Lsbcal
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
I've done a lot of sketching in the past and some watercolor. Then I came across this really cool site: Urban Sketchers The concept is to do a lot of work with a sketchbook out in the streets, cafes and fields -- anywhere.
There are amateur and pro artists with all kinds of styles on the site. If you poke at the drawings and watercolor sketches you see some more of the artist's works too. It just seems like a fun activity.
If you were ever thinking of starting into art or gave up on it sometime ago, this might be a great source of inspiration.
One can do this on a shoestring budget too. I made a "light carry kit" to use when I am not wanting to pack around a heavier one. For the pallette and paint I used an Altoids tin with little plastic boxes inside for a few primary watercolors. If there is any interest I'll post a picture of it. DW went one step further and used a mini-Altoids tin. Brushes are those light water holding plastic types. I just got a Strathmore watercolor sketchbook (140 lb, nice thick paper, can work on both sides) here: Amazon.com: Strathmore Visual Journal 140lb. Watercolor 9x12: Home & Kitchen I've used the smaller journal they offer and it's great if you are doing washes or even full watercolor.
Here is one of my favorites so far of the artists on that site:omar-paint: Berlin
If you click around on his site using the country links on the right you'll see an amazing body of varied artwork. He also mentions some material ideas. For instance, he favors Faber Castell Pitt pens with a color like Sepia for drawing with watercolor. I think the lighter pen value is sometimes more pleasing with the watercolor but you will see he uses a lot of varied media.
Maybe sometime if there is interest we could start up an ER Urban Sketchers thread to show off our sketches.
There are amateur and pro artists with all kinds of styles on the site. If you poke at the drawings and watercolor sketches you see some more of the artist's works too. It just seems like a fun activity.
If you were ever thinking of starting into art or gave up on it sometime ago, this might be a great source of inspiration.
One can do this on a shoestring budget too. I made a "light carry kit" to use when I am not wanting to pack around a heavier one. For the pallette and paint I used an Altoids tin with little plastic boxes inside for a few primary watercolors. If there is any interest I'll post a picture of it. DW went one step further and used a mini-Altoids tin. Brushes are those light water holding plastic types. I just got a Strathmore watercolor sketchbook (140 lb, nice thick paper, can work on both sides) here: Amazon.com: Strathmore Visual Journal 140lb. Watercolor 9x12: Home & Kitchen I've used the smaller journal they offer and it's great if you are doing washes or even full watercolor.
Here is one of my favorites so far of the artists on that site:omar-paint: Berlin
If you click around on his site using the country links on the right you'll see an amazing body of varied artwork. He also mentions some material ideas. For instance, he favors Faber Castell Pitt pens with a color like Sepia for drawing with watercolor. I think the lighter pen value is sometimes more pleasing with the watercolor but you will see he uses a lot of varied media.
Maybe sometime if there is interest we could start up an ER Urban Sketchers thread to show off our sketches.