I've been thinking about 2017, of course at this time year, and reflecting on the ups and downs.

The Urban Sketchers Symposium in Chicago was at the top of the "ups". In the last post I shared a little about Urban Sketchers in general, and the first half of the trip, visiting with my daughter Alicia and her family. Now for the jammed packed days of workshops.

The first day of the Symposium started with the Architectural boat tour. Alicia, and I drove to the city after a teary goodbye to my Oswego family. Alicia has really wanted to do this since they moved to Chicago so the time was right. Get a good look at the architecture up close before sketching. It was such a good way to see all the variety of the Chicago skyline and especially the Riverwalk buildings.

Our happy faces at the end of the River Tour

We had a delicious lunch nearby and headed to the Goodman center "hub" at Roosevelt University to register for the Symposium. A good morning and afternoon.

The conference swag was amazing. The sponsors were very generous with the samples of drawing supplies. Simply awesome.

Gabi Campanario told of the beginnings of the Urban Sketchers 10 years ago, starting with a Flickr group of like-minded people who loved to record the world around them through drawings. It became a worldwide collective and growing movement.

Day 1 video of sketches above.

It was great to be with 500+ people who all love to draw, many of whom had already been drawing views of the city for several days already. I was jazzed. Alicia headed home that evening and I began exploring the city on my own, late, but wanting to draw.

I ended up at a so-so sushi place for a late dinner with this semi-scary sculpture as a dinner partner. Still I took in the colorful walls and walked out the door to capture this parking structure and mural. I feel happy that I had the energy for the first day after having been very sick only a few weeks before. Fingers-crossed that I can keep it up for a few days.

A few more Design impressions of Chicago from Day 1...murals, urban art, fixtures, patterns:

Hotel light fixtures, street murals, graffiti sticker, restaurant wall.

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