Sonnenberg gardens

During the Fingerlakes Plein Air Festival there is one day where the Sonnenberg Gardens are open to the public and free. Being the cheap-o guy that I am I hurried up there for some sketching! [namiki falcon and a Lamy Safari with DeArtementis Document ink, D+S watercolors in a Stillman & Birn Gamma sketchbook-landscape] 

Eastman House

Being a Rochestarian, one of our founding fathers of this city was George Eastman. He built Eastman Kodak company from the ground up. Had many patents created that we still use today and was a great philanthropist (his donations created U of R and MIT--donated as Mr. Smith). His home is now a museum and gallery. So my good sketching buddy Genine and I sketched the afternoon away at his home. 

The "guns" are actually cameras and the bottles are the old Technicolor dyes used to create "colored" movies! 

[LAMY Safari M nib, Namiki Falcon with DeArtementis Document ink, a brush pen with water and J. Herbin Pearl Noire ink, D+S watercolors in a Stillman & Birn Gamma sketchbook-landscape]

Germs

Part of the bonus structure of being an educator is the immune system build up. But when that breaks down, we get sick--fast. I had the flu and then bronchitis in the month of march (thus the delay in posts). While sitting in the waiting room of urgent care (mask and all) I sketched some other sick folks. Joseph was a cool looking old guy. He was the type of guy that had stories. Stories from a war, or business, or some cool science thing he did 40 years ago. The other girl had a very neat Pokemon hat on--complete with Pikachu ears. 


[Uni ball vision pens in a Stillman & Birn Gamma sketchbook-landscape]

ROC to ORD (CHI)

At the end of March I got to participate in my first ever National Art Teacher Conference. It was a very overwhelming experience. There were art teachers everywhere, 2,000 sessions to pick from, and the city of Chicago to explore. I sketched as much as I could, but recovering from bronchitis I rested as much as I could. 

At one point we attacked Blick Art Supply and a few art teacher friends bought some sketching supplies so when we went out we could all sketch! It was a nice way to infect people with the sketching bug. 

captive audience on the plane

2 minutes waiting to board in ORD

one man dinner party

sketching the other art teachers! 

a cool pile of shiny service wear 

more art teachers

the place that invented "dive bar"

more captive plane models

and more captive travelers. 

Figure Drawing

For some reason when I transferred schools in my college career, a lot of my art credits magically took care of certain requirements and I never had the chance to take a figure drawing class. So a sketching friend recommended the Steve Carpenter Art Center. They have an open figure-drawing night every monday. You pay 4$ an hour and plop down and draw. 

I bought an insanely large Stillman & Birn sketchbook (11x14) so I could record my progress as I went about the winter. I've included a pencil in my photos so you can see just how mammoth this thing is! 

For my first time out I didn't know what tools to use so like any artist, I just brought them all. I stuck with:

-a Blackwing pencil

-Pentel brush pen with black ink

-waterbrush filled with J. Herbin pearle noire black ink and diluted with water

-INKTENSE watercolor pencils

(since my students bounce to my site here and there, I will be limiting the posts of my figure drawing class. I will attempt to "edit" as best as I can)

last pose of the night

one pose and then a 2nd one I had a bad view so I sketched the other artists. 

my first dip! (edited)

Pennsyltucky

We attempted (long-story) to have a peaceful weekend away in a lakeside cabin. We got some sketching and photography done, but not as much as we wanted. Bummer. 

Here are some of the efforts.

[Uni Pin pens, D+S watercolors in a S+B Epsilon Series sketchbook]