Roma

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

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

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

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

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

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




Friendship Square
















Hodgins Drugstore













Sister's Brew Coffeeshop

Studio

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

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

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

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.