Memphis Urban Sketchers met at the new/old Sears Crosstown building this morning. An amazing array of agencies came together to renovate this long vacant building into a vertical village. I can walk there from my house, and it is stunning. A ton of restaurants, a YMCA, the Church Health Center (a big deal here in Memphis), a high school to come, various businesses and non profits, all sharing one vast roof in a building with enormous windows. I've got a few friends now living in the apartments and had been before, but it was fun to meet the crew and hang out in the atrium and sketch. 

I did a couple of sketches with fair concentration, and then as the meeting time was approaching, I did a couple of quick ones just to fill the time. In honor of "Inktober," I had bought a Pigma graphic 1 pen to try (see the top two sketches) which our founder Elizabeth Alley always calls her #fatpen. I think I mostly like my fountain pens better, but it's nice to have a fatter pen that doesn't melt with watercolor for times when I'd like that. It definitely has a more graphic feeling than using my usual water soluble ink. It's fun to try new things.