Margaret Condon

Artist Statement

I began painting and drawing in college at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Determined to pay bills I added a certificate in Mechanical Drafting and worked in screen printing doing color separations and design. After a few years of sitting at a drafting table all day, realizing I had more potential, work evolved into print production, marketing and eventually a Master's in Advertising from Northwestern. Grateful to be able to work part-time when my 3 girls were little, a local landscape architect agreed to let me to do her drawings. I then studied landscape design and landscape architecture. Urban Sketchers Chicago was new when I joined and attended my first workshop, about 14 years ago then riding METRA with my bike to Sketch Crawls in the city. My painting style is influenced by Urban Sketchers Marc Holmes and Uma Keilkar and their '30X30 Direct to Watercolor challenge. I ride my bike to sketch locations and carry a small kit of art supplies with me everywhere I go. I paint at least every Monday morning with fellow artists and sketch throughout the week. I recently attended 'Pietre e Olive 2025' Sketching workshop in Puglia, Italy. I've taught 'Team Sketching' workshops with Urban Sketchers and have started a monthly 'Suburban Sketching' group at Strongoo in Geneva. I am happy to talk about landscape design, bike touring and basic bike maintenance with anyone who will listen.