Austin Skyline, from Town Lake Park (larger)

Saturday October 25th was SketchCrawl #20. I flew to Austin the night before to meet up with Lisa who drove down from the Dallas area. She got the word out and six local sketchers joined us for the event. What a great day! The weather was perfect and we were able to walk around central Austin and sketch a bunch of great subjects.

At Whole Foods World Headquarters (larger)

Texas Capital Dome (larger)

In the Driskill Hotel (larger)

Stevie Ray Vaughan
Statue (larger)

I had never been to Austin before. We picked the city as our destination because it was easy for both of us to get to and we wanted to spend time there. What a cool place! Here are some photos from the day:

Me, Sketching Stevie

Me, Studying the Dome
(not George )

Nancy, Lisa and Anna

Ed and Janet

The date for SketchCrawl #21 has been set: Saturday January 10, 2009. Where will you be sketching?

See Also:

• SketchCrawl #20, Austin Group Sketches
• SketchCrawl #20, 87 Other Worldwide Locations
• SketchCrawl #21, Planning Forums
• My Other SketchCrawls

I love Santa Fe and try to go every year or two. The light, spaces, color and food are amazing!

Sena Plaza (larger)

Canyon Road Shop (larger)

Cafe at Garcia Street Books (larger)

House Where We Stayed (larger)

Canyon Road Gate (larger)

At the Plaza (larger)

Jazz at Chispa (larger)

Bar at Chispa (larger)

See Also:

• Santa Fe 2008 Sketch Grids
• New Mexico 2007 Sketchbook, Part One: Taos
• New Mexico 2007 Sketchbook, Part Two: Santa Fe
• Other Travel Sketchbooks

And Don’t Miss:

• Lisa’s Santa Fe Sketches

Last month I went on a lively trip to Santa Fe with book club friends. There we met up with former member and fellow sketchblogger Lisa Reed and had a fabulous time exploring, eating, sketching and laughing.

I have a bunch of sketches from the trip to share, and thought I’d start off with the grid pages.

The top one is inspired by pages Lisa and I did this spring on a SketchCrawl in San Francisco. These are very fun to do! I draw out the boxes first, and then find little subjects to fill them.

Daily Grid (larger)

The second grid is similar to one I did this summer on a cabin trip, and chronicles each day. This is a great way to capture the often forgotten moments of a trip.

And hey: to all the many of you who have inquired about my whereabouts and well being lately - thank you! I have indeed been busy, but am still here and have much to share. Stay tuned for plenty more sketch-stuff. In fact, next weekend Lisa and I are meeting up in Austin to celebrate the 20th World Wide Sketchcrawl. Care to join us?

Continued:

• Santa Fe 2008 Sketchbook

See Also:

• New Mexico 2007 Sketchbook, Part One: Taos
• New Mexico 2007 Sketchbook, Part Two: Santa Fe
• Other Travel Sketchbooks

And Don’t Miss:

• Lisa’s Santa Fe Sketches

Anyone attending a conference these days is expected to take possession of, and tote around, a sizable load of low-quality bag/shirt/cup/pen/toy trinkets. An odd custom - most swag is destined for the landfill in short order - but ubiquitous none the less.

Last year I received a conference bag that actually got my notice. As to be expected it is poorly made and lacking in features, but I rather like the square-ish shape and rakish flap.

Finished Bag (larger)

Right off I envisioned the bag with swirly cabbage roses on the flap. I have no idea why that particular vision came to mind, but inspired I was. So off I went to the local mega-craft store to get a bunch of inexpensive fabric paints: spray-able white, matte pink/fuchsia/blue, and silver metallic.

I started with a Sharpie permanent marker to black out the white advertising text on the back of the bag. This worked remarkably well: you can still see the writing if you look closely, but it’s well camouflaged.

Covering up the bright orange background on the front flap was more of a challenge. I used the spray-able white paint which has a whitewash consistency and applied it with a foam brush. After five separate coats the orange was barely visible.

Next, I put the bag on a shelf and forgot about for many months. Suddenly this week I got the urge to finish it.

Painting

The image on the flap took about two hours to paint. The paints blend and mix easily and dry quickly with a nice matte finish. I did most of the painting with a foam brush, but also used my fingers to push paint around and soften edges.

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First I put down a layer of sage green paint in vaguely leafy shapes. Then I laid out the flowers with swirls of light pink, followed by dark pink, light blue, and around the colors again until I liked the result. I finished up the background by applying the green paint in more specific foliage shapes, using the lighter green to suggest highlights and edges.

Lines of metallic paint made for interesting texture on the flowers but looked a bit stark to me. I went back in with the flower colors on my fingers to soften the silver lines here and there: that did the trick. Finally, I took a look at the image as a whole and added blobs of color where I thought it would help with balance or light.

The piping around the painted area was white to begin with but i had to use heavier white fabric paint and a real paintbrush to cover splotches and restate the white. Then the black sharpie came out one more time to cover some paint that had found it’s way onto the black canvas.

Voilà! The next day I was able to use my new bag. I am quite pleased with the result, I must say. I do wish the bag itself were a bit sturdier, but for now it works nicely.

What’s Next?

Now that I have this project done, it is time to customize a better bag. Any canvas bag should take the paint well, although Timbuk2 and Case Logic make bags specifically for personalizing.

Have some conference swag lying around? Bags or T-Shirts perhaps? Consider using it to experiment with. The design needn’t be elaborate: a border of dots or swirls or a small image would be enough to make it one-of-a-kind. What have you got to lose?

Someone said “paint those apples”. So I did.

Sierra Cabin (larger)

On our recent cabin trip I had plenty of time to seek out sketching subjects. For some reason though I always have trouble finding things to sketch there.

The forest is teeming with detail; it can be overwhelming. There are not a lot of large shapes or distinct value patterns either.

Or maybe they are there and I just can’t see them? I’d like to be able to sketch more of the natural areas, but it seems I can’t see the forest for the trees!

At any rate, these were fun to do and I intend to go back soon and sketch some more.

Old Garage (larger)

On the Deck (larger)

Pyramid Creek (larger)

We recently spent five days with good friends at our cabin in the Sierra mountains, eating, relaxing and inventing cocktails. Inspired by Amanda Kavanagh’s wonderful travel pages, I decided to make a chart of our grand adventures.

This was was a blast to do, especially adding the watercolor. I laid out the page the first day, then filled in a new column each evening. I really like how it came out.

Coming up next, sketches from the trip!

Inspired by the ongoing Moleskine Exchange projects, Lisa and I decided to do one of our own. She moved away recently, but this is a way we can still sketch together - remotely!

We used the same pocket-sized Japanese-style folding book, but I rebound it with HP (hot press) watercolor paper, as is my preference with the regular books.

We are going to send the book back and forth between us, and when it’s done we’ll scan it and construct a copy so we each can have one. There are no rules: we can do whatever we want - no pressure! - and take as long as we like.

We do have a general theme though: Favorite Things. I started the book off by sketching a flower pot that Lisa gave me before she left. I have four rabbits, so this shape is quite appropriate! This is the same pot that I sketched recently with a few others on the porch.

Lisa has posted about our exchange on her blog, and has now added something to the book for me. I can’t wait to see it!

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I have been negligent in recognizing the kind ackowledgement from no less than three of my fellow sketchbloggers: the Brillante webblog award. I must really deserve this These folks are all inspiring: check out their wonderful blogs and see for yourself!

• Pete Scully: Postcards of the Hanging
• Lisa Reed: How I See It
• Spineretta: The Jacobite Rose

The tradition is that I now nominate some other blogs, but this award has made quite the rounds. So, I will instead recommend a visit to any of the wonderful art blogs listed in the Places to Visit section, just to the right side of this page.

It’s time for another round of the International Moleskine Exchange. This month I got to work in Leah’s moly. Her theme is “Enter the Carnival”. Great idea: this was sure fun to do.

This time I used an Ultra Fine Sharpie for the drawing, rather than my usual fountain pen, and the same watercolor pencils that I’ve been using, for color.

My Addition (larger)

More Entries in this Project:
     My Moly_x Drawings

For More Online Information:
     Moly_x Explained [requires Flickr login]
     Moly_x Image Pool
     Moly_x_20 Project Blog

Saturday was SketchCrawl 19 day. I couldn’t join the San Francisco group this time around, but did manage a quickie Crawl in my backyard before the sun set.

It was unseasonably warm: a real summer day. A giant bee kept following me around and blocking my view of the best flowers. I felt like I had a sketching companion after all! (And he didn’t even sting me…)

Porch Pots (larger)

Cosmos (larger)

Backyard Bouquet (larger)

Related:

• More SketchCrawls