The Woodrow Wilson Bridge

The bridge starts on the state of Virginia coming from the south west, at the middle passes the boundary on the south corner of Washington DC, and it lands at the state of Maryland on the south east. Under the bridge the Jones Point park is located which is full of beautiful wild life. The sun was starting to set and all these birds were flying around in a crazy fashion. Some of the birds were fishing others were doing some crazy acrobatics moves. There is a lot of aquatic activities going on from kayaking, fishing boats, to sailing boats. The weather was perfect and the sky was clear. This sketch took me 3 hours in a very relaxing environment and it was done with black ink on white paper.

Light House Jones Point and the Southern Stone Marking Point of Washington DC

During the 40th Sketchcrawl I went to Jones Point to sketched the Light House and the Southern stone marking point of Washington DC. This stone was the first Federal Monument of the new created U.S.A. when it was put in place back in 1791. This stone marks the beginning of Washington DC and it is in the South most point of the City at the tip of Jones Point. This is a fantastic park located right under the Eisenhower bridge in Alexandria, VA. The park is full of vegetation as well it has Native America, Colonial, WWI, and today's history. I did this sketch right in the water sitting in a chair and it took me 3 hours and a little extra in between running for cover to the light house because of thunderstorms and as well for the visit of 2 beavers that were inspecting what I was doing close to their territory (that's when I got out of the water for good). 3.5 Hours and I used black ink on white paper.

The Ugly Buildings of Washington, DC.

Washington, DC has many internationally-known landmarks, which draw visitors from all over the world, and are the subjects of countless photos, sketches, paintings, and gaudy tourist souvenirs. A quick mental flash of our city brings to mind grand Presidential monuments, gleaming government buildings, and a big spire in the middle towering over all of it. However, being a day-to-day local, the touristy structures of DC are common place for me, as opposed to their complete opposites; the ugly buildings of Washington, DC.

Here is one of them, located in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood. You'll never see it on a postcard, but walk past it every day, and you'll notice the bright red pipe running up the side of this building, matched by the big red sign at the bottom, all set against an otherwise white building with a subtle windowed-grid of dark browns and dusty blues. I was hoping to color this all in, but I sketched it with a cheap gel pen, and coloring over the lines with markers on a humid summer day here in DC would have turned this all into one big smear-fest!

USk Barcelona

I just returned from the 4th International Urban Sketching Symposium in Barcelona. I had a really wonderful time there: I got to meet (and learn from) many artists whose work I'd been following online for years, and got to sketch in a beautiful city. I filled several sketchbooks, and this is only just a small sample: the curious can find the rest on Flickr.
While the city has some amazing architecture, and I learned a lot from the workshops, I think my favorite sketches were the informal ones where we sketched each other between (and during) sessions.

And now that I'm back home, I'm looking forward to going out and practicing what I learned here in my own city.

4th At Lake Tahoe

I missed the fireworks.

 No affiliation.

 

Buds

  Cabin view

Gratis

 

Untitled

 

 

Mt. Top

 

Window

Eli's Kosher Deli

This is Eli's Kosher Deli, located here in the DuPont Circle neighborhood of Washington, DC. Eli's is DC's best, and only, kosher restaurant. Not to belittle Eli's, though; the food is quite good and the staff very friendly. I eat there often, and never leave disappointed. Eli's is housed in a building architecturally typical of the neighborhood's homes and businesses, and from the urban sketching point of view, presents tons of lines, shapes, and details to work with. I was hoping to capture the whole building and then color it in, but I work with a tiny 4" x 6" sketchbook and a cheap gel pen, so not only did the actual restaurant on the ground floor not fit onto the page, coloring over the lines with my markers would have turned this into a major smudged ink-fest.

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/

Old Town

I did some sketching today in Old Town Alexandria. A couple of people stopped to talk to me while I was working - one had done a sketch of Prince Street from the other direction. There was a jazz festival going on a block away, down by the waterfront, which I could hear from my sketching stool. I enjoy sketching to live music. On the way back to my car, I passed a saxophone player on King Street.

"Conversations"

Our own Matt Malone who along with his studio partner Kurtis Ceppetellli make the group Duly Noted.
Having seen their collaborative work before, I highly recommend checking out their upcoming exhibit opening June 1st. at the Selman Gallery.  3305 8th St. NE, Washington DC 20017.

SPHERE NUMBER 6

During the 39th Sketchcrawl I started working on this sketch but I came back 2 more times in order to get it done. This is the Sphere Number 6 by the famous Sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro located at the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden Smithsonian at the Mall. This sunk garden even when it's in the mall most of their amazing sculptures are hiding from street level view. It's a fantastic space to visit and explore at the same time relaxing. I admire Pomodoro's work and I would love to sketch more of his sculptures around the world. The sphere is made out of metal and it has this great cut outs with amazing details that are things of beauty. Many people that walked by called it the death star, well I call it the great detail sphere. Those 3 times that I came the weather was warm and sunny. It took me a total of 5 hrs adding all the 3 visits. I used black ink.