‎Frank Ching Lecture

‎Frank Ching lecture at Taubman College University of Michigan Ann Arbor Michigan. Friday 12.02.11.

Francis D.K. (Frank) Ching, University of Washington Department of Architecture from Taubman College on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/33296611

Mad Dog 20/20

A walk along the tracks reveals many images near and far.

Frank D.K. Ching Lecture at the University of Michigan

An amazing night last Friday in Ann Arbor, Michigan with a great lecture and a great dinner conversation with Master Frank D.K. Ching. He showed his amazing drawings and the value of this powerful skill. I always learn something new and great from him. "Do not do Architecture just to make money; do Architecture in order to make a positive impact" --Frank D.K. Ching during the N.O.M.A.S. Dinner after the Lecture at Taubman College University of Michigan 12/02/11.

Metro Red Line Riders

This week I worked as a volunteer at Pyramid Atlantic Studios in Silver Spring MD and rode the metro so I would have a better chance to sketch each day and get there without stress of driving the car. I only had three stops on the red line from mine to get something and managed to capture a few interesting quick sketches.

hounds tooth pattern on her coat with a black scarf

bumpy ride gave her a look of anger on the phone

I was pleased to capture his whole figure

checking emails

travelers on their way home for Thanksgiving 

all stretched out on the train

A Concert in Upperville

This weekend I went to see the Winchester Arts Chorale perform at Trinity Episcopal Church in Upperville, about an hour west of D.C. They performed Christmas-themed music from the Renaissance up through more modern pieces by Rutter and Rachmaninoff. My father is one of the singers, which made it especially interesting to me.



The church itself is a beautiful stone church I'd driven by many times on my way to the Shenandoah valley. I'd wanted to stop by there for a long time, but hadn't had a good reason until now.

RI Metro Trail Sketchcrawl

Atop'a Train

Behind Bars

Meet the sketcher: FAIRFAX, VA > Guido C. Seoanes Perla

I spent my childhood in the Colombian northern Coastal Caribbean city of Barranquilla. Since I was a kid I was always involved in drawing competitions and in designing many different things. Currently I am a master student of Architecture at the University of Michigan Taubman College and I am planing to work in this wonderful field. I began my architectural education at the University of Washington in Seattle where I was a student of Master Frank Ching who started my passion for urban sketching. Everyone can use a simple camera in order to take a picture of a place and move on without understanding or caring a bout it.....The importance of sketching is that a person can appreciate the details of a place and he or she will began to understand it by just drawing which it helps the individual to preserve the memory for many years to come.

Guido C. Seoanes Perla

Maryland Renaissance Festival

I attended the Maryland Renaissance Festival this weekend out by Annapolis. I enjoy the food, the costumes, and the Shakespeare, but the highlight for me is always the joust - which is also the official state sport of Maryland. The sketch above is from a visit in 2009, but this year I decided to focus on the horses and riders. They move quickly, but I managed to get some quick gestural sketches in when they paused to re-arm:

Martin & Albert

Guido beat me to the new MLK Jr. Memorial, but I was very happy to be able to finally get a chance to see and sketch it myself. Judging from the crowds of people trekking across the mall it obviously has an immense amount of meaning for everyone who visits it.

While I was on the Mall, I thought I would check out one of my other favorite, albeit less well known memorials on the Mall. The Einstein Memorial by the National Academy of Sciences.

School Zone

A walk down the street reveals many things. Overlapping images in scale.

MLK Memorial Washington DC

MLK Memorial Sketch during the opening week August 2011. 1st sketch done of the memorial by a member of the public since opened.

Abraham Lincoln Memorial

I love Abraham Lincoln and his Memorial is super cool, this time a lot of kids wanted to see what I was doing and take pics of me.

Washington Monument

Washington Memorial, sketching after work and I got the attention of the Secret Service for doing so.

Capitol Hill

Capitol Hill, I began to have followers and I got a lot of positive complements from people in the area.

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

When It Rains.

How does the saying go?
Something like this...

Congressional Cemetery Sketchcrawl

Showers of rain drops dissolved the water based ink in this sketch. I liked the effect it had on the linesso I kept working through the shower.

Patrick Crowley took us on a tour of the cemetery including a look in one of the 150 year old vaults . That added so much to the experience to hear the history and see some of the hidden places. 

Fellow sketcher Robin M. seated among the graves. 

Two vaults recently restored still waiting for sod to cover the vaulted roofs. 

Public Vault had roses and sedum blooming and sat under a nice red Japanese Maple tree. Former first lady Dolley Madison rested here for five years while funds were raised to take her home to be buried with her family.  

First sketch was the wrought iron gate sign that was knocked down by a dump truck too large to pass under it's delicate iron arch. 

Congressional Cemetery

A bunch of us were itching for another sketchcrawl, so we gathered up at Congressional Cemetery (near the Stadium Armory Station) this past weekend. We started by getting an extremely interesting tour of the grounds from former chairman of the board of the Cemetery Preservation Association & sketcher himself, Patrick Crowley. We had a great overview of the grounds, peaked into a vault or two and learned quite a bit about the cemetery and DC history. Elbridge Gerry (see: gerrymandering) John Philip Sousa and J. Edgar Hoover are just a few of the guests on the grounds. While it's not as grand or well known as Arlington National Cemetery, its absolutely lovely and worth a visit. With an absolute over abundance of subject matter to tackle.

After our tour I began the sketch of a burial vault, and managed to halfway finish it before being interrupted by the rain. Now some of the other sketchers braved the rain better than I and made some beautiful work, but not I. So I took a break and walked around a bit, searching for a beautiful little statue Patrick pointed out on our tour. "Marie Estelle Krachmar" caught my eye with her broken legs, eroded surface (marble is vulnerable to acid rain) and the fact that everyday someone puts a coin in her lap. So I began sketching her when a there came a lull in the rain. That lull was short though, and ultimately I had to finish both sketches at home, but the group has talked about coming back on a sunnier day that may be more conducive to sketching outdoors. I'm looking forward to it.

Tracks

Since my time at VCU in Richmond VA I have always found trains and the track system as a source of inspiration. Sounds, repetitions, speed and momentum.



ORANGE CONES
Charcoal and Chalk on Paper



GRAFFITO
Charcoal and Chalk on Paper



TRAX
Charcoal and Chalk on Paper


When it rains...it pours.

Delhi

I went to Delhi, India last week to work with a business partner we have over there. The food was fantastic, and there was a lot of interesting architecture to sketch. Fortunately, I have some friends in the area who were able to show me around a little, and were willing to humor my sketching habit.



India Gate is a monument in central New Delhi that was built to commemorate the sacrifices of British and Indian soldiers in World War I. This week it was a gathering place (along with a few other places in the city) for people protesting against corruption along with Anna Hazare. This was an exciting moment to be in India.



I also got a chance to visit various temples and gardens, both old and new, all of which were beautiful, and unlike anything I'd had the opportunity to sketch before. Some were in perfect condition, while others were in a delightful state of disrepair that made them very interesting subjects to draw. I've posted a few more on my flickr page, as well as some images of Frankfurt from the trip home.

There was so much to see and draw just in Delhi. I'm hoping that I'll get a chance to come back in the near future.

München

I had a 12 Uhr layover in München, Deutschland last week, which gave me just enough time to take the S-bahn into the city and do a little sketching. I actually planned the flights that way on purpose, so I could have a chance to stretch my legs a bit and explore the city before the next flight, which was also a long one (more on that later).



I had wanted to sketch the Glockenspiel at the Rathaus, but found it a little too intimidating, so I sketched a side street instead.

July sketches

A couple of things from NaSkeDraMo: