This past weekend was the Urban Sketchers West Coast Sketch Crawl in Tacoma, Washington. What a blast! More than 150 lovers of drawing gathered to sketch and share their work. We had three designated drawing sessions, Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, and Sunday morning. After each session, sketchers came together to show their work. I don’t know if other Urban Sketcher groups use this term, but this group calls sharing the drawings, the “Throw Down” because the drawings are usually lined up on the ground, but not actually thrown down. Once on the ground, the group tours around them, admiring each and every one.
It’s so much fun to see the drawings. With a group that included children to seniors, beginners to experts, there was a wide variety of subjects, styles and techniques.
A note about the photos that follow: We all snapped pictures indiscriminately of drawings that generally weren’t signed or identified. While it would be ideal to give credit to each of the artists, in nearly all cases below I don’t know who the artists are. The pictures that are shared here are simply a sampling of hundreds of wonderful drawings that resulted from the weekend. For more information see the Urban Sketchers Tacoma website.
There were line drawings to value studies,
and panoramas to details.
I was intrigued by several artists who used accordion fold sketchbooks. Doing a drawing that large in the two and a half hours allotted for each session was impressive. All of the results were spectacular. One of the reasons I enjoy doing Urban Sketcher outings is that I always come away inspired.
I can’t finish this post without expressing my appreciation to the many selfless people who organized this event. It was a friendly and casual gathering that flowed well through the weekend. I just wish it would have lasted longer.
Love to Draw 