August 31, 2013

I Went to Maine

Did I tell you I went to Maine? That's right, I finally got to travel somewhere.

I went there to visit my friend Andrea and her family. We went to high school together here in Memphis, and when we get together it is very much like we are 14 again.

I didn't sketch in the plane, but did note when we were flying over Manhattan. This little sketch is one of many still-lifes I did in Andrea's kitchen, a very cozy place.


This is her next door neighbor's house.


Gilbert's Chowder House has the best clam chowder! This was the first of two visits.


I drew these on the ferry to Peak Island.


Sat on the rocky beach and sketched.


Casco Bay


I realized while sketching on Peak Island that I did not have the proper green marker. So frustrating! There is a whole sketch I left out of here because I tried to mix my yellow watercolor brushpen and my blue watercolor brushpen, which failed. We went to an art supply store after the island excursion and I tried out several markers. I was excited about the Copic markers, but then I realized they bleed through! Luckily it was the failed sketch that it ruined.

We ate a lot of grapes that weekend.


Andrea grew these vegetables!



This and the sketch above are from Ogunquit, which is south of Portland. It's a lovely little town with a walkway along the water's edge. This place is lousy with lighthouses.


This was my final kitchen still-life before I had to head home again. It was a lovely little trip!

August 29, 2013

Teaching at Flicker Street Studio

These are from my last class at Flicker Street Studio - a workshop about all the things I learned at the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Barcelona.

My next class, Sketching with Oils, starts in a week!

August 28, 2013

Studio Night Last Night: Making Color Wheels

For my class, Sketching with Oils, at Flicker Street Studio. Starts next week - sign up if you haven't already!

August 27, 2013

Making East Memphis Architecture Interesting: Big Monsters

As you may know, I struggle with being surrounded by boooring buildings when I have sketching time. Luckily for me, I took Inma Serrano's workshop at the Symposium and learned about a more organic approach to drawing architecture.

August 26, 2013

Memphis Monday: Fire Station

Here's that fire station again.

August 24, 2013

Playing on the Porch

A couple of weeks ago I sat out in my back yard and played with watercolors and watercolor pencils. I was feeling the influence of the Symposium in Barcelona, but had to settle for my own backyard instead of Plaza Catalunya.


August 23, 2013

Follow Friday: Flicker Street Studio

Follow the Flicker Street Studio blog for updates on what is happening in the studio. New classes are starting in September - check here to sign up!

I'll be teaching a class called Sketching with Oils on Thursday nights in September. It's an introduction to painting with oils and a continuation of the study of sketching. It'll be fun!


August 22, 2013

Grey Day in the Parking Lot


August 21, 2013

Studio Night Last Night: Huh?

Ever made a painting so weird you're just not even sure what to do with it? That was my Studio Night.

This is just the top left of the painting. The rest of it is just as... I don't know what.

August 20, 2013

Drawing People at Lunch

Got to keep up those people-drawing chops.

(click image for more detail)

August 14, 2013

Barcelona Days 9 & 10

Believe it or not, there are still more sketches from my trip to Barcelona. These are from the day after the Symposium. I didn't do much that day - I was so tired and sore. I kind of had a Symposium hangover.

The first sketch is one of my favorites - it's simple, but captures the feeling of the place. The next few are from Plaza Catalunya, where I was trying to tell the story of the little kids chasing the pigeons.

That was definitely something I got out of this Symposium: a desire to tell stories with my sketches in a more purposeful way.

The last couple are more typical trip sketches - a combination of wanting to record the things that I see and just wanting to put pen to paper.

Thanks to everyone who made this Symposium such a great experience!

August 09, 2013

Follow Friday: Spillmanville

Today is Friday - art opening day - and a good one to see tonight is Bobby Spillman's show Waterworks at Material Art Space, 2553 Broad Ave. The opening is from 6 to 8 tonight, and it's the last show at Material, so go pay your respects.

Also go to see Bobby's work - inventive vignettes of animals doing very human things, like staring longingly at a piece of cake. Here's his blog, though he hasn't posted there this year.

Friday, August 9, 6 to 8 PM
Waterworks by Bobby Spillman
Material Art Space
2553 Broad Ave

August 08, 2013

Barcelona Day 8 - Symposium! (Part 2)

In the afternoon of the last day there was a great lecture by Fred Lynch. He's quite the story teller!



Then it was time for the afternoon sketchcrawl. There were hundreds of people there, not just from the Symposium, and it felt like a party. I got to hang out a little with Genine and Amber, who I had spent a lot of time with at the last Symposium.



Those are all the people who were taking pictures of the 400 or so sketchers who attended the sketchcrawl.


Then I finally got to sketch!

After the sketchcrawl there was a reception back at the CCCB, but I ended up without pictures or sketches from there. It was fun, but bittersweet because it marks the end of another Symposium.


Barcelona Day 8 - Symposium! (Part 1)

Here is Lapin sketching.


And here he is pointing us to our workshop destination - this was for Virginia Hein's workshop on day 3 of the Symposium.


We made it to the gorgeous setting.


Virginia did some great demonstrations.


And as usual I had so much fun making the quick sketches. These were made with a Home Depot carpenter pencil. Virginia gave one to each of us for the purpose of not getting too detailed.





Then there was The Incident, also known as Drowning Man in Sunglasses. He was never really drowning, he was fine, but he really was wearing sunglasses the whole time.


I could only scan half of my big watercolor sketch at a time - here's the left half...


and the right half.


Then Virginia was interviewed on Catalan TV!


Everyone did great work despite the distractions.


Then I ate a tortilla bocadilla.


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