Media Experiment

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 ...

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

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

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

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

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!

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

 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

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

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!