Ice Fisher Bombardier Vehicle, Metis Tribe, Saint-Laurent Canada, Washington DC Museum

Lakota Tipi 1890 South Dakota, Native American Museum Washington DC

Lobby of the Native American Museum Washington DC

White House Washington DC

Waterfront SE

We intended to go into Nationals park to have our sketchcrawl during the ballgame, but had a hard time finding each other!  So when I finally ran into Matt we decided to stick to the waterfront and sketch a bit there.  I finished one sketch, but only got through a little of the other.

Artomatic 2012

Artomatic registration has begun.  And as is tradition, the website is overwelmed by thousands of people trying to sign up so access to Artomatic.org is spotty at best (but getting better.)

If you are any sort of art-maker or performer that lives in the DC area it is in your GREAT interest to participate.

This year it is being held in Crystal City (Arlington, VA) from May 18th until June 24th in what is said to be the largest venue yet for the event.  It costs $110 to register, you are required to put in 3 volunteer sessions & do your part to promote the event, and install you exhibit space yourself.

Do it.

Seriously.

Now.

Columbia Heights Alley

So the original plan was to go to a couple of bookstores around the city and put prints of this sketch in the pages of as many copies of "The Art of Urban Sketching" as I could find. (Not an original idea, as fans of the Post Secret blog & books do this too with their anonymous confessions.) It turns out though that none of the bookstores actually had any copies on the shelves, so no-go on that idea. Instead I went back to the alley in Columbia Heights where I drew the original sketch and found some spots to give them away or hide them for people to find.

I found a couple of windshields to drop the envelopes.  Some that drove off before I got a picture of them,  of course not without a few funny looks as they picked up what I left for them.

When I felt like too many eyes where on me to put the last few envelopes on some windshields.  I found some bicycle baskets to drop them in.  A couple that also came and went before I got a picture off.

The original sketch

Cherry Blossoms

I went into the District today to see the cherry blossoms, which are blooming early this year due to the unusually warm weather. Most of the crowds go to the trees around the Tidal Basin, but there are also many cherries along the river in West Potomac Park, which is more peaceful.

UNION MARKET

Took a walk today over a bridge
on New York Avenue you can hear and see it all.

Downed Tree in Rockcreek series 1/2

A tree in Rockcreek park near the dc park police station.

People Reading

Instead of the usual sketches of people absorbed in their cell phones, this week I found people actually reading the printed word.

Sketchcrawl 34

As you may have already read, we held our DC branch of  International Sketchcrawl #34 at the National Portrait Gallery/American Art Museum last Sunday, and we had a pretty good turn out! (Erica had to go before we got our shot!)

We met in the Kogod Courtyard, expecting to head into the museums to start sketching, but we were pleasantly surprised to find it was "Farm to Table Family Day" which included a concert by The Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra. The band actually came over to check out what we had been up to, as they noticed a lot of people listening but with their noses buried in sketchbooks.

Afterwords we headed up to the Modern & Contemporary wing and sketched a bit. We toured the museums for a while also, but eventually most everyone found they had to head out or where tired so we called it a day.  I was happy to get a sketch of Duane Hanson's "Woman Eating" before leaving though.

And here are a couple of sketches I made when our Sketchcrawl group went to the Native American Indian Museum about a month ago.