Okay, you caught me, I haven't been updating my blog as of late. For some reason the blogger site was blocked at school (even though we are a google campus) so my updates that usually took place at lunch were put on hold. Now I have to do the updates at home, and, well, there are other distractions here (namely Black Ops 3).
Enough of that. Here is the art.
1-An open mic night with the sketching group at Boulber Coffee. I challenged myself to fit them all on one page, and draw smaller. It worked!!
[blue pumpkin nib on a wooden dip pen with DeArtementis Document ink, D+S watercolors in a Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook-landscape]
2-A sneak peak performance of "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe". For a high school play the sets and costumes were AMAZING! I wish I had popped in sooner to sketch some of the rehearsals! All I had with me was one pen and a VERY dark theater.
[Lamy Safary EF nib with Lexington Gray ink, a brush pen with water and J. Herbin Pearl Noire ink in a Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook-landscape]
3-A fun sketch of my girlfriend's art box. Well, my art box, she just happens to be using it.
[namiki falcon with DeArtementis Document ink, a Pilot Brush pen, and a water pen with water and J. Herbin Pearl Noire ink in a Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook-landscape]
4-What else do you need to pay attention at an Art teacher conference?
[Lamy Safary EF nib with Lexington Gray ink, a brush pen with water and J. Herbin Pearl Noire ink in a Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook-landscape]
5-We had a nice lunch break at our conference and I sketched the bottles behind the bar as I inhaled a mac and cheese-burger. Yeah, you read that right. (No, I did not drink tequila at lunch).
[namiki falcon with DeArtementis Document ink, a Pilot Brush pen, and a water pen with water and J. Herbin Pearl Noire ink in a Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook-landscape]
6-This was my view at Longhorn steakhouse waiting for my guests to arrive.
[namiki falcon with DeArtementis Document ink, a Pilot Brush pen, and a water pen with water and J. Herbin Pearl Noire ink in a Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook-landscape]
7-So my family is a bunch of rednecks. I grew up around until hunting, deer hides, deer heads, venison in my chili and general dead deer stuff. So my uncle asked if I wanted to help process a deer and I could take home some of the meat--including home made jerky! I wanted to document the process a little better, but he is a machine and has his ways for doing everything. So I had to sneak in what I could.
[Pilot Brush pen and D+S watercolors in a Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook-landscape]
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Last night we had a sketch group meetup at Boulder Coffee's Open mic night. It's always a good time grabbing the good table in the back, setting up shop, getting the caffeine flowing and sketching musicians 2 songs at a time. Especially when Dimitri gets up and wails away in Ukranian.
[blue pumpkin nib dip pen with DeArtementis document black ink, D+S watercolors in a fresh, brand new, Stillman & Birn Alpha landscape sketchbook]
The Lamberton Conservatory is a hidden gem in the city of Rochester. For $3 you get to explore room after room of plants and animals.
My girlfriend wanted to take some photos of flowers and I wanted to sketch so this place was a perfect fit! I parked it on a bench for a while and watched the turtles fight over rocks, the mini-Quails fight over the seed and weird people talking about things you shouldn't talk about in public!
[namiki falcon with DeArtementis Document ink, D+S watercolors in a S+B Epsilon Series sketchbook]
We had a meet up a local coffee shop that hosts an open mic night every wednesday. Let's just say the acts were "interesting". They ranged from Ukrainian death metal, to biker rock ballad to whimsical 2 piece bands with a violin. I will post some videos of the action below.
But now for the art. It was VERY poorly lit and I couldn't see ANY colors I was laying down. I went for value as best as I could and guessed at color. I was getting frustrated, but when I saw the sketches in the parking lot light, they didn't look too bad!
[Sailor bent nib with J. Herbin pearl noire ink, Hero 1077 bent nib with J. Herbin olive ink, namiki falcon with DeArtementis Document ink, D+S watercolors in a S+B Epsilon Series sketchbook]
This summer has been nutty, so the sketching group has been nonexistent. We scheduled a meetup (finally) at Schoen Place and met at the new-ish brewery there: Lock 32 Brewing. We had primo seats facing the ducks and our public models. It was a relaxing afternoon and we definitely need to re-visit!
[Uni Pin pens, D+S watercolors in a S+B Epsilon Series sketchbook]
My lovely girlfriend and I have been hiking a lot of waterfalls this summer--thank you Keen. At the base of one of the falls there wasn't a person in sight so she laid on a rock to nap and I attempted to sketch running water. It wasn't a bad attempt considering I haven't done it before and there is no white watercolor. I have a hard time leaving whites, so I had to pencil them in so I wouldn't blaze over them!
[Uni Pin pens, D+S watercolors in a Sennelier sketchbook]
My sketching buddy Genine and I met up to catch-up, trade art geek secrets, and to sketch this past weekend.
As usual, the unsuspecting patron at the coffee shop.
We ventured to a near-by church where I attempted to butcher the architecture.
And lastly, what was labeled "Rosa Park's Bus". But what would that piece of history be doing parked under an oak tree behind a house of Main St. Rochester? Wouldn't the Smithsonian want this?
[uni-pin pens, namiki falcon with DeArtementis Document ink, D+S watercolors in a Sennelier sketchbook]
It's been a while since a meaningful post, so here it goes:
I've had a very busy July and am finally back in town, caught up and ready to dump all of my sketches in one post. It'll be a long one so bear with me.
I bought a cool sketchbook at one of the oldest art supply shops--Sennelier in Paris, France and had to give it a run for the month of July. I started this book on July 7th and almost completed! This may be a new record for me.
I broke in the new sketchbook during my visit to Neeburyport Mass.:
Now that I enjoy sitting on a beach I got some sketching done on Plum Island, Mass.
And as Scott and I toured some breweries like Riverwalk Brewery and Newburyport Brewery, I sketched a little to capture the occasion.
Some quick bar sketches at the Grog.
I had the most awesomest opportunity to join 40 other art teachers from 20 states at the Mass College of Art and Design for a 7 day TAB institute. And my goal was to learn as much as I could and to sketch as much as I could. Mission accomplished.
This first one was our first dinner out at a cool restaurant just outside Fenway Pahk. Who just got pummeled by the Yankees three games in a row. I reminded a lot of people that as they walked by.
Our first talk at the institute. People presenting are perfect subjects!
More presenting.
We had some seasoned teachers present some station ideas for our rooms and I had a 5 minute window to capture them!
A quick sketch between lunch and class--I still want to add color to this guy.
We had this cool thing one night where you got to present 20 slides and had 20 seconds per slide to chat. Your subject could be whatever!
We got to tour Fenway Studios which are artists studios that have been there for 100 years! These studios were to die for!
During a tour of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, I snuck away to sketch a 5th century sculpture.
Our last night in Boston, we trekked down to the ward and dined on seafood. There happened to be a concert right next door so we stuck around long enough for a...
Portrait PARTY!
We passed around my sketch book and we all did blind contour line drawings at dinner! Only with 6 art teacher can you get away with this at dinner!
Just a lunch time sketch of a frog from a nature book I had laying around for the students.
[Uni Pin pens, D+S watercolors in a S+B Zeta sketchbook]
After seeing the "pro-artists" come through town and seeing their point of view on very boring subjects, I have a whole new appreciation for the subjects in my town. I learned a lot just by peering over their shoulders! Like this one, or here.
[pentel pencil, namiki falcon with DeArtementis Document ink, D+S watercolors in a S+B Zeta sketchbook]
