Urban sketcher Suhita Shirodkar had the bright idea of hosting an art supply swap the other week. It was a great excuse to clean out my studio and part ways with superfluous sketchbooks, pencils, and paints.
Of course, I didn't come home empty-handed! My haul from the art swap? The composite sketch above, plus a Platinum fountain pen, a bottle of ink, a set of Kuretake pan watercolors ... you get the picture.
After the art swap, M. and I drove south into Morgan Hill (it gets rural very quickly just a few miles from my home) in search of barn owls. Squee! I do believe they were just hanging out on fence posts waiting to be drawn. They sat posing for their portraits, turning their heads this way and that in the glare of the car headlights.
Last weekend, the skies cleared just in time for the Urban Sketchers 10x10 Bay Area launch event. We started off with a quick sketch at Mission Bay with the SF Sketchers (who were celebrating their 5th anniversary).
Then it was on to Arch Art & Drafting Supply, where we noshed on finger foods, shopped, and heard from the workshop instructors. We ended the day at Thee Parkside, where we sketched over drinks and a late lunch.
There are still spots left in the workshops -- learn more and sign up.
Just got back from a weeklong trip to Tokyo and Kyoto. Sadly I was a bit sniffly -- and the weather was by turns hot/humid and rainy (at times torrential) -- so I didn't get to sketch as much as I would have liked. Some highlights:
-The drool-worthy art supplies at Tokyu Hands and Sekaido.
I got a new supply of my favorite Rotring Tikky Graphic pens, a fine-tipped brush pen, and a flat-tipped waterbrush. I also bought some watercolor-paper postcards and a book on watercolors by Japanese master Hideshi Katoh.
-Also bought two traditional brushes at a small shop in the narrow lanes near Tokyo's Senso-ji temple.
-Had great tofu and noodles at O-men (below) in Kyoto, and visited Ginkaku-ji (the "silver" pavilion -- pictured at the top of this post).
-Took a Japanese calligraphy workshop, where the facilitator gave us a choice of various words to practice. I chose "dream."
-Shopped at Itoya, the ultimate stationery shop. Every floor is perfectly curated and designed.
-Sat in our room at the Keio Plaza Hotel flicking channels and tried my hand at sketching sumo wrestlers. It was a challenge, since the matches only last a few seconds!
-Had a sketchbook custom-made for me at Kakimori, with two types of paper. It was fun to pick out the paper, the binding, and the covers and watch it being made on the machine.
And now I have just one week to prep for USk Manchester!
Drove up to Maine for a glorious weather-perfect end to my birthday week. After a night in Portsmouth, NH, we proceeded to Portland to meet and sketch with the lovely Jennifer Lawson. Following lunch at The Grill Room, we drove to Artist & Craftsman Supply so I could browse the wares. They sell Daniel Smith watercolors, so on Jen's recommendation I bought a few new colors to add to the ones I already had.
Also picked up a block of Cartiera Magnani Italia Acquerello paper, which I used right away for the sketch of Portland's Custom House Wharf above. Yes, Jen and I did mean to spend more of the afternoon sketching, but at least we got *some* drawing time in! Update: See Jen's sketch of the scene here.
After the sketching session, M. and I spent an hour getting our feet pampered and savoring tea popsicles at Soakology. Dinner was outdoors at the Portland Regency Hotel's garden cafe, where I used my new Visconti Rembrandt Eco Roller (a birthday gift from M.) to sketch some fellow diners. The ink that came with it is water-soluble, so I had to be very careful when adding watercolor.
The next morning we went to Cape Elizabeth to see the Two Lights lighthouse and the rocky coast. I can see the allure of living here -- it's positively rural and yet just 15 minutes from downtown Portland. Capturing the foggy, atmospheric scene was a challenge!
Our next stop was Rockland, where we visited the Farnsworth Museum, home to many Wyeth paintings (N.C., Andrew, and Jamie). And at The Loyal Biscuit Co. (a local pet supply store), I found the H2O4K9 water bottle I'd been looking for! It's a stainless steel bottle with a cap that serves as a water bowl -- perfect for plein air watercolor sketching. Now I won't have to carry along a separate water container.
On our last day we woke up early to walk along the nearly mile-long breakwater to the lighthouse:
Along the way back home, we stopped in Prouts Neck -- Winslow Homer territory -- to eat lunch at the Black Point Inn and walk along the Cliff Walk. We ate on the deck, with a view of the beach beyond:
M. and I both felt a weekend in Maine just wasn't long enough -- next time we'll have to stay longer. And someday -- someday -- I will see that elusive moose!
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