Thank YOU Ottawa Sketchers!

It has been one year since Ottawa become an official urban sketcher regional chapter and was welcomed into the international urban sketchers (USk) family by the USk membership committee!

Colin White, Kristina Corre and I (Cindi Foreman) made the application in late 2015 in order to build a local community that would meet to sketch and share and promote the Urban Sketchers mission and manifesto. (Read more about Urban Sketcher Chapters here: http://www.urbansketchers.org/p/chapters.html)

Thank YOU! 

In 2016, we met many times and met LOTS of Ottawa sketchers! At every event we saw familiar faces and new faces as well! We love when new sketchers come out to our events!

If you came to sketch with us once or twice; if you tried to attend every event; and if you wanted to attend but something always got in the way and you could not make it but followed along on social media, we thank you for all of your support in our inaugural year!

Some group shots of Ottawa Urban Sketchers: National Art Gallery of Canada, Nature Museum. War Museum and Sketching the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra rehearsal

Ottawa urban sketching events are FREE and open to all ages and all skill levels! Everyone is welcome from veteran artists to first time sketchers!

2016 Recap 

• December 17: The National Gallery of Canada 
• January 21: Museum of Nature
• February 10: Carleton Tavern
• March 5: The Tim Hortons Brier
• March 6: Landsdowne Farmers Market
• March 19: Aga Khan Foundation
• April 17: Canadian Agriculture & Food Museum
• April 23: WW Sketchcrawl 51: Westboro
• May 1: Ottawa Symphony Orchestra Rehearsal
• May 21: Lincoln Fields "Cherry Blossoms"
• July 6: City of Ottawa Parklets I: Percy Station
• July 20: City of Ottawa Parklets II: Beechwood Park
• July 28: The Somerset House
• August 24: City of Ottawa Parklets III: Glebe
• October 23: Sketching Haunted Ottawa
• December 18 & 19: Sketching the Holiday Rush at the Rideau Centre

We, your three administrators (Colin White, Kristina Corre and Cindi Foreman) of the Ottawa chapter, extend our heartfelt thanks and we hope to see you in 2017!

Don't forget to join/like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/urbansketchersottawa/ and our Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/937458512999363/ for the latest news.

From our last sketch event of 2016

In Memory of Ottawa Urban Sketcher Mathieu Trudel (1979-2016)

December 2016

Christmas Shopping Sketching at the Rideau Centre

Photo source: Ottawa Citizen http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/christmas-shopping-at-the-rideau-centre

We love getting requests to sketch together through our blog and facebook pages. Here are a few of the last requests that we have received:

• I'm coming back to visit my hometown Ottawa over Christmas and am wondering if anyone would like to meet up and draw? Cafe, museum, gallery, Rideau centre in peak Christmas rush, all of it would be good! I'm in town from the 19-30th. 
• I am thinking that the Ottawa Urban Sketchers should have an event at the site of the new Civic Hospital before those beautiful old Experimental Farm buildings get razed or surrounded by new construction.
• I think it would be fun to have a "Sketch Skate" - say in late January or early February depending on the state of the ice. There are plenty of "sketch-able" activities and landmarks we can capture. How about January 28 or 29? 
• Should the Urban Sketchers Ottawa consider a monthly get-together too? Maybe this group could have an Ottawa Citizen article or a local TV news piece ...

Well, we listen and we want you to Save The Date for a possible "Sketch Skate" in January and we plan to do monthly get-togethers in 2017. 

But first, for folks interested in sketching the Rideau Centre in peak Christmas rush let's schedule December 18 (day) and 19 (evening) as our last get-together for 2016!

Start and Finish on the Rideau St. Pedestrian Bridge

Come for an hour or two or three. The times are set for starting and finishing on the pedestrian bridge over Rideau St. and then you can decide what you would like to sketch and which direction to go in between.

Artist rendering of planned pedestrian bridge - featured in 2015 Ottawa Citizen story (http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/plan-would-remove-rideau-street-pedestrian-overpass)

There's plenty to sketch inside the Rideau Centre or you could follow the pedestrian bridge through The Bay to the ByWard Market to capture the festive outdoor vendors there and so much more.

Byward Market screen grab from Ottawa Tourism https://www.ottawatourism.ca/member/byward-market/

Below there is a weekend time and a weekday evening time (Note that sun sets at 4:19 pm)

Sunday December 18: From 10 am to 1 pm

Monday December 19: From 5 pm to 8 pm

If these times don't suit you and you would like to see if folks are interested in alternative times, use the comment section below.