3rd-Year Design Studio

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 ...

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 ...

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

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

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

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 ...

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

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

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

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

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

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 ...