SketchBlog

34th Worldwide SketchCrawl

2012-01-21T16:29:00.000-08:00

Had a nice visit with one of my students as we sketched in a couple of coffee shops here in Moscow. After a week of crazy winter weather, and way too much shoveling of snow and slush, it was fun to relax and draw a little. We were both trying out our new Moleskine A4 watercolor sketchbooks. The first one here was done with a Copic Multiliner SP pen, "Wine" is the name of the color. The second is watercolor over some graphite. I'm not too happy with the scans, so I might need to re-scan or photograph these at some point. Hope everyone around the world had another great SketchCrawl, I look forward to seeing all the results!

A Few Landscapes

2011-12-12T17:39:00.000-08:00

I've been neglecting my duties as a 'blogger' for a while, so I'm feeling the need to put something up, if only to assuage my sense of guilt. Back in August, I was on a vacation with my family in Wisconsin, and managed to do a couple quick sketches in the Moleskine. It was so hot that day, now that I remember it. It's cold in Moscow at this moment, so looking at these sketches takes me back to the sweat and the sunburn I experienced while sketching - especially during the Boathouse sketch, my exposed right arm and leg got fried.

It's the price you sometimes have to pay when you're committed to Sketching on Location. (btw, I'm currently trying to write a book by that title, which is the primary reason I haven't been posting much lately.) This second sketch was done at the Lawsonia Golf Course ... but I thought it was such a quintessentially "Wisconsin" scene that I omitted any golf-related bric-a-brac.

In late September, I took part in a plein air painting competition. We had three days to get out and about and produce as many as three entries for the competition. I only did two, and neither was recognized in the competition, but I was very happy with my efforts. Landscapes are fun, and these are larger than what I usually do - the largest format I typically use is 9" x 12" and these two are 12" x 16" - so it was a good change of pace. The first is a barn I found out near our little rinky-dink airport. The odd radiant pattern in the sky was unintentional ... it was the result of the paper buckling when I applied the wash ... but I kinda like it.

The other painting was done at the University of Idaho Arboretum, one of my favorite views in this town - and there are lots of beautiful views around here, so that's saying something. This painting was just selected by the Dean of our College to go on the college holiday card ... so even though I came away from the plein air competition empty-handed, I ended up with a nice consolation prize.

Making a Drawing

2011-08-31T23:47:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while since I've posted, but to say I've been busy is an understatement. And I know this isn't necessarily in line with the theme of a "sketch" blog. But I'm starting work on a book project, and part of that project will involve making some drawings. Not sketching, but making drawings. There's a big difference. But I didn't want to dive right in and start making drawings for the book. I have a LOT of writing to do before I know just what drawings I'll need to make.

So I thought I'd begin with something unrelated, but still useful. Something to break the ice and get me back into making drawings. I'll be leading a field trip to Portland soon, and I've always wanted to put together a map of downtown that works with the walking tours I typically do for our third-year design studio.

So that's what I'm working on in these pics. It might turn into an underlay for a watercolor drawing ... green for the parks, some sorta blue for the river, and varying greys for the urban fabric. Then I would scan it and add text digitally ... street names and keynotes for important buildings. That's the plan, anyway. For now, it's just really enjoyable to drink a beer or two and get wrapped up in the making of a drawing.

Watercolor Palette

2011-08-02T11:35:00.000-07:00

I'm currently on vacation in Wisconsin, but I've been feeling guilty about my lack of blog posts, and it happens to be raining a bit today, so here I am. So much has happened since the last time I posted, and I'd like to get back in the groove. I want to do a few posts to recap my last few weeks in Rome and also the USK Symposium in Lisbon, but I've had so many fantastic sketching-related experiences recently, it's hard to think of a place to start.

So how about a quick post about my watercolor palette? This is proof that I was busy sketching. I went to Rome with a full palette, and didn't bother to bring my tubes of paint along. Toward the end of the study program, I was running very low on several colors, but especially the blues, and had to buy a small tube just to get through the rest of the summer. I always use M.Graham colors, which are the best I have ever tried, but this brand wasn't readily available in Rome, so I had to settle for a tube of Winsor & Newton French Ultramarine (that's what you can see in the third pan from the left). When I finally got home after the symposium, I cleaned up the palette and put some fresh blobs of color in the pans. I like a clean palette, in case you couldn't tell.

Left to Right, the colors are:

Pyrrol Red

Alizarin Crimson

Ultramarine Blue

Cerulean Blue

Prussian Blue

Hooker's Green

Cadmium Yellow Light

Gamboge

Yellow Ochre

Raw Sienna

Burnt Sienna

Sepia

Video!

2011-07-18T01:01:00.000-07:00

My son, Will, shot this video the other day here in Rome. It was his first time behind the camera, and I think he did a great job. He and his brother, Sam, also shot some video of another sketch, but I haven't had a chance to edit that one yet. The music is from a duo I used to play in - we were "The Jake Brakes" for a while, and then we called ourselves "Broken Homestead" (the other half of the duo passed away quite recently, so this is for Joe!). I'm also planning to upload these clips to the Urban Sketchers Vimeo page, where you can find several of of us in action.

Sketching After Morning Tours

2011-06-09T00:23:00.000-07:00

I've tried to get in the habit of sketching after our morning tours. We tend to do lengthy walking tours (usually 3+ hours) in the morning when it's relatively cool and we're all relatively well-rested. At the end of the tours, we're often in some part of town that I might not visit otherwise. And, at the end of the tours, I'm usually very eager to stop walking or standing and just sit somewhere for a little while. All this creates ideal conditions for sketching, and shown here are a couple efforts that came directly from these situations. The first is one of the 13 obelisks currently standing in Rome. This particular one is in the Villa Celimontana, and it's just the top third that's actually a chunk of an obelisk, sitting on a granite shaft below. This one is from the Temple of Isis (one of a pair with the obelisk in Piazza della Rotonda), and is the smallest obelisk in Rome. It was nice to take my time with this sketch ... for some reason I've been shying away from watercolor in favor of pencil sketches, but this one helped to break the ice a little.

This sketch is from a bus stop adjacent to Piazza Venezia. It's a rather chaotic part of town, so it had never really appealed to me as a sketch subject before. But it seemed like a nice spot to sit, rest my feet, and watch Rome swirl around me. Lots going on in this drawing, so it was a struggle to avoid too much detail.

Next up ... a couple watercolors from Ostia Antica.

Sketching with Luc

2011-06-05T23:42:00.000-07:00

Last week I was able to meet up and sketch with my friend Luciano Cisi here in Rome. Luc lives a little distance outside the city, so it was very kind of him to fight the traffic and drive into town to meet me at the Campidoglio. We sketched there for a little while, until it seemed that the piazza was being overrun by polizia and carabinieri who were apparently preparing to greet some sort of protest march. There are interesting political changes happening here in Italy at the moment ... party politics in the wake of the ongoing Berlusconi drama, as well as a burgeoning anti-nuke movement and an effort to prevent the privitization of public water supplies. Good reasons to get out into the streets, but Luc and I were more interested in doing some sketching.

After a short break for something to drink at a nice little cafe adjacent to the Tarpeian Rock, we headed over to Santa Maria in Cosmedin for one more drawing before Luc had to drive back to Latina. We were interrupted several times by tourists looking for directions ... often to places that were clear across the city. But we managed to finish up before too long, and said our goodbyes until next time - hopefully just a little later this summer!

Media Experiment

2011-05-29T04:30:00.000-07:00

I had to go out to Stazione Tiburtina with one of my students to retrieve his laptop. He had left it on the train when he arrived here in Rome, and we figured it was gone for good when a wonderful rail worker by the name of Francesco Bonelli sent an email to say he had found it. So we met him at Tiburtina, and he wouldn't even consider accepting any money as a reward. Outstanding human being. So I sent my student back on the metro and did a little sketching in a part of town I had never visited before. This is one of my efforts, and I was trying out a technique I hadn't used in many years - a thin black pen (Uni-ball Vision Exact) and a thicker black marker (Pilot Bravo) - in my Moleskine Large Watercolor book. I was having fun building the drawing for a little while when I noticed that the ink from the Pilot wasn't drying very quickly, and I was starting to smudge things up with my sketching hand. I finally got a bit frustrated and stopped drawing, thinking I might add watercolor later to flesh it out somewhat. When I did try to add watercolor, several hours later, the ink from the Pilot immediately started bleeding (you can see a little of this in the trees at far right). I know that many people use soluble inks to get this effect intentionally, but that's not what I was hoping would happen. So I called it quits and left it alone ... a worthwhile experiment.

In Rome Again ...

2011-05-24T06:16:00.000-07:00

I've had a few days to get back in the groove here in Rome, the students seem to be settling in nicely, and I've had a couple opportunities to sketch. I don't have a lot of time to write at the moment, but I wanted to get a few drawings up on the blog to break the ice. The first two are drawings I did this morning over Piazza di Sant'Eustachio, and the last sheet is a group of very brief sketches I did while teaching our first sketching class. I was trying to get students to focus on two things - perspective/composition, and light. It's really wonderful to be back in the city I love more than any other!

Google Map of Rome Sketches: UPDATE

2011-05-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

View Sketches - Roma in a larger map

I just finished updating my Google Map of Rome Sketches, after uploading dozens of sketches from years past on Flickr over the weekend. There are now more than 150 sketches geotagged on the map. As I mentioned in my previous post on this subject, I plan to use this map as a guide this summer, and beyond. It's obvious that I've been neglecting some areas of the city, for whatever reason, so this map has already given me a better sense of what to focus on in the next couple months. I leave in two days, and I look forward to seeing some of you in Rome and Lisbon!

Google Map of Rome Sketches

2011-04-17T18:15:00.000-07:00

View Sketches - Roma in a larger map

I've been tinkering with Google Maps as a way to document the locations of my sketches, and this is my map of Rome. It shows the sketches that I currently have on my Flickr site, which is only about half of the drawings I've done there over the past four years. I'd like to get all of them online at some point ... but that might take a while. It will be useful for me to see where I have sketched and where I haven't, so I can focus in the coming years on places that I've been neglecting for whatever reason. Anyway, take a look and let me know what you think!

Recent Trip to Washington, DC

2011-04-01T17:18:00.000-07:00

I was in Washington for a field trip with a few students recently, and I extended the trip to include some time there with my wife. We met in DC in the early 1990s, and neither of us had been back since. So it wasn't much of a sketching trip, but I still managed a few drawings. The first is from the National Building Museum, the second from Dupont Circle, and the last is a sketch of a sculpture in the National Portrait Gallery.

Portland Urban Sketchers Workshop

2011-03-27T17:55:00.000-07:00

Just got home after a great visit to Portland, where I led a day-long workshop for the Urban Sketchers group there. It was a fantastic bunch of folks, 38 of us in all! I started with a 2-hour talk that mixed techniques on observation, composition, perspective, and media with short sketching exercises. After a lunch break, we met again in Pioneer Courthouse Square for three hours of location drawing. As we were wrapping up the morning session, the sun was breaking through and it looked to be a promising afternoon - there was a 70% chance of rain in the forecast. Unfortunately, just as we were getting started with the afternoon session, the rain came down. I was very impressed with everyone's willingness to fight through it and do some sketching. Thankfully there were some breaks in the rain, and we ended up at the Multnomah County Library (beautiful building!) for some indoor sketching and a look at each other's sketchbooks. I really enjoy doing workshops like this - getting around to everyone and sharing tips and techniques ... it's such a rewarding experience as a teacher. The only problem is that I don't get to sketch a whole lot! I always try to blast out at least one drawing to use as an example, and that's what I've posted here. Thanks to People's Food Co-Op for the use of their Community Room, and huge thanks to Alanna Randall for working so hard on organizing the event!

Montreal with Marc Holmes!

2011-03-08T17:00:00.000-08:00

I was in Montreal over the weekend for a conference, and managed to spend a great day sketching with fellow urban sketcher Marc Taro Holmes. The weather was really awful ... rain on top of snow, just about as nasty as it can get ... but that didn't stop us from visiting several spots around the city. We went first to the Canadian Center for Architecture, to see a small exhibit of drawings by Andrea Palladio. We arrived a little before they opened, and so did a quick sketch of what was across the street from the entrance.

Next up was the Cathedrale Marie Reine du Monde ... which is a scaled-down version of St. Peter's in Rome. I guessed that it was about 1/3 scale, and apparently I guessed correctly (according to this site, anyway). It was nice to get out of the rain for a little while, and a little disorienting to be in such a familiar, albeit smaller, space. After this sketch we took a lunch break and ate giant, awesome smoked meat sandwiches at Reuben's Deli.

After a cab ride out of the city center, we arrived at the Jardin Botanique, and then the Biodome, which contains plants and animals from several different climate zones. It was a dramatic change to step into a tropical climate after being out in the rain and slush ... but lots of fun to sketch the lush vegetation with squawking birds and monkeys (and children) all around.

We found our way back to the Jardin Botanique, and each did a quick sketch of the bonsai in one of the greenhouses. Later, back in the city center, we added some watercolor and had dinner at a little pub. It was a fun day, despite the ugly weather, with lots of entertaining conversation. Big thanks to Marc for showing me around a fantastic city!

Air Travel

2011-01-05T17:43:00.000-08:00

On the way to and from Chicago for a visit with my family, I passed a little time by sketching on the plane. It's not the first time I've engaged in this exercise, and it won't be the last. A couple previous attempts are here and here. Although being stuck in a long steel tube for several hours doesn't present the best opportunity to sketch an interesting perspective, there's something calming about drawing in this situation. Some of my fellow Urban Sketchers have taken up this subject recently, and it's fun to compare the results - they show how a similar subject can be handled in a variety of ways. Here are in-flight sketches from Pete Scully, Gabi Campanario, Tommy Kane, Sharon Frost, Kumi Matsukawa, Lapin ... and Lapin again ... just to name a few!

This second sketch was the first time I drew with my new Namiki Falcon fountain pen. It was a Christmas gift from my parents, and I love it so far. Nice soft nib with a relatively fine line. I'm currently using the blue ink cartridge that came with the pen, but it also has a converter, so I'm looking forward to loading it with some Noodler's Lexington Gray.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Christmas at the Old Home Place

2010-12-24T09:42:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone! We're at my folks' place outside Chicago, where I lived from the time I was 10 years old until I flew the coop after college. It's nice to be back, visiting with family, eating entirely too much, and not having much of anything to do. Though I'm not feeling particularly inspired to draw, I enjoyed doing this quick sketch of my Mom, who is almost constantly busy in the kitchen. It's obviously where she's most comfortable, with kids and grandkids coming and going, stopping to chat or grab a bite to eat. It's where I've had some of my best talks with her, sitting on the other side of the counter, just shooting the shit. Maybe this sketch will get me going, and I'll do more while I'm here. Or maybe not. It's very refreshing, all this sitting around in between indulgent meals. Perhaps I'll just enjoy it for a few days.

Faculty Exhibit 2010

2010-12-13T11:36:00.000-08:00

This past Friday was the opening of the College of Art and Architecture Faculty Exhibit at the Prichard Gallery, which I've blogged about previously. As has been my custom, I'm showing sketches from the past summer in Italy. Links to what's on display:

Davide, Borghese Gallery, Roma

Forum, Paestum

Via delle Vacche, Roma

Case Giardino, Ostia Antica

Temple of Neptune, Paestum

Via San Rufino, Assisi

Piazza San Pietro, Roma

Fontana di Trevi, Roma

Via della Scala, Roma

Piazza di Sant' Ignazio, Roma

In addition to the Italy sketches, I'm also showing the sketchbook from the 1st International Urban Sketchers Symposium, held in Portland this past July. I finished this book in early October (see the previous post), and examples of sketches can be seen here, here, here, and here.

The exhibit will be up until February, in case you're planning a visit to Moscow in the near future!

Return to Portland

2010-10-04T16:19:00.000-07:00

Every time I visit this city, I like it a little more. Part of that is my growing familiarity with the place, and the accumulating experiences I've had with students, other sketchers, etc. But the physical space of the city is really growing on me - the small blocks (200' x 200') make it seem like a big US city that has been scaled-down just enough to favor the pedestrian, and enough to let in a lot of sunlight (when the sun is shining, anyway). I spent the weekend here with my third-year studio group, and also met up with a contingent of Portland Urban Sketchers like Alanna Randall and Kalina Wilson for a short sketchcrawl on Saturday. That's when I did this sketch of the Steel Bridge. I had seen several folks from the Symposium who drew this subject, and I had been meaning to take a stab at it ... and I also wanted to finish off at least half of the accordion Moleskine we all got at the symposium in July. More sketches from my weekend in Portland are on my Flickr page.

Sketching with Students

2010-09-24T17:53:00.000-07:00

It was a nice afternoon here in Moscow, so I took my design studio group out for a little sketching. We were trying to focus on recording scenes and orthogonal sketches of architectural elements relevant to the project they're working on - Courtyard Housing. The project site is in Portland, and we're heading there for a field trip next week, so this was also an opportunity to get in a little location sketching practice before we go. I was using a new fountain pen (a gift from my wife on our 15th Anniversary yesterday!). I like the pen, though I had a little trouble with the water-soluble ink. Probably going to refill it with Noodler's Lexington Gray when I get a chance.

"Three Days of Peace & Sketching"

2010-08-04T22:23:00.000-07:00

Like a lot of people who were in attendance, I'm still smiling ear-to-ear after the Symposium. I knew it was going to be a great event, but I had no idea how great. Before I left for Portland, I had been following people's posts documenting their journeys from far and wide. I jokingly said to my wife, Patty, that it felt like the "Woodstock of Sketching" was about to happen. It was tongue-in-cheek when I said it, but I guess there was a grain of truth as well. And as Lapin was sitting beside me at dinner the final evening, drawing the phrase in his sketchbook, I couldn't stop chuckling about what a fantastic three days we'd all shared. It was refreshing and motivating to be around so many people who are passionate about sketching the world around them. I'm only sorry it didn't go on longer, and that I didn't have time to get to know even more fellow sketchers. I guess that's why I'm going to find a way to get to Lisbon for the next one!

This spread is from the Urban Sketcher's Moleskine. I had never tried this Japanese/Accordion format, and I wasn't crazy about the paper ... but in the spirit of trying new things, I gave it a shot and really enjoyed it. No watercolor, but I was in a pencil/pen mood anyway (almost all of my other sketches from the weekend were pencil). I even tried to blend a couple sketches, which is not something I do very often. But seeing other sketchers use this approach, I just had to give it a try - where the Clyde Common sketch sort of connects to the Freemont Bridge. It's not much, but it's a start!

A big THANK YOU to everyone at the Symposium for making it such a wonderful experience. Thanks to Patrick and Kurt and everyone at PNCA - excellent venue and organization! Special thanks to the other presenters/instructors and fellow USK Correspondents - your work is inspiring, and your friendship is cherished. And extra-special thanks to Gabi, who really made everything come together and never appeared to break a sweat!

See you in Lisbon!

Final Rome Sketches for the Year

2010-07-25T21:16:00.000-07:00

One more post of Rome sketches, from the last few days we were there. The first is the view from our studio, looking out into Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere. This space, like most Roman piazze, changes its character throughout the day. When the sun is beating down, it can be very quiet. Only the sweaty tourists plod through looking for some shade. But in the evening, the piazza comes alive with all types of people, and the street entertainers begin their shows. By morning, it's back to a peaceful, pleasant space ... that's when I did this drawing.

Next up is the funerary monument designed by Gianlorenzo Bernini in 1643, for the Dominican nun named Maria Raggi. I started this sketch one morning, and didn't get very far before I was forced to quit, as there was a funeral just beginning in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva. So I returned a few days before we left Rome to finish. The monument is attached to a column, but I left that out in favor of the monument itself.

The final two sketches are views of the street where we lived last year and this year (and perhaps again next year). The plan of the apartment, and a view of the front door, are here. It's a quiet street amid some very noisy streets in Trastevere, and I had been meaning to draw these views all summer. I finally got the chance, and the second sketch was the last page in my first Moleskine watercolor sketchbook, so it felt like a fitting end to the summer.

Leaving Rome

2010-07-19T04:01:00.000-07:00

We head back to the states tomorrow morning, so this is one final post from Rome until next year. Certainly sad to be leaving, but the heat here during the past couple weeks has made it difficult to stay motivated for touring or sketching. I'm ready to get back to the cool nighttime temperatures of northern Idaho. It's been a fantastic summer, with a great group of students. I felt busier than I did last year for a variety of reasons, and I don't feel like I sketched as much as I would have liked. But I did accomplish quite a lot, so no complaints. Here are a few that I hadn't posted yet ... I may do another post in the next week with some other odds and ends. And then it's off to Portland for the Urban Sketchers Symposium! Can't believe that is coming up so fast, I'm really looking forward to seeing so many folks there.

More from the Moleskine

2010-07-03T06:12:00.000-07:00

I keep finding myself in places where the subject for a sketch is clearly calling for a vertical approach. It's a little cumbersome to work with the Moleskine watercolor sketchbook in these situations, but I do love the paper. And perhaps I should push things even further in the vertical direction, like Matthew Cencich does here (great sketch!). I've got some more catching up to do, so here's a small collection from the past week. The first sketch here is from the Eremo delle Carceri outside Assisi. It's the hermitage where St. Francis used to hang out with his buddies and reconnect with nature. Beautiful spot ... my son Will and I walked up there from town - about 350 meters vertical over 4 kilometers of distance - and were rewarded by the beauty and cool temperatures of the small mountain valley. It's no wonder this was a place favored by St. Francis.

The next sketch is from Perugia, at the cloister adjacent to San Domenico, which now houses the major archaeological museum of Umbria. This was a very quick drawing, done directly in watercolor.

This sketch is another one from Assisi, of the inside of the Porta San Giacomo ... I had intended to do a drawing of the facade of San Francesco, but was distracted by the sun in this quiet, sloping little street.

And finally, this was a watercolor I did just yesterday while I was out for sketching class with my students here in Rome. San Silvestro in Capite has a lovely small courtyard in front, dominated by the 12th century bell tower and a later facade. But my favorite aspects of this place are the building surrounding the space and the well-cared-for plants that help to make the space feel just a bit cooler on very hot days. And yesterday was very hot ... after enjoying spring-like weather from mid-May through almost the end of June, it seems as if the real heat of the summer has set in. Everyone is moving more slowly, and the demographics of our neighborhood have made a distinct change as Italians start heading for the sea and the tourists begin to take over in more evident fashion. Just two more weeks here, and then it's back to Moscow. A little more than a week after that, and I'll be in Portland for the Urban Sketcher's Symposium!

Still Trying to Catch Up ...

2010-06-21T05:30:00.000-07:00

More sketches from the backlog I've developed in the past few weeks ... This time it's a few watercolors from various places. Sketching small, in something like a 5" x 8" Moleskine watercolor sketchbook, is certainly enjoyable. And keeping things small usually means keeping things quick and loose, which definitely has its advantages when sketching on location. But to really get into sketching with watercolor I feel like I need more space on the page, and it's easier to work on a 9" x 12" pad or block instead of in a book. Using a larger, better brush is also a nice change of pace from the waterbrush I typically use for small subjects. Waterbrushes are fantastic for the small stuff, but there's nothing like a good sable #6 to get the water and pigment flowing. This first sketch is in the center of Rome, the Via delle Vacche, just off of Piazza del Fico. This was done just after finishing my sketching colurse with students for the morning ... one of my favorite times to draw on my own is immediately after teaching people about drawing!

The second sketch is from Ostia Antica, the ancient port city of Rome. Like the first sketch in this post, I had just finished up with my students and had found a nice shady, quiet spot to settle in and paint. This is the "Case del Giardino" ... i.e., garden apartments.

This one is from Paestum, a Greco-Roman settlement south of Salerno, along the coast. It was founded in the 4th/5th Century BC, and is one of my favorite places to visit ... amazing ruins in an equally amazing landscape. This is the lone intact column around the ancient Forum. I got a little bit lost in the act of painting and paid for it with a painful sunburn on the right side of my neck.

The last of this little collection is from Piazza Umberto I in Atrani. I started this one in the upper-left, and was having fun with the landscape with the little monastery on the cliff ... but I have to admit I got a little lazy toward the end, and sort of gave up toward the bottom. My patience has its limits, I suppose. So perhaps it's back to the small-scale stuff for a while.

Galleria Borghese

2010-06-20T00:11:00.000-07:00

I don't think I could say it better than Gabi Campanario did in his post on Urban Sketchers, so I'll just quote him: "I can't think of a better way to experience a museum visit than drawing whatever is on display. You're much more likely to remember what you learned if you sketched it." Ordinarily, I'm too much in awe to sketch when I visit the Galleria Borghese here in Rome, but since I've been doing more figure drawing lately I figured it was worth a try.

The Galleria Borghese was created by Scipione Borghese in the early 1600s. His uncle, Camillo, became Pope Paul V in 1605, and Scipione was elevated to Cardinal the same year. He was an avid art collector, and this gallery was his personal treasure trove for ancient sculpture and the contemporary works of his day. Scipione Borghese was Gian Lorenzo Bernini's first major patron, and the gallery houses some of his most impressive early works, including Aeneas and Anchises, Pluto and Proserpina, Apollo and Daphne ...

... and also his version of David, which is likely a self-portrait of the artist and which shows the protagonist in the moment before he slings the stone to kill Goliath. This last sculpture is the one I decided to draw on this visit. Since you are only allowed into the museum in 2-hour shifts, your time there needs to be focused ... so I did my best to move through the picture galleries and made brief visits with the other Bernini sculptures before settling in and drawing for about 45 minutes. When I take on subjects like this, I'm not always happy with the results, but I was very happy about this one. I'm already looking forward to going back at some point to try other sculptures, or perhaps this one again from a different angle.

Small Sketches from Atrani, Part 1

2010-06-19T07:02:00.000-07:00

A week ago we went to Paestum and Atrani for four days. Beautiful weater and fantastic sketching opportunities. Here are a few from the Moleskine. The first is the view of the western bluff above town, toward the sea.

This is the view from Piazza Maddelena, in front of the main church in town and looking along the coast to the east. I was experimenting with blue shadows ... seemed to work reasonably well.

And this last one is the view from my room. I got the idea for doing this sketch while I was on the phone with my wife, who had just arrived in Rome. The reflections looked interesting, and the bright sunshine outside contrasted well with the cool interior of the room ... more to follow!

Short Watercolor Studies

2010-06-19T06:30:00.000-07:00

Another example from sketching class ... in this case I was trying to show my students how to do very small, quick studies in watercolor. And I was trying to get sort of loosened-up myself, by not taking on too much at one time. These were done around the Portico d' Ottavia.

Catching Up ...

2010-06-19T06:25:00.000-07:00

I've been very busy, and doing a fair amount of sketching .... but I haven't been posting enough. So I have a backlog of drawings that I want to get up on the blog and Flickr. The next several posts will probably come fast and furious, with not a whole lot of storytelling to go along with the images.

These sketches were done in the early days of the program, during the sketching course I teach. The goal was to show students how to keep their drawings quick, small, and manageable. Each of these is just a few inches by a few inches, and only about 5 or 10 minutes. (Derwent Venetian Red pencil.)

Much more to come very soon ...

Sketching Gear

2010-06-06T01:58:00.000-07:00

Here is my sketching kit at the moment ... I have a few drawers of materials in my office, but this is what I'm currently traveling with for a summer in Rome. For pencils, I'm carrying three Staedtler-Mars (B, 2B, and 4B), a Derwent Venetian Red, a Derwent Chocolate, and a General's Medium Charcoal ... and a pencil-extender one of my teachers gave me a very long time ago. I also have a kneaded eraser for basic cleanup - as a rule, I never erase any lines, so this is just for accidental smudges - and a Mars plastic eraser for major accidents, like if a pigeon should happen to dump on my sketch. A small General's sharpener has been working fine, but I need to replace my little pocket knife - it was confiscated by TSA as I was on my way to Rome a couple years back, and I just haven't found a new one yet. For pens, I have a Uniball Vision Exact Micro (although I haven't been using it very often), a Lamy Safari with an extra fine nib, and an old Yafa fountain pen my dad gave me many years ago. I like the Lamy because it's so rough-and-tumble, but the Yafa is easier to draw with - it feels softer and much more fluid. Noodler's Lexington Gray ink is in both fountain pens. I had searched far and wide for a dark brown (sepia) ink that wouldn't bleed when adding watercolor to a sketch ... but no such luck. So I followed Nina Johansson's lead and went with the Lexington, and I like it very much - thanks, Nina! My watercolor palette is the same one I bought as a student about 25 years ago - a good, solid, hinged enameled-metal one, with a removable plastic piece that has the wells (makes it very easy to clean, and I like a clean palette!). My colors are all from M.Graham, and I really can't recommend them highly enough. The specific colors are, top-to-bottom on the palette, in some cases with two colors in the same well: Sepia, Burnt Umber, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Gamboge, Cadmium Yellow Light, Hooker's Green, Viridian, Prussian Blue, Cerulean Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Dioxazine Purple, Alizarin Crimson, Quinacridone Rose, and Cadmium Red. Finally, my brushes ... I use a Koi waterbrush for small, on-the-go subjects, and one of two other brushes for larger watercolors, and for when I have more time. The red-handled one is a Princeton synthetic sable #6 round, and the clear-handled one is a Connoisseur Kolinsky sable #6 round (this is my favorite brush). Not pictured here is a small brass water reservoir that clips to my sketchpad when I'm not using the waterbrush. Also not pictured here are the paper towels essential for watercolors and the pencil case I use to carry all this stuff around. Portability is the prime limiting factor ... I have to be selective to get it all in the case, and being selective is good!

Quick Sketches

2010-06-05T01:21:00.000-07:00

Here are a few quick sketches from last week - I have a slight backlog and I'm trying to catch up. Even though I've been trying to simplify things and move to just a single sketchbook ... well, that hasn't happened. The dinner sketches I recently posted were from my relatively new Handbook - which was the intended 'single sketchbook.' But the sketches in this post are from the Moleskine (5" x 8" watercolor). And I'm also using 9" x 12" pads of drawing paper and watercolor paper for larger drawings (will post some of those soon). So if anything I've just added to the confusion by adding the Handbook. Well, it's not really confusion. It's just a hassle sometimes to tote all this stuff around ... or, if I leave one of these books/pads at the apartment, then I always regret not having it with me. Not a big problem, I know, but these are the things that occupy the mind of a sketcher. The first one here, of the Piazza di Spagna, was another attempt at using watercolor as a sketch medium - i.e., not doing any sketching with pencil or pen and then watercolor, but just doing the sketch directly in watercolor. The second sketch, of a beautiful little space just off the Via Margutta, was done with a Derwent 'Chocolate' colored pencil (one of my students asked if it was made with real chocolate), and the last one - at the Villa Giulia - is the Lamy Safari, Lexington Gray ink, and watercolor. It was a nice day of touring with my students and sneaking in a few quick sketches along the way. I'm having good fun mixing it up with media over here!

Eating Alone in Rome

2010-06-02T05:18:00.000-07:00

Since my family has yet to join me here in Rome, and since I haven't had the time (or made the time) to make myself dinner, I've been eating out on my own every couple of days. It can be lonely, and Italians often regard me as an oddity - I think it's uncommon for them to eat alone, and I must look a little sad sitting there by myself. But it's not so bad if I do a little sketching and writing in my journal before or after I devour the evening's pasta. The day's events, comments on the food, and assorted thoughts make up the writing ... and whatever happens to be in my view ends up as a sketch. For this reason, I usually try to grab a table with a view through the door, but that's not always possible.

I've been writing and drawing in this book, a Handbook Journal, with an old Yafa fountain pen, using Noodler's Lexington Gray ink ... and it would be nice if I could add a little watercolor, but that would make things a bit complicated at the restaurant table. So instead I've chosen to keep things simple and quick. This is a selection from a few of my favorite places here in Trastevere.

Roma

2010-05-26T08:39:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Rome last Thursday evening, and almost all of my students were in town by the end of the day Saturday, ready to begin the fourth annual incarnation of the University of Idaho's Rome Architecture Program. On Sunday, we all went to the Pantheon for the Pentacost service, at the end of which the local firefighters dump rose petals down through the oculus at the peak of the dome. It's an incredible sight, and I spent most of the event shooting video that I'll need to edit later. After the fact, I did this sketch from memory, and as a sort of title page for this next chapter in my moleskine sketchbook.

Following the mass, we broke for lunch and then began an orientation tour around the center of town. This is a fairly casual and very random tour, where I attempt to lead the students into surprising urban situations - sudden vistas, curious spaces, hit-you-over-the-head Baroque moments. We talk about the history of the city, it's urban plan, it's monuments and personalities. We covered a lot of ground and the tour ended up going for about four hours, finishing at the Campidoglio, with its views over the Forum to the southeast and the Centro Storico to the north, where I did this quick sketch.

Getting to Rome

2010-05-26T08:22:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Rome after the standard long flights and long layovers scenario. On one of the flights, I honestly can't recall which one, I started to work out a timeline that plotted Moscow time against Rome time, with time spent in the air (red) and time spent on the ground (green) on a bar down the center. Even after going through this little exercise, and creating what I thought would be a helpful graphic device, it was still a confusing process of travel. But I've been here almost a week now, and the trip over seems like a distant memory. Funny how time bends when you change so many time zones overnight.

SketchCrawl

2010-05-15T19:03:00.000-07:00

I had way too much going on to plan/organize a sketchcrawl, as the semester is crashing to a close and I depart for Rome in just a few days. But one of my tasks before leaving was to do a sketch of our kids' elementary school as a gift for their principal, who is retiring this year. He's an amazing guy, and has helped our kids immensely, so this was really the least I could do. I hope he likes it! ... The next time I post will be from ROME.

Doodles

2010-04-19T10:02:00.000-07:00

Ordinarily, I'm not a big fan of making mindless doodles. I prefer to draw from observation, and I enjoy the practice of trying to represent what I see in a variety of media. But sometimes I fall out of practice or get too busy and don't make enough time to get out and sketch. Too many meetings can also be the culprit, and that was the case with these sketches ... mindless doodling, with watercolor added later. In both cases, I just went through my watercolor palette one color at a time, with no mixing involved. So in a way, these are useful little images in that they describe my palette at this point in time. They were both drawn using a new ink I'm trying out - Lexington Gray (with a Lamy Safari EF). I've been trying, without any luck, to find a dark brown waterproof fountain pen ink, and noticed that Nina Johansson (a fellow Urban Sketcher) frequently uses Lexington Gray with watercolor.

So I ordered a sample from Pear Tree Pens (these folks have been exceptionally helpful) ... and so far I like it - not as dark or warm-toned as I'd prefer, but it is certainly waterproof, so it's a keeper for now. Both of these sketches were done in my relatively new Handbook, which I'm trying to use for lists, lecture notes, journaling, meeting notes, and sketches. It's a great little book, with watercolor-like paper, but in a portrait format (unlike the Moleskine watercolor books, which still seem to be available only in landscape format).
See? For better or worse, I don't think I'm capable of a truly 'mindless' doodle.

Conference Sketching

2010-03-22T17:04:00.000-07:00

Going to academic conferences can be great fun and very inspiring. This past weekend, I attended the National Conference on the Beginning Design Student (NCBDS) in Charlotte, NC, and had a fantastic time. Met lots of interesting people, learned all sorts of new approaches to teaching, and enjoyed many good conversations. The only drawback with most conferences is that I'm more or less forced to be inside all day listening to presentations. So even when the conference is in an interesting place, and when the weather is spectacular (as it was over the weekend), it's rare that I get a chance to walk around, discover, and sketch the location. My sketchbooks end up being a mix of airport scenes, auditorium interiors, and the occasional sketch of an image from someone's presentation. As evidence, here are a couple spreads and a few details from other pages.

SketchCrawl - Moscow

2010-02-27T17:36:00.001-08:00

A few sketches from today's 26th Worldwide SketchCrawl ... click the images for large size.

Friendship Square

Hodgins Drugstore

Sister's Brew Coffeeshop

Studio

2010-01-27T16:21:00.001-08:00

Just a very quick sketch of the Third-Year Architecture Studio at the University of Idaho. My students are working on developing structural ideas for an Aquatic Center project, and while they're cranking out some drawings, I thought I might crank out a drawing. The space was just re-painted over the holiday break, and it's now very very beige. It should only be a small matter of time before they start adding graffiti and posters and what not. But for now it's beige. To paraphrase from Spinal Tap, "How much more beige can it be? And the answer is ... none ... none more beige."

Figure Drawing

2010-01-17T15:12:00.001-08:00

I finally got into the habit of attending a weekly figure drawing session during the past few months, and decided to upload some of my efforts. (More examples are on my Flickr page. UPDATE: Flickr made me mark these as "restricted" - apparently a few were a bit too anatomically correct. sheeesh.) It takes more discipline than I usually have to make it to the sessions, especially because they take place on Saturday afternoons, when I'm ordinarily puttering around the house trying to avoid doing anything productive. But figure drawing is so worthwhile. It's easily the most challenging subject matter I've ever tried to draw, and it forces me to see light and form in a more subtle way than I do when sketching architecture. The sessions are on hiatus until mid-February, and I'm already eager to get back into it. In the meantime, I'm trying to study the subject a bit more ... I picked up "Figure Drawing" by Nathan Goldstein in a used bookstore last week, and I look forward to applying some of his teaching. At the same time, one of the things I enjoy about figure drawing is learning to simply trust my eyes, rather than over-analyze the human figure or try to become an expert on anatomy.

Sisters' Brew - Moscow, ID

2010-01-17T15:04:00.001-08:00

It doesn't feel much like winter, so I rode the scooter down to the coffeeshop to do a little work. Sisters' Brew has become one of my favorite places to hang out - not that there are very many places to hang out in this little town. It's warm and cozy and the coffee is top-notch. And it's been a little while since I actually took some time to do some drawing just for the fun of it.

Prichard Gallery Exhibit

2010-01-10T10:24:00.000-08:00

I neglected to post about this before the holidays, but I have several sketches in our annual College of Art & Architecture Faculty Exhibit, which runs from December 11 through January 17 in the Prichard Art Gallery here in Moscow, ID. It's always a fun exhibit, with a wide variety of work, and I'm always very happy and honored to contribute. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me at the opening reception ... it would have been nice to get a shot or two with the gallery full of people.

Final Exam

2009-12-14T09:27:00.001-08:00

Here's a quick sketch in response to the Weekly Challenge on the Urban Sketchers Flickr group: "Busy, Busy People." I had to give the final exam in one of my courses this morning, so I sketched while the students completed the exam. Now I just need to grade them all! (BTW, This sketch was done with an old Yafa fountain pen and Noodler's Walnut ink ... I've been trying a variety of pens/inks, and will hopefully do a blog post on that subject soon.)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T12:36:00.001-08:00

Patty and Sam working on Thanksgiving dinner ... graffiti on Facebook.

SketchCrawl - Moscow!

2009-11-21T18:17:00.000-08:00

It was a small turnout today, and it was cold - but sunny! - so here are my efforts.

Started at Sister's Brew and drew some folks enjoying a mellow Saturday morning in a very warm, cozy space. I really like this wine-colored Copic Multiliner ... might need to buy a fresh one soon.

From the same spot, near the windows, I did this sketch looking across Main Street. Wells Fargo, our bank, is on the left and The Red Door, one the very few decent restaurants in town, is on the right. This was the final sketch in my first Moleskine sketchbook ... it felt good to finish that one.

I broke in a new Moleskine pocket watercolor book for this sketch, of an alley off First Street. It was a nice view, with clear contrasts and a nice perspective, but my hands were freezing by the time I finished up.

So I retreated to the Moscow Bagel place for a sausage/egg/cheese bagel, and managed this quick watercolor. It was a nice morning of sketching, followed by a 2-hour figure drawing session in the afternoon. After all the work I've had to deal with in the past several weeks, it felt good to simply draw today. Now it's time to surf the SketchCrawl forum and see the other sketching that happened today all around the planet.

25th Worldwide SketchCrawl!

2009-11-19T10:44:00.000-08:00

This is the 5th Anniversary of the first Worldwide SketchCrawl, instigated by Enrico Casarosa, and the 25th overall. People will be sketching where they live, in approximately 100 locations all around the world, and then sharing their sketches online in the SketchCrawl Forums.

SketchCrawlers in Mosocow - let's meet at Sisters' Brew Coffee House at 9am Saturday, November 21. Depending on the weather, we can either stay there and sketch for a while or head outside and sketch the town, or maybe it will turn into a coffeeshop crawl. Feel free to take part in the morning session as long as you like, continue sketching throughout the day, on your own or in groups. We'll meet up again at the end of the day, at Coeur d'Alene Brewing Co. at 5pm to share our sketches in person - then we'll share our sketches online in this forum. Let's hope for good weather - see you Saturday!!

Sisters' Brew Coffee House - 9:00am
Coeur d'Alene Brewing Co. - 5:00pm

Weekend Trip to Chicago

2009-10-27T21:31:00.000-07:00

I made a brief trip to Chicago over the weekend for my 25-year high school reunion. Not much time devoted to sketching, though I did manage a couple while in-transit and another while in town. All three of these were in my small moleskine - I hadn't done much drawing in this book lately, mainly because I've been enjoying the watercolor moleskine so much, but I figured this wasn't the kind of trip where I'd be likely to do any painting, and it was nice to travel very light. So I used a few Copic Multiliner pens - the first sketch is 'Sepia' and the third is 'Wine' which I had never used before. This first sketch was made at the Salt Lake City airport, Terminal B, while waiting for the first delayed flight of the weekend. I say 'first' because it certainly wasn't the last.

This second sketch was done at the Art Institute, where Caravaggio's "Supper at Emmaus" is on loan from the National Gallery in London (info here, and a nice image here). Aside from seeing so many old friends, and visiting with some of my family, this was the major highlight of the weekend for me. I've loved Caravaggio's paintings for many years, and this was my first look at one of his most interesting works, which marks a sort of bridge between the early and middle segments of his career. Sketching this painting, while sitting on a bench in the gallery, was really a lot of fun and gave me the chance to patiently study an astounding work of art. I had originally intended to draw more of the room/people surrounding the painting, but I'm glad I left that stuff alone ... I like the way the surroundings are ghosted-in, almost as if the scene inside the painting is more 'real' than the space of the viewer, almost like looking through a window. This might actually contradict some of Caravaggio's intentions ... but I think it works in this sketch.

The final sketch of this group was made the day after I was scheduled to arrive home. Due to another delayed flight (two, actually), and a resulting missed connection, I was stuck overnight in Salt Lake City. The final flight was only an hour long, and while it started out smooth, it was very bumpy by the time I finished this sketch. This is the Copic 'Wine' color I mentioned already ... I like it a lot against the yellowish paper in the moleskine, and I like the multiliners because they just never seem to dry out. So while this was not the kind of trip where I was able to sketch very much, these three quick drawings hit the spot for me.

SketchCrawl in Portland, OR

2009-09-20T19:14:00.001-07:00

I was in Portland with a large group of students for a field trip, and managed to do a few sketches. The 24th Worldwide SketchCrawl was happening on Saturday, but the Portland folks on the SketchCrawl Forum weren't planning on a get-together until Sunday and I was leaving before then. So a sketched a bit on Thursday and Friday. The first one here is a building at 12th and Alder, by Skylab Design Group - it's a retrofit of a 1905 building, and it won an AIA Honor Award when it was completed in 2006.

The second sketch is of the Blitz-Weinhard Brewery from 1908. This was part of a major real estate deal in 2002 that contributed to the development of the south edge of the Pearl District, a newly redeveloped area of condos, shops, restaurants, etc.

On Friday morning, we gathered at our design studio site in north Portland. The students will be designing a courtyard housing proposal along a light rail line just off Interstate 5. A couple blocks north of their project site is Patton Park, with a small historic fire station and a more recent water tower. It was a beautiful morning, sunny and a little chilly, and this view really caught my eye.

One of our final stops, after quite a lot of walking tours, was the Chinese Classical Garden (the main photo on their home page is roughly the same view as this sketch). It took some time to get this one set up and painted, but it was wonderfully peaceful and easily one of the finest sketching experiences I've had in some time.

Moscow Aquatic Center

2009-09-13T17:24:00.001-07:00

This was the final weekend of the season at the Hamilton-Lowe Aquatic Center here in Moscow. Saturday was the Palouse Sprint Triathlon, and my 8-year-old son, Sam, competed in his age group. It was a beautiful day, a little hot in the sun, and it would have been nice to just spend the day swimming. Today, Sunday, they let people bring their dogs (ours included) for a canine free-for-all. It was a dog-lover's paradise, and while it might have been a good challenge to sketch the action, it was enough for me to shoot some video and enjoy the scene.

Back on campus again ...

2009-09-11T14:03:00.001-07:00

School has been back in session for a couple weeks now, and I finally had enough breathing room to get out for a quick sketch. I was also inspired by a few books I received from Amazon yesterday: An Illustrated Life, The Venice Chronicles, and Drawn to Life. All three are fantastic, and I look forward to spending more time reading and being inspired about drawing. But for now, it's most important to just start drawing again! This sketch is of a building called Brink Hall, which used to be the Faculty Office Building ... some faculty still have their offices here, but it has become more of a mixed bag of department offices and other stuff. I hope the weather holds out for at least another few weeks, now that I have the bug to draw again.

Mapping the Summer

2009-08-11T16:30:00.001-07:00

Late last night I finally arrived back in Moscow after a long summer away from home. To keep myself busy on the flight from Chicago, I sketched out a little map of the summer's travels, then added some color today during a break from unpacking. I wasn't looking at a map when I drew this, so my geography is a little off ... but it was a fun way to cap off this portion of the Moleskine.

Venezia

2009-08-09T20:41:00.000-07:00

Just before leaving Rome for the summer, I attended a conference in Venezia, and managed to do a few sketches there. It was a bit frustrating not having more time in a place so ideal for drawing, but I do hope to return sooner or later. This watercolor was done just off the Grand Canal, on the Fondamenta de L'Albero ...

The second sketch is the back side of Santa Maria della Salute, from a long narrow piazza called the Rio Terra dei Catecumeni ...

... and the third sketch is of the Ca D'Oro from across the Grand Canal. This last one was a repeat of a sketch I did as a student about 23 years ago, from almost the exact same vantage point (see the old sketch here). I remember that drawing being very enjoyable, despite the fact that it was very cold that day and my hands were numb by the time I finished. It was fun to draw the same subject so many years later, and this time it was heat that I had to deal with. Perhaps in another decade or two I'll get smart and visit this place in the spring or fall.

Another SketchCrawl in Roma

2009-07-26T13:26:00.001-07:00

We did another sketchcrawl yesterday in Rome - mainly the same folks who got together for the 'official' sketchcrawl on July 11 - Marco Carloni, Marta Palazzo, and Manlio Vetri (and a few other folks for whom I unfortunately have no links!) - results from the previous crawl are here, and we'll likely post results from yesterday's efforts there as well. Also joining the group this time around was Benedetta Dossi, who is a fellow correspondent for Urban Sketchers. We met in the late afternoon at the Villa Torlonia, out along the Via Nomentana beyond the Porta Pia, a beautiful location to sketch for a few hours. This first sketch is of the main building, designed by Giuseppe Valadier in 1806 (Mussolini used this as his state residence from about 1920 onward).

The next sketch is of the Casina delle Civette ("House of the Owls"), designed as a 'Swiss Cabin' in 1840 by Giuseppe Jappelli, but later transformed into a 'Medieval Hamlet' under the direction of architect Enrico Gennari.

It was a fantastic time taking the breezes and sketching with new friends. I was especially impressed with Benedetta's sketching techniques, and we had some great conversation when we weren't so focused on drawing. Also, big thanks to Marco for giving me a lift back to Trastevere! It's a shame my time in Rome is almost done this time around, but I've been very fortunate to see many new places in this amazing city, and even more fortunate to connect with a wonderful group of folks who love to sketch as much as I do.

Bioparco & Meeting with Luc!

2009-07-23T04:36:00.001-07:00

Wednesday the 22nd was my son Will's birthday, so we headed to the Bioparco (i.e., "Zoo") here in Roma. It was a great place, and it was fun to do a little sketching as we strolled around ... probably could have done more, but it was very hot and at some point I simply lost the motivation. Next year, I hope to go back there earlier in the summer, when the weather is more agreeable.

Also yesterday, I met up with a new friend and sketching partner, Luciano, for the first time - he had commented a few times here on my blog, so we got together at the Campidoglio to chat about our sketchbooks and then headed to San Giorgio Velabro for a quick sketch session before I had to get back to Trastevere for Will's birthday dinner. The temperature had come down somewhat, though we had to deal with a portiere that didn't want us sitting on his precious steps (this is the only time I can recall someone not letting me sit in a particular place to do a sketch - usually they are curious about the drawing and entirely accommodating). I hope to connect with Luc again next summer - his blog, with some really amazing drawings and watercolors, is here - go take a look!

FINA World Championships in Rome

2009-07-21T08:19:00.001-07:00

The FINA World Championships, including swimming, water polo, diving, and synchronized swimming, have just gotten underway here in Rome. As a former water polo player (in high school and a couple years in college), I knew I had to go to yesterday evening's preliminaries, which had the USA vs. Italy as the final game of the session. The first two matches I watched were fairly close (Spain vs. Serbia, during which I made this sketch, and then Romania vs. Macedonia), and I was really enjoying the novelty of seeing world-class water polo in person. Then, at about 9pm, the lights came on and the place really filled up. There were just a few small groups of US fans scattered around - otherwise it was a very excited and vocal crowd favoring the home team. The US got off to an early but small lead, though the Italians kept it close throughout, eventually tying it up late in the game. Every time they scored a goal, the place absolutely erupted in wild cheers. There was a certain amount of jeering directed at the US team and the US fans, but it all seemed good-natured, even comical at times. The US team emerged victorious, with a score of 9-8, and now I'm considering going back for another of the preliminary rounds - when's the next time I'd be likely to see this level of water polo? ... A news report on the game can be found here.

Home in Rome

2009-07-20T06:19:00.001-07:00

This is where we've been living for the summer in Rome. The first drawing is a plan of the apartment at Via del Cipresso 12 in Trastevere. I first had to set up a grid based on the floor tiles in order to figure out the slight angles of some of the walls, and then added watercolor to show the spaces with some shading. The area in grey is our little courtyard - more of a light well, really, but it's a good place to dry the laundry. The blue areas are the kitchen and bathrooms, which are finished in a blue tile.

I considered drawing a section to show the interior space, but instead did a quick sketch of the front door ... it had to be quick, because it's gotten very warm here! Just a couple more weeks before I head back to the states. It's been a great summer.

A Couple New Ones ...

2009-07-15T07:52:00.000-07:00

I was trying to connect with my students this morning, as they had each gone to their various piazzas to sketch. Ordinarily we head out as a group, but they're in the final throes of collecting information and images for their piazza study projects (each student is assigned two small piazzas to document and analyze). It was an unsuccessful strategy, but I did manage to do a couple sketches myself. The first is the facade of Sant' Eustachio, sketched from the back side of the Pantheon. I was trying out a new pencil - a Faber-Castell "Pitt Oil-Base Extra-Soft." It was relatively smooth, with a nice dark tone, and a worthwhile change of pace from the Staedtler-Mars pencils I typically use.

The next sketch is Via degli Spagnoli, just off Piazza delle Coppelle. I was trying to be more patient with the watercolors, building up the darker tones as I went, and I think it paid off fairly well. I was a bit nervous about laying in the purple shadow on the left, but it was one of those instances where I knew immediately that it was the right thing to do to complete the drawing. So I celebrated a little with a frulatto (banana and pineapple) at Pascucci's on my way back to Tratevere.

SketchCrawl #23 - Roma

2009-07-12T04:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the 23rd Worldwid e SketchCrawl. I first went to the Centrale Montemartini, where I really should have done some drawing, but the combination of early-twentieth century power plant with late-Republican Roman sculpture was just too much to process. Instead I took many photos of the collection, which I found to be more fascinating in some respects than the Capitoline Museum. Next it was off to the Cimitero Acottolico, aka the "Protestant Cemetery" - one of my favorite places in this city for its history and atmosphere. John Keats is buried here, and Percy Shelley, who said of the cemetery, "It might make one in love with death, to be buried in so sweet a place."

The cemetery is just inside the Aurelian Wall (first sketch) and adjacent to the Piramide di Caio Cestio (second sketch). I would have enjoyed spending more time there, and perhaps doing more drawing, but there was going to be a meeting of SketchCrawlers back in Trastevere, so I had to get moving in that direction.

The plan was to meet in Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere, very close to our apartment. I had never met any of them before, but by carrying my Moleskine where people could see it I managed to attract the attention of another sketcher who had arrived a little early. The rest of the folks showed up over the course of the next hour while a few of us got started. It was great to meet some new people and do a little sketching, but I had dinner plans with Patty and wasn't able to stay long. Nonetheless, contact info was exchanged and I look forward to meeting up again with Marco, Antonello, and the others before I have to leave Rome in a few weeks.

Barcelona ... Meeting with Lapin!

2009-07-06T08:14:00.000-07:00

Barcelona was an amazing city, and I would have enjoyed my brief time there in any case. But the experience was made far more fascinating and memorable having a knowledgable guide and brilliant sketch partner. Lapin is a fellow Urban Sketchers correspondent and a very prolific sketcher and illustrator, as well as a fine host and guide to a city he obviously loves. We met on Friday evening for the first time for a brief sketch before continuing on to a small party and then dinner with "Lapinette" (i.e., Lapin's wife Isabelle). This first sketch was from the Placa del Rei, and the first time in a very long time that I had attempted a night sketch like this. Lapin works quickly, and I probably got too involved in the pen hatching, so I had to finish some of the watercolor later.

We had an excellent dinner, with delicious food and great rambling conversation about all sorts of things, and it was the perfect end to a long fulfilling day. We met again Sunday morning, and visited the cloister at the Catedral de Barcelona for some sketching. Throughout our walks around the city, Lapin had much to say about the buildings, designers, and general history of Barcelona.

We finished up that morning down at the end of La Rambla, sketching the Column of Christopher Columbus. It was fun to see the different approaches we each took with the same subject. All-in-all, a fantastic experience in a new city. A big THANK YOU to Lapin and Lapinette for their friendship and hospitality. I hope someday I can return the favor, whether it might be in Rome or Moscow (Idaho, that is)!

Barcelona ... July 4th Sketching

2009-07-06T07:42:00.001-07:00

Had an odd 4th of July; odd in the sense that I was very far from the typical Independence Day involving bbq/baseball/beer/fireworks/etc. I had to spend a chunk of the day at the 16th International Conference on Learning, where I gave a presentation that went over well. Of the few other presentations I attended that morning, the one in this first sketch was the most interesting, focused on helping students learn to keep graphic journals of their experiences. So naturally, it was an opportunity to graphically record the experience.

Later that day, after my conference obligations were done, I headed off to find the "Barcelona Pavilion" aka the "German Pavilion for the 1929 International Exposition" aka the "Pavello de Mies van der Rohe" ... it was a long walk, but entirely worthwhile. Yet another architectural gem in Barcelona that lived up to - and in some ways exceeded - my expectations. It's strange how a building lacking any apparent program could be so captivating, but it's just pure series of spaces defined by walls (some clear, some translucent, some solid), roofs, floors, pools, and a smattering of columns. What surprised me was the evident role played by shadows and reflections, which accentuate the changing perspective of vertical and horizontal planes. Good stuff.

So it really didn't feel like the 4th until later, when I found a bar in the Barri Gotic that was playing Johnny Cash and had killer cheeseburgers and good cheap beer.

Barcelona ... La Pedrera

2009-07-03T03:58:00.001-07:00

"La Pedrera" aka Casa Mila, designed by Antonio Gaudi in 1906 ... I've wanted to visit this place since studying it in my first architectural history course, circa 1985. It didn't disappoint, this place is really incredible. After taking several exterior photos, I settled in for a sketch, trying to capture the undulating lines of the facade. Really had to trust my eyes while laying out this drawing ... the changing scale, the perspective ... too much for my little brain to process. Wish I had another shot at the sky - the intention was for a rich, but clear wash - but it kind of got away from me somehow. That's watercolor for you - just when things feel like they're clicking along something goes awry. The facade is amazing, but not unexpectedly so ... I suppose I was prepared for it, having seen so many photos and drawings over the years.

The ROOF, on the other hand, really blew me away. Apart from the substructure of brick arches, which created a fascinating series of attic spaces, the culmination of the building (it hardly seems adequate to just call it a "roof") blasted my puny expectations out of the water. It's a crazy, elevated, roller-coaster landscape with gaping holes like volcanoes dropping into the courtyards, twisting marshmallow stair towers covered in white tile fragments, and chimneys that rise like little groups of medieval warriors. I spent far more time up there than I had anticipated, because I simply didn't want to go anywhere else. The views of the Barcelona skyline were tremendous, the breezes were wonderful, and there was even a little music playing, as they were setting up for what must have been an incredible and elegant party.

Barcelona ... Bars

2009-07-03T03:28:00.001-07:00

I'm in Barcelona to present an academic paper at a conference, and though I've already had to spend too much time at the hotel working on my presentation, I've also managed to get out and see some of the city. After what felt like a long day of traveling, I headed into the Barri Gotic district in search of a beer. This first sketch is from "Los Alamos" - a good, dark, relatively quiet place with some interesting music and an indecipherable video montage projected on the back wall. It was a challenge to paint with very little light, but the beer helped.

The next evening, after lots of work and a great visit to Gaudi's La Pedrera, I found my way to La Ria Taberna for some excellent calamares. This place had a large, open window behind the bar with a view out into the darkened street. The two bartenders checked in occasionally on my progress, though the woman was laughing about how I drew her as being far too muscular.

Sketching Class

2009-06-20T06:58:00.001-07:00

For sketching class this week, we took on some challenging subjects. On Wednesday, we started at Piazza di Sant' Ignazio, designed by Filippo Raguzzini in 1727-35. It's a wonderful series of spaces defined by elliptical shapes in plan, so my first sketches were done as a way to help the students see what happens to circular and elliptic forms when viewed in perspective, and to emphasize the utility of seeing and drawing the implied shapes themselves before trying to draw the buildings. From this piazza, we headed down the street to tackle the Pantheon, starting with some exterior views and finishing with interiors. Since most of my time in class is spent coaching the students, I rarely have a chance to spend more than 10 or 15 minutes on a drawing, and the drawings I do are intended to be instructive, so I try to keep them very small and quick. The two sketches of the Pantheon here were maybe 10 minutes each.

On Friday, we had 1pm reservations at the Galleria Borghese, so I decided to begin class at the Fontana di Trevi, which is roughly on the way to the Villa Borghese from Trastevere, where we're all living this summer. I arrived about 10 minutes early to crank out this drawing as a demonstration of very quickly trying to establish proportions on a complex subject such as this, and also to show how perspective can become "warped" depending on one's point of view. Though I failed to get the proportions right myself (the central bay of the triumphal arch is too narrow), I think seeing the drawing helped the students. The bit about warping a perspective, on the other hand, created more trouble than it was worth. I think I'll leave that out next time!

This final shot is some of the students in action at the Trevi. Sixteen students is a lot to handle, especially when they all fan out and find an attractive location from which to draw. For the start of this session I had them work from the same general area, mainly so they could assist each other on a common view. It seemed to work well.

Amalfi Field Trip

2009-06-17T07:19:00.000-07:00

Had a good field trip to Atrani (along the Amalfi Coast) this past weekend. Here are just a few sketches from the Moleskine ... I'll try to post another blog with slightly more formal sketches soon.

The first two images were done as a pair. In the first, I was trying to see whether I could sketch a plan of a random intersection in Atrani, which has only one "street" running through the center of town.

The rest of the city is a maze of passageways, stairs, tunnels, etc. The second sketch is the same intersection in perspective. Trying to establish where to cut a horizontal plane is very confusing, to say the least, and trying to capture a perspective in such a confined, vertical space was also a challenge.

The third sketch is from our train ride back to Rome ... after getting on the wrong train in Salerno, we changed trains in Napoli, only to sit in the station for a solid two hours because of technical problems of some sort. It was hot, and dull, so I passed some of the time with this sketch. Those are my kids, Sam on the left and Will on the right.

Santa Maria in Trastevere

2009-06-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

It was rainy for our sketching session last Monday, June 1, so we stayed very close to our studio in this piazza. I gave the students a challenge to sketch the plan of this church, called Santa Maria in Trastevere, and did my best to do the same as I walked around to help them. I think I drew the side chapels a bit too small, but otherwise it's reasonably accurate.

After class was over I decided to do a quick representational sketch from the piazza. After getting the drawing set up in pencil, it started to rain on me, so I took cover under the umbrellas of a restaurant before adding the pen work and watercolor. They were just getting set up for lunch at the restaurant, and each waiter (and eventually an old man who I figured must be the owner) took turns to stop by for a look at what I was up to. All of them were positive and enthusiastic, and it was a good opportunity to practice my Italian skills. All in all, a fine morning despite the rain.

Piazza del Popolo

2009-05-30T07:55:00.000-07:00

Had another sketching session with the students yesterday morning, and I managed to do a couple quick drawings. This was the second one I did, directly in watercolor without any setup sketch in pencil. I only had about 15 or 20 minutes before we had to pop in for a visit to Santa Maria del Popolo before it closed at noon (wanted to show the students the Caravaggio paintings there), so I was having to paint quickly. I did this same view a year ago in charcoal (which can be seen here). I didn't have more time then, but not having to think about color and work with paints led to better results. But I'm really trying to do more watercolor this year, and I'm finding that setting up the drawing with pencil first is too tedious for me and leads to a paint-by-numbers approach that I'm rarely very happy with. So, while I think the charcoal version of this sketch is more interesting and effective somehow, this was a good effort as well and I look forward to furthering this approach to sketching with watercolor.

Getting Back in the Groove

2009-05-28T14:51:00.000-07:00

Had a great walking tour with the students this morning. We began near the bell tower in this sketch, at the Forum Boarium, and finished at the Ponte Fabricio, which is on the other side of Tiber Island from where I stood to draw this, from the Ponte Cestio. The subject here is the Ponte Emilio - far better known as the Ponte Rotto, or "Broken Bridge," which has been sitting there in the middle of the Tiber, broken, for over 400 years (part of it remained until the 1880s, but the last time it was completely functional was around 1598). I've done a few sketches in the past week, but this was the first one where I really felt like I had hit the old groove of drawing. There are some mistakes here and there, as there are with every drawing I do, but the process of creating this one was generally smooth, fast, and entirely enjoyable. I think one reason is that I used charcoal, which easily allows for the range of value that I strive for in most of my sketches. Makes me want to get back out there and draw some more tomorrow.

Vicolo del Cedro

2009-05-27T07:25:00.000-07:00

Had a good sketching class this morning, we focused on quick sketches with an eye toward composition and perspective. Several students were excited about the progress they made in just a couple hours, so that was good. Once we wrapped up, I headed a little further up the Vicolo del Cedro to see if I could find a sketch-worthy scene and came upon this view. The street slopes up to a stair which climbs up the Gianicolo to the church and monastic complex of San Pietro in Montorio, site of Bramante's Tempietto. It was nice and cool this morning, with some fine breezes coming through, so it was an ideal time to draw. Adding to the ambience was the music playing loudly through an open window above me - a great smattering of classic rock gems, including several tunes from the Rolling Stones, The Who, and several 70s bands from the US. It might not seem to fit the mood of the place or the sketch, but believe me, it was working just fine and reminded me of the college buddies I studied with over here in 1986-87. They would have gotten a kick out of it.

In Rome Again

2009-05-26T23:07:00.000-07:00

It's been far too long since I've posted something ... but I was very busy wrapping up the spring semester and making preparations to begin the Rome Program for the summer. We arrived here in Rome almost a week ago, and classes are off the ground, so I finally have a little time to sketch and relax a little. It's been a stressful few months, with too many faculty meetings and too much bad news about budgets. The bad news is sure to continue, but at least we can enjoy a temporary respite from the meetings. My work on the summer program is really only beginning, but after a rough semester like that it's great to get back to a focus on teaching in an incredible place like Rome. This morning we head out for our first organized sketching session ... 16 students wandering the streets and recording their observations. And me shuttling back and forth among them with tips and praise and small talk. There's almost nothing I'd rather be doing. So it's time to go for a cappuccino and cornetto, before meeting the group in Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere. (btw, this sketch I did yesterday in Via dei Cappellari, very near the Campo dei Fiori. I used a 2B pencil, and it took maybe 30 minutes or so.)

Small Town ...

2009-04-21T15:06:00.000-07:00

Another Friday night sketch of the Garden Lounge. I fear I've become predictable, and that I've drawn this space too many times. But it's a very small town that I live in, with precious few options for the required Friday evening beverage. So I'll continue to sketch this place, at least until I leave for Rome (in about a month), and a whole new set of sketching opportunities will be mine.

22nd Worldwide SketchCrawl

2009-04-11T18:23:00.000-07:00

The 22nd Worldwide SketchCrawl was today ... unfortunately we had bad weather this morning - rainy and cold. I don't mind sketching indoors, but since it's spring, and since we'd had nice weather all week, I was itching to do some outdoor sketching. So I managed to do one exterior of the building that houses The Garden (which I've sketched indoors several times already), and another drawing of the interior of Sister's Brew, a relatively new and very good coffeeshop on Main Street. A few of my students made it out to draw as well, and their sketches can be seen on the SketchCrawl website.

Italy Sketches from 2008

2009-04-09T13:44:00.001-07:00

I uploaded some more sketches from last summer to my Flickr page this morning. I'm getting more excited about heading back to Rome for another summer of teaching and drawing. I'm considering a sketch project of some sort ... probably a Moleskine watercolor book filled with daily sketches using a variety of media and recording a variety of subject types - plans, sections, diagrams, representational sketches, notes, etc.

This drawing was from Atrani, on the Amalfi Coast. Just made hotel reservations for the group yesterday ... we'll be there the weekend of June 12 ... can't wait.

Figure Drawing

2009-04-08T10:22:00.001-07:00

I finally made it to the Saturday figure drawing session that's been happening all semester ... part of me was reluctant to go, because it's been about six years since I've drawn the figure, and I remembered very well how difficult it is to do. But it was a good, mellow group of folks, and after I got some jitters out it was a lot of fun and a great challenge. This was the last drawing I did, after several shorter poses, and this was the very first time I ever attempted a figure drawing in watercolor.

Another Friday Night

2009-04-05T14:44:00.001-07:00

A different view of The Garden this time. I was there to meet the dean of our college for a beer, and felt like sitting within view of the entrance for a change. The weather is finally feeling like spring ... hopefully it stays this way through next weekend for the 22nd Worldwide SketchCrawl.

Like Water Off a Duck's Back

2009-04-03T10:47:00.000-07:00

I did a little experiment yesterday during the studio portion of my Architectural Graphics course. It was a quick sketch (probably too quick), and I tried my new water brush in the pocket Moleskine. I wasn't happy with the results, but it's not the fault of the water brush. That Moleskine paper just ain't made for watercolor - the water beads up unless you sorta scrub the paper with the brush. The result is a splotchy quality that I don't care for in my own drawings. I know of several people who regularly make watercolor work in these books with wonderful results ... but every time I've tried it, it feels like I'm fighting the paper too much. In using watercolor, I've always felt that the brush simply moves the water, and the water distributes the pigment - I expect the wash to lay down smooth and clean with minimal effort.

So ... I've ordered a couple new Moleskine watercolor books and can't wait to give them a try.

DCA Conference

2009-03-30T09:07:00.000-07:00

Had a great few days in Marietta, GA, at the end of last week - attending the Design Communication Association Conference at Southern Poly. This is far and away my favorite academic conference ... topics that are very interesting to me and discussion that is both challenging and supportive. I did this sketch during a lecture by Lars Spuybroek. It was fun to draw while listening and occasionally looking at the images.

Also at the conference is a juried drawing exhibit, and I received the Shari Park-Gates Juror's Award for the print seen here. It's a collection of the sketches I made last summer in Italy, arranged along a timeline. There were 90+ entries submitted to the exhibition, of which 45 were selected for display and 5 received awards - so I was thrilled by the honor.

St. Patrick's Day, Vernal Equinox

2009-03-20T09:10:00.000-07:00

It's the first day of Spring ... the temperature is supposed to be rising into the low 60s later today, though there are still significant traces of snow here and there. This sketch is from a few days ago, when I had lunch at The Breakfast Club - I know that doesn't sound quite right, but it's a good restaurant, especially for breakfast, and they do a good lunch, too. So good, in fact, that my wife and I often remark how we wish it was open for dinner ... but it's not. Since it was St. Patrick's Day, they were serving corned beef for lunch, but I went for a Reuben instead - not terribly Irish, but it just sounded good to me that day. The view from my window seat was across the street to the Prichard Gallery, which is run by the College of Art and Architecture here at the University of Idaho, and where I've shown my work each year since 2004 in the annual faculty show. The green ink seemed appropriate for the holiday and the coming of spring.

Boise Visit

2009-03-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

I was in Boise, ID, at the end of last week, leading a field trip for our third-year architectural design studio. Boise is a nice little town that obviously thinks of itself as a reasonably large city. Nothing wrong with that, of course (Eugene, OR, is another example of this phenomenon, and I lived there for 11 years). Most of the downtown feels to me like a transitional neighborhood in a city like Chicago, or - worse - like a slightly over grown suburb. Yet there are some views of Boise that give the appropriate impression of a grand state capitol. I tried for that in this sketch (15 minutes, 2B pencil), from a high vantage point on the bridge along South Capitol Boulevard. I had higher hopes to do several sketches, as the weather was beautiful, but I got caught up in the art museum - they had a temporary exhibit of Ansel Adams' early work, which was fascinating.

Lecture Sketch

2009-03-20T08:30:00.001-07:00

Another catch-up blog post, from a couple weeks ago. Lectures about architecture can be hit or miss affairs, and this one managed to be both. The design work shown was generally very interesting, some of the ideas discussed were thought-provoking, and the speaker is a well-regarded writer, but his public speaking skills were decidedly lacking. Perhaps some folks in the first few rows were entranced by the conversational nature of the talk. But, as one sees from the sketch, it was a fairly large lecture hall, which I think suggests a more dynamic and engaging approach. It never ceases to amaze me just how many people in academia - often those with long and distinguished careers - regularly fail to employ even the most basic techniques for reaching an audience. Oh well ... it was fun to sketch.

Another Friday at the Garden

2009-03-18T18:03:00.000-07:00

It's been way too long since I've posted anything ... not because I didn't want to, just because I've been busy with other things. But this was an enjoyable sketch from a couple weeks ago. Something about the Copic sepia pen works well with this space.

Shop/Crit

2009-02-05T10:24:00.000-08:00

Faculty meetings these days are rough ... like most folks in higher ed, we're being forced to deal with major budget issues that will have serious consequences. There are no billion-dollar bailouts and "golden parachutes" for public universities, that's for sure. Anyway, this is where we usually meet - called the "Shop/Crit" space, which derives from the fact that the room next door houses our wood/technical shop where students fabricate architectural models, and that we use this space for design critiques, or "crits." The projection screen on the left had some unhappy stuff on it ... the big tree outside seemed more optimistic, with spring just around the corner.

Renfrew Hall

2009-02-03T17:13:00.000-08:00

Nice sunny day today, so I got out the old U of Idaho campus sketchbook and headed outside at lunchtime. The last time I drew in this book, devoted exclusively to scenes on this campus, was in August 2007. So it was long overdue. Had a little trouble finding a suitable place to sit, as there's still plenty of old, dirty snow around, and had to settle for a spot in the shade. That's why this was only a 20-minute sketch - my hands were freezing by the end. This is the building where I lecture every Tuesday in the spring as part of the Architectural Graphics course I teach ... so I spoke to about 140 students here in the morning, and drew the outside in the early afternoon.

Público Newspaper

2009-02-01T15:16:00.001-08:00

Gabi Campanario of Urban Sketchers just posted an image of the Público newspaper in Portugal with an article about the Urban Sketchers blog and network, dated January 9. Lo and behold, the image in the right column, second from the top, is one I had posted on flickr. I had also blogged about this sketch here a few weeks ago. It just happened to be an old sketch I felt like putting online ... and a couple days after that it was in print in Portugal. Crazy!

3rd-Year Design Studio

2009-01-29T12:48:00.000-08:00

I had given my 3rd-year architectural design students a 'charette' project to work on in studio yesterday. This gave me an opportunity to do a quick sketch of the studio space. I've thought about adding some color, if only to try out the "water brush" thing I bought a couple days ago ... but I'm not sure what the color would add in this case. Only one way to find out, I suppose.

From a Few Years Ago ...

2009-01-29T08:00:00.000-08:00

Digging back a little further, here's another one from a couple years ago ... actually two years and eleven months to the day from last week's visit to the Garden, my local watering hole. I was using a different pen back then - must have been a felt-tip, with a thicker line and a propensity to dry out. These days, I've been happy with the Copic Multiliners, at least for use in a moleskine - they have a nice crisp line, they don't smear, and they don't seem to dry out. I suppose this could be considered another in the "Waiting ..." series. I seem to recall I was waiting for my wife to meet me after handing the kids off to the babysitter.

From a Couple Years Ago ...

2009-01-28T10:25:00.000-08:00

I was doing a few tests with various media in the back of the moleskine this morning, and stumbled across this sketch from a field trip to Seattle in 2006. I distinctly recall being unsatisfied with this sketch at the time, but now I'm feeling more forgiving. Adding some color would have been a good idea ... the light/color in this space is subtle and peaceful, while the black ink here is a bit harsh in comparison. It's good to reacquaint myself with past sketches on occasion, and this was a pleasant surprise.

Waiting on a Friend

2009-01-25T11:08:00.001-08:00

A quick sketch while waiting for my friend/colleague to show up for beers at the end of the work week. I enjoyed the Escher-esque quality of the sketch within a sketch within a sketch. The Garden Lounge is our standard venue, Mac & Jack's African Amber Ale my drink of choice. I've sketched the interior once or twice before, perhaps I'll find those drawings and post them at some point. This sketch is also an homage to a couple influential bloggers and their recent themes: Gabi Campanario at Urban Sketchers and Seattle Sketcher, who has blogged a couple times regarding the varieties of coffee he's been drinking, and Stephen Gardner, whose Sketch of the Day blog has some truly stunning drawings of classic bars in NYC such as one of my favorites - McSorley's (also here and here).

Meeting Sketch

2009-01-21T17:35:00.000-08:00

Haven't done any sketching in a while ... the new semester's got me busy. But I gave the sketching-my-colleagues-in-a-faculty-meeting thing another go. Not sure whether this is an improvement over my previous effort, or if I just took a step back. Part of me thinks I should just stick to buildings and such ... my comfort-zone. But the bigger part of me knows not to listen to that kind of nonsense, and keep plugging away.

Meeting Sketch

2009-01-13T09:17:00.000-08:00

I'm just not very skilled at drawing people. But I recognize that drawing anything is a matter of practice rather than 'talent,' so I did a little people-drawing practice yesterday. It was our first faculty meeting of the new semester ... hopefully these three colleagues will either a) not see these sketches, or b) forgive me for my clumsy attempts at capturing their likenesses.

Practice, practice, practice.

SketchCrawl, a day late ...

2009-01-11T17:13:00.000-08:00

So I made it out of the house today ... had to spend a few hours at the office getting ready for classes to start this week. I'm still not "ready" but it felt good to get back in the swing of things. On my way I stopped for a quick lunch at the local natural food store and did a make-up sketch, since my output yesterday was almost non-existent. Not sure whether this is kosher with the SketchCrawl overlords ... heh heh ... kidding, of course. I must say, it's been a revelation to encounter so many generous, supportive people online who are so seriously into sketching. I only wish I'd gone looking for this community sooner.

First SketchCrawl

2009-01-10T17:02:00.001-08:00

Had some high hopes for my first SketchCrawl today ... but the aforementioned recovery from strep throat meant that I never really got out of the gates. I might try for a few drawings tomorrow to make up for it, but this charcoal sketch of our dog snoozing on the couch was about all I could muster today. I think the lack of sketching compadres didn't help ... for the next crawl, I'll try to get some of my students involved. The weather should be better by then - late March? - so that might boost my output as well. It's very inspiring to see all the sketching activity happening around the world today, and far easier to look at everyone else's work than it was to generate my own ... check out the forum here!

Waiting for the Doctor

2009-01-10T16:51:00.000-08:00

Another 'waiting' sketch ... maybe it'll become a series. This time I was waiting to see a doctor - the wife and kids had all come down with a nasty case of strep throat (is it ever not nasty?), and it was my turn. It was late in the day, dark outside, and it was a mercifully empty waiting room. I used a green Copic pen, which matched the color of my face at the time, though my scanner darkened it up a bit. I had gotten everything roughed-out when it was time to be poked and prodded, so I had to finish all that hatching a little later. Feeling better now, a couple days later, but still not quite good enough to really get out there and draw a bunch for today's worldwide SketchCrawl.

Old Sketchbook Entry

2009-01-07T16:10:00.001-08:00

Back when I was teaching at the University of Oregon, I kept a sketchbook devoted to campus scenes ... about 70 in all, using various media. I've had another book going of scenes at the University of Idaho, though that book has been neglected of late. Now that I have this blog underway, I'll periodically post images from these books (and others) when I don't have a chance to darw something new. This is the Volcanology Building, from May 20, 2003.

Back in Moscow

2009-01-06T13:53:00.001-08:00

We've been back in Moscow for a while, and today it was back to work for me. After dropping off my artwork for our annual faculty exhibit, I stopped for lunch on my way back to campus. The service was slow, so I did a little sketch of the view from the window. After the big snowfall yesterday that closed all the schools, the temperature has risen ... it's very slushy out there.

Lewiston Airport

2009-01-06T13:47:00.001-08:00

Spent far too much time in airports during the holiday break. Here's a sketch of the baggage carousel in the itty-bitty airport we usually fly out of, in Lewiston, ID. We sat here for a couple hours on December 20 waiting to find out whether we'd be getting on a plane that day ... we didn't, and had to return to the airport a couple days later, when I had a chance to finish up this sketch. I'm looking forward to not flying for a while ...

Meeting Sketch

2008-12-19T17:06:00.001-08:00

Had one final meeting to sit through before the semester ended, and it didn't require constant involvement on my part ... so a little sketching on the Tablet PC was in order. With all the snow and cold outside, I suppose I was thinking of the warm summer in an Italian piazza.

Doodling?

2008-12-19T09:52:00.000-08:00

I've never thought of myself as someone who doodles ... when I sketch, I most often feel the need to draw places, or to have some reason for drawing, and my sketches tend toward the representational rather than abstract and/or impressionist. Even when I do sketch out of my mind's eye, it's almost always a place (or a building, like the previous post about the Pantheon). This sketch, which was done back in October 2000, is an example. Not sure why this little scene popped into my head, and the trees/sky could surely use a little work, but ... it's comforting somehow. Seems like a nice place to be. So was this a "doodle" or was it something else?

Pantheon from Memory

2008-12-18T13:44:00.000-08:00

Just a few quick sketches of the Pantheon from memory ... it's snowing and I didn't want to head out there just yet, so this was a brief diversion and a half-hearted attempt to begin the "sketch-a-day" thing that so many sketch artists seem able to do. I don't know that I'll ever be so dedicated, but I do feel compelled to try ... sort of ... occasionally ... I guess.

Master Drawings

2008-12-16T13:45:00.000-08:00

Though I don't do it as often as I could or should, I enjoy studying 'Master Drawings' and occasionally sketch from the few books I have on the subject. These sketches were done a few years ago, with a Speedball pen and FW Sepia ink, followed by a quick wash of M. Graham sepia watercolor.

Digital Sketching

2008-12-15T15:20:00.000-08:00

I intend to blog about both analog and digital sketching. To that end, here's a very quick sketch that was done on a Tablet PC, using Alias Sketchbook Pro software. It's also a quick test-run to see how swiftly I can go from a sketch on the tablet to the blog - after about 2 minutes on the sketch and about a minute in Photoshop, here I am typing. So that's pretty fast. While I don't tend to carry the tablet around for outdoor or travel sketching, it does come in handy when a meeting or presentation is dragging and I need something interesting to focus on.

Getting Started

2008-12-15T12:31:00.000-08:00

Got a new Moleskine (pocket-size) a few years ago, and after doing just a few sketches, I put it on a shelf in my office and got busy with other things. But I'm going to try to develop this SketchBlog, and this seemed like a fine way to begin. So here's the first sketch from that book, a quick pen and colored pencil view of my old office, completed January 31, 2006.