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.

Final Exam

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!

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

SketchCrawl - Moscow!

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!

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