Nationals Park

Yesterday I went to see the Nationals play the Rockies.  This did not turn out too well for the home team (they lost 7-6), but I still enjoyed being there for the crack of the bat, the half-smoke from Ben's Chili Bowl, and the experience of being in the crowd.

Bayou in Foggy Bottom

From a sketching perspective, this building in Foggy Bottom is a complete mess, and that's why I wanted to sketch it, knowing full-well that any semblance of accuracy needed to be downgraded from exact to relative in order to come away with a plausible rendition of the building. Of course, that was the easy part; actually doing the sketch was the challenge. Working in intervals of 15-20 minutes during lunch and two one-hour sessions after work, I had to fight against illegally parked delivery trucks blocking my view (twice!), random rain showers, curious onlookers, and some guy sitting exactly in the spot I established to draw from.

Oh well, this isn't rural sketching in the quiet peaceful countryside; this is urban sketching in our neurotic and ever-moving city called Washington, DC!

Sketched with a cheap gel pen into a 4" x 6" sketchbook.

Meet the sketcher: SILVER SPRING, MD > Jason Pearlman

An X-ray of my head would reveal a brain comprised of two left-halves. Though uncommon for artists, it probably explains why I’m such a good production designer. Of course, too much perfectionist pixel pushing can wear an artist down, so I make time during the work day to spill ink on paper as well.

I sketch people during my commutes on the Metro, I sketch buildings and urban details during my lunch breaks, and I scrawl away aimlessly during breaks from wrestling with digital files. I draw with fountain pens, cheap gel pens, and markers into small sketchbooks, garnering strange looks from people in the process, because artists apparently belong in New York City, not Washington, DC.

I’m from a family of artists; my great grandparents were in the jewelry trade, my grandfather was a cartoonist during the Great Depression, and my father was a draftsman. I've been drawing all of my life, earning a BFA in Illustration from FIT, and working as an illustrator, designer, and production artist. I also rocked my kindergarten art show, where my unusually detailed and realistic rendering of the local garbage truck made center-wall, cementing my life as an artist and ruling out any chance of me ever becoming a doctor or lawyer.

Blog: jasonpearlman.wordpress.com
Website: www.jasonpearlman.com
Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/jasonpearlman/sets/