

Here are just a couple of the sketches I did in and around Calgary over the past many months, most prior to the arrival of winter. The first is one of the oldest buildings in the downtown area, the original McDougall school.  And the second is known by virtually everyone in Calgary and beyond.  It is the iconic Calgary Tower, once the tallest building in the city, it is now (despite the perspective in this sketch) dwarfed by other structures, such as the Bow Building also shown here. To see larger versions, select the Image Gallery option in the sidebar. Feel free to offer your comments. We are very brave and might well benefit from what you offer by way of praise or critique.