Making a Drawing

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

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