DC Sketchers @ U.S. Botanic Garden

DC Sketchers visited the U.S. Botanic Garden to concentrate our study of contour drawing - reviewing blind contour and trying our hand at modified contour.

We escaped the hot sun under the protection of some trees in Bartholdi Park. We also avoided the 4th of July weekend crowds.
The park is one of DC's hidden jems, with Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi's Fountain, now being renovated. See images.

Take a look at the students' impressive work. Everyone improved in the sensitivity and confidence of their observation skills.

And take a look at one of the student's blog entry from last week at Mount Pleasant Farmers Market.
















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National Sketch Draw Month

This is Day one of the month long July challenge presented by artist & poet Dan Vera to the Urban Sketchers of Washington DC and the world at large to draw a drawing and share it with the world each day of this month. He was inspired by the National Poet's daily poem challenge to invite us sketchers to do with sketches what so many poets do with poems in April. Make a new one every day for a month. We discussed this a little on the Sketch Crawl Washington DC facebook group page where many artists seemed interested and willing to post shared photos of their efforts. We don't have another big International Sketch Crawl until later this month but this is a great way to help everyone create a niche in their daily routine for some meditative drawing to prepare.

I have been doing the daily sketch since about May of 2010 and I find that it is a great routine to begin each day. At first I started out small just line drawings in a very small book I made to fit in the hip pocket of my jeans. I quickly bored with still life drawing around the house early in the morning but I found that flowers in my garden were a great subject to attack early in the day and study closely. Soon I had a routine and found that public responses were much stronger if I added a little watercolor to the sketches. Over the winter season stuck inside I turned to cut flowers and colorful vases.  I had plenty more botanical subjects to report with my pen, ink and water colors.

I found that drawing every day showed me that some days the drawing skills are great and some days they are less great... it seems to give me a measure of how I am feeling by doing the drawing and judging the results. I see if it is early in the day and you are a little off center or tired or just not liking the weather it shows in the lines and the care you use to compose the sketch but even a poorly result is worth the effort. The 10-30 minutes of sketching helps me know where I am in the world and how well balanced I am feeling.

 I am truely looking forward to seeing all the sketches from the other members of this group. I am very glad Dan Vera came up with the idea and presented it for July.  I hope lots of artists will share their work and the news about this national drawing sketching challenge with all their artist friends to give it a try. If you aren't ready to draw this year  you can follow the results and enjoy the sketches at our facebook group page. Urban Sketchers of Washington DC on facebook. 

My first sketch for the challenge Friday July 1, 2011

Men enjoying technology

A couple recent sketches I've done -- one is of a man playing Solitaire on his iPad on a flight to Minneapolis over Memorial Day weekend. I was in awe of how large his fingers were!

The other is of two young guys on their laptops at Pound coffee shop on Capitol Hill, done earlier this afternoon. I felt like I captured the slouch of the closer guy really well, more so than the other guy -- whose proportions are a bit off (my fault, not his!)

home in the garden

Bressingham blue hosta blooms first in the garden with white flowers and blue leaves. 

brand new pot of zinnias caught my eye... now I have to plant them. 

rainy day in the studio with a broken canna lily 

tiny Turk's cap lilies early in the summer

Everlasting pea vine is a roadside favorite new to our garden

Kindly Light day lilies are one of my favorites

small red day lily rediscovered at my home place on a recent visit.

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.

National Airport

Gate 39 at National Airport and the plane I'm about to board, with the Cathedral in the distance.

Jelly Vision @ The Soundry

I was a guest on The Soundry's Jelly Vision show a few weeks ago and have been attending every Thursday. These are sketches of last weeks guests. Awesome show check out the page here

THE HOSTS

RENE MOFFATT

BURLESQUE DANCER

ALEXANDER FROM WTGG

13 RUBLE

DC Sketchers @ Meridian Hill Park

DC Sketchers explored foreshortening and perspective at Meridian Hill Park - a National Historic Landmark maintained by the National Park Service. Designed in the early 20th century, modeled on classical European urban parks, the park is made for perceptive drawing with lots of rewarding vistas, featuring statues and cascading fountains. Check out the original and revised plans.













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DC Sketchers @ The National Gallery of Art

DC Sketchers visited the National Gallery of Art and tried their hand at sighting and measurement by measuring the proportional relationship between the height and width of paintings in the Impressionism to Modernism show.
Then we learned to see and draw the negative spaces in the paintings and then went to the East Building to practice seeing and drawing the negative shapes in Bruce Nauman's 15 Pairs of Hands.

A new eight week summer session begins on June 25th. Visit www.CHAW.org for more information.










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mall sketches (part 10)

during the month of april the center of the mall had been turned into a habitat for a human sized easter bunny. i watched sometimes as parents put their crying children on the lap of the ginormous rabbit and wonder why anyone thinks this is a good idea. but, it gave me something else to draw: on this day i focused on the fabric butterflies that are suspended from the ceiling.

mall sketches (part 9)

i recently got a new (to me) pair of wing tip shoes, and sketched them during lunch because all the furniture was moved around to accommodate the easter bunny photo setup and i could not get a spot facing anyone. then i just started writing a bunch of stuff. :)

mall sketches (part 8)

more mall sketches - a few random people i found...