MLK MEMORIAL VIEW FROM THE TIDAL BASIN, WASHINGTON DC

MLK Memorial view from the Tidal Basin. During the 39th world wide SKetchcrawl we went to the Cherry Blossom Festival here in Washington DC. This is an annual event where the city celebrates the beginning of Spring. The Cherry Blossom trees came from Japan during 1912 and it has become a symbol of this city. It's also a symbol of friendship between the U.S.A. and Japan. From this view you can see the Tidal Basin, the MLK Memorial and in the back the Lincoln Memorial. It was a warm windy sunny spring day in DC. This sketch took me almost 2hrs and I did it with pink, purple, red, orange, brown, and black ink in order to catch the warm spring colors of the Cherry Blossoms.

Sketchcrawl at the Tidal Basin / Mall

For the 39th World Wide Sketchcrawl, the D.C. sketchers met at the Tidal Basin near The Mall. Since this was the prime week for the famous cherry blossom blooms, the entire area was packed, but our sketchers finally got situated and did their thing. The weather was great, and since I've missed the last few Sketchcrawls I was happy to be able to attend this one.

First up, my sketch of the Jefferson Memorial from across the Tidal Basin. I think I was the only sketcher who did not use any color, but I still included a few cherry blossoms in this one:

Here is a photo of my view while sketching!

While I was there waiting for the rest of the group to head back toward The Mall, I did some blind contour drawings of the MLK Memorial which was right behind me while I made the last sketch:

We walked around for quite a bit, but ended up at the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden, where I drew this bronze statue (Seated Yucatán Woman by Francisco Zúñiga):

It was a fun day, and I'm looking forward to the next one!

Tidal Basin

For the 39th World Wide Sketchcrawl, the D.C. sketchers met at the Tidal Basin, because the cherry trees are (finally) in bloom this week. As usual when the famous trees are blooming, there was a large crowd (and a few fishermen).

At the FDR memorial on the Tidal Basin, there are a number of sculptures representing scenes from the Great Depression. This sculpture by George Segal shows men standing in line for bread. Tourists like to pose for pictures as if they're part of the line of bronze statues.

After lunch, we went over to the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden, where we found more subjects to draw. You can see the rest of my sketches on Flickr, or at the Sketchcrawl Forum. We had seven sketchers in all this time, and I enjoyed seeing the takes the others had on the same subjects. It's always fun to draw with other sketchers.

DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Dulles International Airport is located few miles away from Washington DC. This fantastic Airport in the DC Metro Area was designed during the Jet/Space age in the 1960's by the Architect Eero Saarinen. This Modern Architecture style building looks like a combination between a Greek temple meets aircraft carrier/air plane wings/space station/Glass cathedral. The interior is very elegant keeping with the tradition of that era and the views are impressive. For my taste this is one of the most beautiful airport in the world and every time I go I really want to stay there. The people that comes to the Airport tend to enjoy and admire the architecture. I did this during a warm Spring day in Northern Virginia State which was very enjoyable. It took me 1.5 hrs and Used black ink.