USk Symposium Paraty

I just returned from the 5th Urban Sketchers Symposium in Paraty, Brazil. Over 100 sketchers from around the world converged in Paraty, a little colonial town on the southeastern coast, for a week of sketching, workshops, demos, and eating. I attended workshops by Behzad Bagheri, Suhita Shirodkar, Liz Steel, and João Catarino, some of which were pretty challenging, but from which I learned a lot. We also spent a fair amount of time just sketching together informally in the city, and often sketched each other at mealtimes. I also got to explore Rio de Janeiro for a few days before the Symposium itself started. You can see more of my sketches from the Symposium on flickr, or check out everyone else's work in the Urban Sketchers Paraty Pool.

The Symposium is a lot of fun - I highly encourage any of you to go if you get the chance. It is a lot of fun to explore a new place with a bunch of other sketchers. And since we only get together like this once a year, it is also a bit like a family reunion of sorts - it is great to catch up with people you haven't seen in a while, but whose work you have been following online. I look forward to the next Symposium.

But for now, it is back to sketching D.C.

U.S. Military Culinary Competition

The 10th Annual Military Culinary Competition was held this weekend on 8th Street SE, in front of the Marine Barracks. Teams of chefs from various branches of the armed forces, as well as a team from the White House Kitchen, competed to prepare a four-course meal from ingredients provided in a basket. The street was closed off to traffic for the Barracks Row Fall Festival, and the chefs worked in tents along the sidewalk, so I was able to get a pretty close view. Off to one side, a sculptor used a chain saw to carve an eagle out of a block of ice.

Sâuçá Restaurant

The brilliant Sâuçá fleet of food trucks recently opened a brick and mortar restaurant just around the corner from my apartment. And not only is it as delicious as the trucks, with an even bigger menu, but I can now mosey my way over there anytime I like. They took over a fantastic building that has a great retro design to it, with a beautiful overhang that covers the patio, making it a fun subject to draw.

P.S. Get the Fish Taco or Butter chicken with a side of Yucca fries. And ask for a few of their many tasty sauces to dip it all in.

District Taco

After snacking there on a few occasions, I finally to round to sketching the District Taco food cart at the Courthouse Farmer's Market. Frankly the main reason I ever go to that farmer's market is so I have an excuse to get a breakfast taco from them.

On The Fly

This is the last sketch I finish working on from the Rally To Restore Sanity a couple of weeks ago. Technically its the first sketch I worked on, but I never got a chance to finish it up until recently.

On The Fly is another food truck in town, and it made a good choice coming to the Mall during the rally, as I never saw it without a line. They found a nice spot in front of the Hirshhorn sculpture garden and caught a lot of the foot traffic heading to the big show. Time dictated that I get moving towards the crowd and events, so I didn't join the line. But I like the On The Fly methodology; supporting local companies, using smart cars as trucks, eco-packaging, etc... they've got their green bases covered.

I met Joel & Ginny around there for a loose Sketch Crawl, covering the Rally, but we parted ways as things started. Joel & I managed to meet up afterwords to share some sketches, and frankly just sit for a few minutes while the crowd thinned out a bit.

I love the food trucks in this town and have sketched a few of them, but I think I need to take a break from them for a while and get back to some of the beautiful architecture we've got over here.