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.

MLK MEMORIAL VIEW FROM THE TIDAL BASIN, WASHINGTON DC

MLK Memorial view from the Tidal Basin. During the 39th world wide SKetchcrawl we went to the Cherry Blossom Festival here in Washington DC. This is an annual event where the city celebrates the beginning of Spring. The Cherry Blossom trees came from Japan during 1912 and it has become a symbol of this city. It's also a symbol of friendship between the U.S.A. and Japan. From this view you can see the Tidal Basin, the MLK Memorial and in the back the Lincoln Memorial. It was a warm windy sunny spring day in DC. This sketch took me almost 2hrs and I did it with pink, purple, red, orange, brown, and black ink in order to catch the warm spring colors of the Cherry Blossoms.

Sketchcrawl at the Tidal Basin / Mall

For the 39th World Wide Sketchcrawl, the D.C. sketchers met at the Tidal Basin near The Mall. Since this was the prime week for the famous cherry blossom blooms, the entire area was packed, but our sketchers finally got situated and did their thing. The weather was great, and since I've missed the last few Sketchcrawls I was happy to be able to attend this one.

First up, my sketch of the Jefferson Memorial from across the Tidal Basin. I think I was the only sketcher who did not use any color, but I still included a few cherry blossoms in this one:

Here is a photo of my view while sketching!

While I was there waiting for the rest of the group to head back toward The Mall, I did some blind contour drawings of the MLK Memorial which was right behind me while I made the last sketch:

We walked around for quite a bit, but ended up at the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden, where I drew this bronze statue (Seated Yucatán Woman by Francisco Zúñiga):

It was a fun day, and I'm looking forward to the next one!

Tidal Basin

For the 39th World Wide Sketchcrawl, the D.C. sketchers met at the Tidal Basin, because the cherry trees are (finally) in bloom this week. As usual when the famous trees are blooming, there was a large crowd (and a few fishermen).

At the FDR memorial on the Tidal Basin, there are a number of sculptures representing scenes from the Great Depression. This sculpture by George Segal shows men standing in line for bread. Tourists like to pose for pictures as if they're part of the line of bronze statues.

After lunch, we went over to the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden, where we found more subjects to draw. You can see the rest of my sketches on Flickr, or at the Sketchcrawl Forum. We had seven sketchers in all this time, and I enjoyed seeing the takes the others had on the same subjects. It's always fun to draw with other sketchers.

DULLES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Dulles International Airport is located few miles away from Washington DC. This fantastic Airport in the DC Metro Area was designed during the Jet/Space age in the 1960's by the Architect Eero Saarinen. This Modern Architecture style building looks like a combination between a Greek temple meets aircraft carrier/air plane wings/space station/Glass cathedral. The interior is very elegant keeping with the tradition of that era and the views are impressive. For my taste this is one of the most beautiful airport in the world and every time I go I really want to stay there. The people that comes to the Airport tend to enjoy and admire the architecture. I did this during a warm Spring day in Northern Virginia State which was very enjoyable. It took me 1.5 hrs and Used black ink.

Smithsonian and National Gallery

I've been experimenting with adding a brown ink wash to my pen-and-ink sketches lately, and thought the red sandstone Smithsonian Castle would be a fun test subject. So I headed in to the District this weekend to try it. The West Wing of the National Gallery of Art, across the mall, is also easier to see in the wintertime without all the leaves on the trees in front of it.
I also went over to the Dupont Circle in the afternoon to sketch the crowd that usually gathers there to hang out on sunny days. There is a statue of Gandhi a few blocks west on Massachusetts Avenue that I had seen on a recent visit to the Phillipps Collection, so I made my way over there too.

Red Hoodie Cafe

Take a break. I remember it was around the convention center. Someone tried to get talkin bout politics and another was not havin it. Two more were all about getting paid. On the clock. Flirt with the females that went and came so quickly upon my vision field like birds.