Hanuman

"You are really honoring the Gods by simply giving the living time of sketching them compare to those that just come here to take pictures or just paying little attention as they were objects" - Brahmin at the Sri Siva Vishnu Temple, Lanham MD, January 2015. This is a very beautiful Hindu Temple once visited by Mr. President Obama which is located in the Metro area of Washington DC. The temple has multiple shrines with a lot of exquisite ornamental details. It feels as a galaxy of multiple Gods with their own distinctive function. The shrine that I sketched is Hanuman "The monkey commander of the monkey army" which is very popular with Indian wrestlers. This was another spiritual sketching in which I was recording what I was seeing and feeling at the same time enjoying the beautiful Vedic chanting of the Brahmins. It took 3hrs, Black Ink on White Paper.‪#‎washingtondc‬ ‪#‎usa‬ ‪#‎hindu‬ ‪#‎srisivavishnutemple‬

Jefferson Memorial

This weekend I paid a visit to the Jefferson Memorial and the Tidal Basin.  A black and white image seemed appropriate for the grey day, so went with the dry twig and Chinese ink technique I learned about from Kiah Kiean.

The Memorial itself is modeled after the Pantheon, a building Jefferson himself admired (and imitated in his design for the Rotunda at the University of Virginia).  The inside has inscriptions from his writings, including the Declaration of Independence.

The Tidal basin was still frozen over from colder weather earlier in the week, but it was actually relatively comfortable outside today.  This has long been a favorite place of mine to walk around - and it's much less crowded in February than it is in April when the cherry trees are in bloom.

Union Station

My very detail memory is a very good friend of mine which brings fabulous visions of nostalgia from time to time.  The first time I came to Washington DC was by train coming from Michigan.  This was my first time traveling by train and I remembered thinking "wow just like the movies or like historical personas like Abraham Lincoln (Lol)".  I was following one of my dreams of architecture which totally changed my life in a very positive way.  The first thing I remembered before I entered the city back in the summer of 2011 was these majestic doors by one of the main gates at the Union Station.  This place is full of fantastic ornamented Greco-Roman style architectural details.  I did this sketch during a very cold sunny winter afternoon few days before Christmas 2014.  The place was full of very diverse travelers and it was a little chaotic from time to time.  2.5 hrs, Black Ink, White Paper. 

#UnionStation  #WashingtonDC  #UnionStationWashingtonDC  #Trains  #PublicTransportation  #GrecoRomanArchitecture  #USA  

SketchCrawl @ Franciscan Monastery on 11.8.14

Here's a sketch of one of the recreated grottos at the Franciscan Monastery near the campus of the Catholic University of America.

  

and a visit to the U.S. Botanic Garden 

SketchCrawl @ SAAM / NPG on 1.4.14

I joined up with a dozen or so local sketchers for a SketchCrawl at my favorite museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery. We met up in the beautiful Kogod Courtyard and began sketching there.

We visited the contemporary art galleries, I had fun working with scale - framing the sketchers and art with other art.

6 Year Old Children's Chapel Washington National Cathedral

This altar is located in the 6 Year Old Children's Chapel at the Washington National Cathedral which is a very spiritual as well as historical place here in Washington DC. The scale of this chapel is very friendly and designed for children of that age as well as full of Gothic architectural/sculptural details. This is the most peaceful and ornamented small chapel I had ever visited. In the altar we can find very ornamented bible story telling sculptures from angels, saints, Virgin Mary to Jesus. I must say during that day the quire was singing very angelical melodies that for a moment music, architecture, spirituality and sketching were all in harmony. 2.5 hrs Black Ink on White Paper.
#washingtonnationalcathedral  #childrenschapel  #washingtondc  #usk  #usa

Eastern Market Washington DC

During the 45th World Wide SketchCrawl we visited the Eastern Market in Washington DC which is located east of Capitol Hill in the historic neighborhood with the same name. This is a beautiful public market in operation since 1873 and is a place for food products commerce as well as art. This 19th century brick building is full of wonderful details and is one of the few landmarks in the city in which the main entrance has the name of the architect that designed this magnificent place- Adolf Cluss. It was a very warm fall sunny day and there were so many great aromas of fresh food as well as colorful beautiful works of art. It took me 2.5 hrs and I used black ink on white paper. #Easternmarketwashingtondc #EasternMarket #washingtondc #usa

The General Ulysses S. Grant Memorial

The General Ulysses S. Grant Memorial is located in front of the U.S. Capitol facing the Lincoln Memorial at the opposite site of the Washington DC National Memorial Mall Parks.  Grant during the U.S. civil war (1861 to 1865) was a 4 stars General  that served under the commands of President Abraham Lincoln in order to preserve the Union.  With his armies Grant helped to defeat the traitors slaving forces of the confederacy.  Later on Grant became President of the U.S.   This collage sketch took several hours during several days in different locations.  I did the equestrian statue during a warm sunny late November afternoon which is very unusual and there were diverse groups of people enjoying the memorial.  During the following week after work I sketched a map of the Mall near the Smithsonian "Castle".  Few days later I was working out in the Join Army & Marines base Fort Myers in Arlington, VA and there were few soldiers practicing a civil war demonstration.  I had the opportunity to sketch the style of flag that the Union Soldiers  carried to battle as well as the symbols for a 4 stars General.  The purpose of this sketch is to learn from the past as well as to investigate the history of great individuals that sacrificed for the U.S.  Equestrian Statue 2.0 hrs, Smithsonian Map 1.5 hrs, and Union Soldiers Practice Demonstration 1hr.  Total 4.5hrs Black Ink on White Paper.          

NIH Community Orchestra

The National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD sponsors a Community Orchestra that performs in the D.C. area. Many of the musicians are employees at the NIH, or their friends and relations. For this year's winter concert, they performed selections from Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite, Tchaikovsky's Marche Slave, Kalinnikov's Symphony No. 1, and selections from Handel's Messiah (including the Hallelujah Chorus). I got there a little early and got to sketch them while they practiced - then finished the sketch during the actual performance.

Bruton Parish

Bruton Parish Church

Bruton Parish Church, in Colonial Williamsburg (about 3 hours from D.C.) has been in continuous use as a church since 1715. Many of the Founding Fathers, including Jefferson, Washington, Mason, and Henry once worshiped here, and it is still an active Episcopal congregation today.

This month, the church is hosting a different choir every night for a candlelight concert series. On Friday night, my dad's church choir from Winchester, Virginia sang Christmas songs to start off the season. The whole family came down to support him and enjoy the music in this space. My sister and I are both William and Mary graduates, so we all used to spend a lot of time together in Williamsburg, and it was fun to do that again - and show off Colonial Williamsburg and the College to my nephews.

Candlelight Concert

Bruton Parish from a visit in 2009

Capitol Hill Neighborhood

I am now working as a graphic designer for Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. Here is a promotional map I created using sketches from the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

Autumn in Reston

The community I live in, Reston, is planned around a group of man-made lakes, in the suburbs of D.C.  Fall is one of my favorite times of year here - I enjoy going on walks in the afternoon, with the wind in the leaves, the smell of wood fires, and (usually) a stop at Starbucks, conveniently located about 3/4 of the way around the lake. This afternoon was no exception.

I've been trying lately to focus more on color than just line, working primarily with the brush, and pulling out the pen only at the end to put in shadows and details.  I'm not terribly comfortable with the brush-first approach yet, but I've been trying to learn from other sketchers like Kumi and João and Behzad, and it's been a fun experiment - though I still have a lot to learn.