Tag: urban sketching

Not-Technically-Urban-Sketching 3/31/2019

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I spent a little time Saturday in Norfolk, VA kind of urban sketching. I recently purchased a book by Marc Holmes called The Urban Sketcher, which gives a brief history of the recent urban sketching trend, and he says that technically, urban sketching means COMPLETING the artwork on location, sketch, color, and finishing touches. I did not do the whole thing… I sketched, but then painted at home, even though I brought my paints with me! I had prepped a really lightweight, slim, TEENSY paint set. Something fun about mini paint sets! The container weighs really nothing, so I’d wanted to try it out. I used empty makeup pans in a credit card case…

I sketched on location, but in the end I painted at home. (Urban Sketch 101 fail) AND wasn’t terribly happy with anything. Here it is anyway, because I want you to see how much I improve over time 🙂

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Nothing dynamic about ANY of it, although I did try one or two little things I was happy with. I felt awkward and uncomfortable, and didn’t draw well at all.  I had learned, though, even planning to paint, I needed VERY little with me, as opposed to several outings ago, when I brought way too much stuff. So that’s something. I didn’t even use a pencil (oh, maybe that’s why I was awkward, now that I think about it.) Just drew in ink, then added color.

I keep missing our local sketching events, so I was really happy with myself for just getting out and doing it. I’m trying to get out at least once a week to sketch something, and I’ll definitely head back out to Norfolk again.

A little (sub)-urban-ish sketching 3/22/19

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Some adorable homes in Chesapeake… ok, prettier in person. I parked my car and totally creeped on these nice neighbors, just sketching away. Then painted it at home. Does that count as urban sketching? I have so far to go.

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I REALLY did not capture the character of this line of homes. 😦

 

“Urban sketching” in the mall…

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Norfolk, Virginia has mermaids everywhere. They all have the same silhouette, are (more or less) ‘life-size’, and are decorated individually. This one inside MacArthur Center has always fascinated me. It has “bites” carved out of its tail, and is wrapped in silver foil, to look like a foil covered chocolate mermaid. There used to be a Godiva store in the mall, (Heaven on earth, imo) and this mermaid is titled Go Diva, with a little poem beneath it.

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I brought shiny silver paint for the foil, but then wasn’t sure about shading on top of it. I want to try it again, though, so maybe next time I’ll try the shiny. (Although I was pretty satisfied with the way the Daniel Smith Bloodstone worked)

Saturday, March 9, 2019… pretzel dog!! yum.

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I went to MacArthur Center in Norfolk today for a little indoor urban sketching… which I’ll post tomorrow. But for today, finally another journal entry. 🙂 Auntie Anne’s pretzel dog. A much tastier indulgence than I expected it to be.

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Birth of a Chick-fil-A. 3/2/2019

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A gray, rainy day calls for urban sketching from the comfort of my little brown Beetle. On the ring of a mall in Chesapeake, they’ve torn down the Chick-fil-A, to rebuild it. The scene is more interesting than I’ve portrayed it here.

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This is Daniel Smith watercolor, in an Indigo handmade watercolor “wiropad” (linked here)… 

(I’ve linked it to Amazon, but I noticed it is about $4 more now than when I purchased it.)

It is 100% cotton paper with a deckled edge. Nice flair! I had a little trouble deciding which was front or back of a page. I’ve decided to try using both sides and see how it does.

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And an interesting trait… I don’t know if you can see, but it gets thinner along the edge with the wire binding, so the page can be removed and have a deckled edge along all four edges. Kinda cool.

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Also, there’s a piece of parchment (or something) between each page:

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This book is 9×6″… I think there’s also a 12×9″ book. I like the paper (so far)… quite thick and sturdy. Strong texture… almost too much texture for using a pen to outline, at least it would be if I wanted every tiny line perfect.

I’m not that enthusiastic about a spiral binding, in general… but if you want to be able remove a page, or all pages, this might be worth looking at. The covers are very thick and sturdy. The book itself is quite thick, heavy and bulky for carrying around, but the quality paper may be worth it. A soft cover with the same paper might be really awesome! I plan to use this to the end, so we will all see how well it holds up!

One bad thing, they put a large sticker on the cover. Unattractive and difficult to remove. I gently pried it off and put it inside the back cover. Decided it was the front cover, so peeled it off to move it, but it messed up the paper inside the cover. So I put it back. 🙂

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I may replace it with an ID label, but it’s the only place the name is on the book, so I’m leaving it for now. That’s one thing I love about shopping through Amazon… if I forget the name of something I purchase, I just look in my history. (I use this feature often!)

I am an Amazon Affiliate, so I receive a tiny percentage on purchases made through my links, without any increase in price to you, the purchaser, and I appreciate your support. (I don’t think you have to purchase the exact item I link (although honestly I’m not certain) for it to count, and I use the little bit Amazon sends me to purchase extra watercolor supplies now and then. (Yeah, Amazon saw me coming. They knew they’d just be getting it back)

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Friday 2/1/19 Urban Sketching: The Blue Star Diner

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I met a couple members of the Hampton Roads Urban Sketchers in the parking lot of The Blue Diner, in Newport News, Virginia. The diner’s claim to (historic) fame is that it is one of the last remaining diners built in a factory. (?) Apparently, also, it was moved from Woodstock to Newport News in 1963.

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I know my husband’s family has many fond memories of eating there decades ago, with their grandparents. (They lived just behind it, in historic Hilton Village.) In July of 2015, the city decided to demolish the diner, but then plans were brought forward to renovate the kitchen, and that renovation was supposed to take place in 2017. There were lights on inside the building while we were there, but the place definitely feels deserted, and looks run down… the no trespassing and no parking signs completed the feeling. It’s really a piece of Hilton Village, a place I love, and I hope it does get renovated and opened again soon. If it does, you’ll find me there!

 

I’m the worst at seeing what to leave out, and it shows here.

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The sign was incredible and I wanted to include it even if it was in a different place on the page. If they ever do reopen, I hope they fix the sign but don’t change it.

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I used EEM paints, for the most part, with one Daniel Smith exception, in my Moleskine watercolor journal. (not my favorite paper, although the book is very well made… don’t get one.) I also had a chance to use my Etchr Slate Mini art travel bag. It works like an easel for field sketching, as well as holding the supplies. If you haven’t taken a look, do check them out! It isn’t a cheap bag, but is a really nice tool.

(We went to Indulge Bakery in Hilton Village for lunch… the cake wasn’t lunch. Exactly. But yummy, after the chicken salad croissant, which was also yummy. I haven’t finished this page, but thought I’d better include it now anyway.)

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CHOCOLATE Wednesday… 1/16/19

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Today I met another member of the Hampton Roads Urban Sketching group in Virginia Beach… we started at Jerry’s Artarama (of course!!), spent a ridiculous amount of time drooling over everything, and planning how to spend all available (or not) funds, went to Chick-fil-A for lunch, then to Town Center to sketch. Upon reaching our destination, however, we decided it was a little too chilly, and sought refuge inside The Royal Chocolate, drew some pretzels, and ate them. I forgot to get a photo with them. (Apparently, to really count as an urban sketch, you are supposed to photograph your sketch held up in front of the building… or pretzel…it represents.)

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By the way, if you have an opportunity… pop in to The Royal Chocolate and pick up a caramel and chocolate dipped pretzel rod… DELICIOUS!!… or the caramel and chocolate dipped apple which costs more but is really just a piece of heaven on earth. And huge. My absolute favorite thing EVER!!!! Like really… ever ever ever.  I’ll draw (and eat) THAT next time. (What was I thinking???) Next time, BOTH.

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Wednesday 1/9/19 urban sketching

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One of my resolutions this year is to try to get out of my house weekly to draw or paint. I thought the abandoned Toys R Us would be interesting… once so full of fun, now so lonely. The trash cans are overflowing, the cover of the “o” has fallen out of the sign, etc.

I brought as little as I possibly could today… including my new etchr slate mini bag, and the little tin I decorated last week, filled with only six handmade watercolors (from EEM (Eventually, Everything Mixes) and Dr Oto Kano), a pencil, and a water brush and blotter.

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I attached the paint tin to my journal with a magnetic clip (thanks for the tip, Mandy!)

I loved the paints. I used a water brush, which is new to me, and had trouble with it. Super convenient, yes, but I had so much trouble doing… well, doing pretty much everything with it! I meant to fix it up a bit when I got home and then just decided to leave it. I’d forgotten my pen today, too, trying to really keep my supplies to a minimum.

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Some perspective errors (my weakness!!!), some color errors, whatever else…  It’s good enough. I’ll get better!! 🙂 And I did enjoy myself!

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Hello, January 2019!

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Hectic holidays, poor planning, and no art! (what??!) But 2019 is here, and one goal is to put daily art back as a priority. (Following the “Draw Your Day” book I was using in 2018 as a guide!) Today a friend invited me out for some urban sketching… and this met several of my new year’s resolutions, (including both daily art, and weekly urban/plein air sketching practice) so I happily joined her at The Virginia Living Museum.

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We had a lovely grown-up-ish play date!

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Urban Sketching in Hampton Roads

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I joined the Hampton Roads Urban Sketching Club for a fun morning of… yeah, you guessed… urban sketching. 🙂 We met in the shopping strip of historic Hilton Village… my husband grew up in that neighborhood and I have hoards of fond memories of the place, so it was really nice for me to be there. It was great meeting other people who want to draw bits of their daily lives, and share creative ideas with each other. Our next “meeting” will be the first Saturday in November (if anyone is local and wants to join us?? Painting, and pumpkin bread… what could be nicer than that?)

The neighborhood itself is over a hundred years old, and full of history, and interesting homes. And cats. Lots of cats. We had planned to meet at Indulge, a little bakery and cafe there on Warwick Blvd, but their power was still out … one of Hurricane Michael’s residual effects! The owner (I assume?), however, brought us out huge, moist slices of pumpkin bread and banana bread, which was so thoughtful of her! AND made us loyal fans forever. It was a small kindness that we will all remember!

I hope the other artists aren’t going to mind me sharing some of their work:

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I loved being allowed to take a peek at some of their art, and swap A.S.A. (art-supply-addiction) tales, and seeing all of our different techniques! Art is really for the artist. It is nice when others enjoy it, really nice, but the creation of it soothes the artist’s soul. I think that is the purpose of it. Between the perfect weather, the quaint area, and the lovely companions, this outing was a WIN.

I meant to bring some new watercolor boards I had purchased just for this event, but forgot them, so took the opportunity to make today’s entry in my daily journal. I’m glad, now, that I forgot the boards.

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I think I have one of the ladies’ names wrong. Consider it a typo! 🙂

To catch you up, here are my other journal entries. I have completed an ink, or ink and watercolor, page each day in October…

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This journal is turning out to be so much fun! The size is great, too. I’m looking forward to being able to look back and see a journey of improvement! And also remember a little about each day.

So… what did you do today?