This sketch was done with my iPad Pro using the Procreate app. Here I am solely using the Sketching > HB Pencil brush.
There are two types of Chicago most people see:
- The bustling city life full of shops, popular restaurants, amazing skyscrapers and everything is an easy blue line or red line stop away. This part of the city you can’t ever imagine is the same city the news reports to the rest of the world everyday.
Then you have…
- A Chicago full of rich history and so much character that somehow gets lost among all the reports of poverty, gun violence, gangs, drugs, murders and more.
This second Chicago is so beautiful and probably actually doesn’t deserve being 2nd in my list, this part of Chicago is actually an original Chicago. A Chicago I now love and appreciate unconditionally, years after my infatuation with the shiny lights of the tall glass buildings have dissipated. This honey moon phase is over now but I still want to stay and drink more of what this city has to show me.
The Givins Castle located in Beverly, Chicago, IL. The neighborhood Beverly is located at South-West end of Chicago.
This weekend was Chicago Open House, a yearly event in which 200+ locations all over Chicago open their doors to the public to tour the rich architecture this city has to offer. My friend and I ended up starting a tradition last year in which we’d get a car (we both don’t have a vehicle) just to go out to the parts of the city we wouldn’t normally visit. This year another friend joined on our journey, so the 3 of us also challenged ourselves to 10 minute quick sketches at a few of these sites.
Above is my 10 minute sketch of The Givins Castle located in the neighborhood Beverly in Chicago, IL. To give you context of how far south Beverly is from the downtown Chicago is that with public transportation it can take almost a hour or more to get to (taking the Metra would be quicker). Chicago does have a fantastic public transportation system but only to a few select areas, places like Beverly are hidden gems of Chicago.
Stair rail detailing in The Givins Castle, Beverly, Chicago, IL.
I’m a history junkie so visiting these old sites and learning about how they played a role in Chicago overwhelms me with such an indescribable spark. I’m also a sucker for detail and meaning. What I love about older structures is just how much story is put into each part of the construction, something that I feel that is lost in modern architecture with the need for everything to be clean or timeless. There is thought to it but being so involved in the profession I think I get lost in all the gray and can’t see how meaningful my work might be to other people.
So I end up searching for meaning/inspiration in different mediums. Stay tuned for more Chicago inspiration. Thanks for reading!