On our last day in London, we breakfasted at Smith's of Smithfield, in the area of Smithfield Market. The blackberry-mint smoothie was divine.






















Then we took the Eurostar train to Paris. Here are a few impressions of the landscape outside the train. There were fields and fields' worth of acid yellow rapeseed flowers, too, which were gorgeous.











The weather in Paris was gorgeous, too. Here's a quick sketch of a cafe on Rue St Antoine:














When we went up the "butte" of Montmartre, we found lots of sketch artists making conte pencil drawings of tourists for a fee -- and so they themselves became the subject of my sketch:















Dinner one night was at a traditional French bistro, the General La Fayette:

















We returned to London on the Eurostar on Sunday -- here's a passenger asleep on the train:

Yes, that's where we are, and we couldn't have asked for better weather -- it's been hovering around 70 degrees here. So -- no excuse not to get the sketchbooks out! Yesterday I walked practically the length and breadth of the city, looking in at various shops like Green & Stone and L. Cornelissen for art supplies; Finnesse Lifestyle for the Aarika 'Foxi' earrings that I'd bought in Helsinki and promptly lost; Foyle's for some of the travel sketchbooking art books I wanted, etc. So the only two sketches I did were these, at the beginning of the day, both at Duke of York Square on King's Road. (I don't have a scanner with me, so obviously these are only as good as I can make them with a digital camera and Photoshop.)































Today, I decided to do the opposite -- I went to fewer places and got more sketching in. Here's the scene at a cafe on Earl's Court Road where we had breakfast:
















Went out to Smithfield Market after that, and did a quick sketch while I was waiting for an appointment that never actually happened:























After a picnic lunch in the hotel room from M&S Simply Food, took the tube out to Kew Gardens:
























































I brought along this Muji notebook to experiment with -- I don't know that it's meant for drawing at all, but it has lovely brown kraft paper and so far I really like the way it works with a gray Pitt Artist pen and a gel-ink white pen. I sketched the above while in the gardens, and decided to add a little color with my Stabilo color pens later on:























Finally, I did a quick impression of people at a small cafe in Kew, near the railway station.

It was pouring in Stamford and I didn't make it down to NYC so I did a solo crawl. First, had breakfast at the Post Road Diner in Norwalk, CT:
















Went to the Stamford Town Center mall in the afternoon, where I sketched some mannequins at the XXI Forever store:














Had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, and sketched the kitchen area while enjoying our meal at the bar:















Finally, went to see the Troupers Light Opera production of Gilbert & Sullivan's "Trial By Jury" and "HMS Pinafore" at New Canaan High School. Here are some quick sketches done while the orchestra was tuning up:















Hopefully I'll be able to join others next time!

Cherry blossoms – cobblestone streets – horse-drawn carriages – art galleries – great food – what could be better? As you can probably tell, I thoroughly enjoyed attending the sketchbooking workshop at The Art League School. Although the class was geared more toward beginners, it was still useful to go through the basics of drawing again – seeing negative shapes, practicing perspective, and so forth. The best thing about the weekend (other than the glorious spring weather) was that I was focused completely on drawing and painting, with no other distractions. So – here are the results, in roughly chronological order. (The drawings were done in a Strathmore 5.5”x12” sketchbook; the paintings were done in an accordion-pleated sheet of watercolor paper provided by the instructor.) Click on each image to see it larger.

Saturday, 4/4
Breakfast at Table Talk, a slice-of-Americana diner on Duke Street, was a hearty helping of eggs and potatoes.













(Pitt artists pens and Staedtler Aquarelle pencils.)

While waiting for the school to open, I stopped at the farmer’s market in Market Square on King Street and sketched a mozzarella vendor.




















(Lamy Safari w/ Noodler’s ink in Lexington Grey and Staedtler Aquarelle pencils.)

After a morning of drawing exercises, we broke for lunch. A popular spot is the Firehook bakery on Union Street, with breads, sandwiches and pastries.











(Lamy Safari w/ Noodler’s ink in Lexington Grey and Pitt artists pens.)

Our final drawing assignment of the day – a series of drawings with a narrative, forming a cohesive, designed sketchbook page.











(Lamy Safari w/ Noodler’s ink in Lexington Grey and Pitt artists pens.)

Sunday, 4/5

This time, we breakfasted at Bread & Chocolate, a European-style eatery on King Street.










(Lamy Safari w/ Noodler’s ink in Lexington Grey and Pitt artists pens.)

The morning was filled with more drawing and watercolor exercises – and then we were off to sketch outdoors. I warmed up with a quick sketch of this horse-drawn carriage as I ate lunch at Mai Thai near the water.













(Lamy Safari w/ Noodler’s ink in Lexington Grey)

Then it was a race to fill our accordion-pleated booklets of watercolor paper with several sketches before painting them back in the studio. (For easy viewing, I’ve scanned them separately here. All were done with the Lamy Safari and colored with Winsor & Newton Artists’ watercolors.)

First, I tackled some buildings at the corner of King & Union Streets.






















I then took my folding stool to a little arcade by the waterfront.






















I started sketching the detail of this plant and thought that the guy eating lunch would fit into the picture, too.


















I had only a few minutes left, so I quickly drew the shapes of this popular hangout – I liked the boldness of the colors.





















Finally, I turned my attention to Prince Street, a cobblestone road right near the Art League School’s Duke Street Annex.














And that was my two days in Alexandria – can’t go wrong with sunshine and a sketchbook!

Went to see Charles Dutoit conduct the New York Philharmonic in pieces by Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky last night at Avery Fisher Hall. This was the view from my seat way up on the third tier.














(Lamy Safari with Noodler's ink in Lexington Grey, with watercolors, in Moleskine watercolor sketchbook.)

I'm taking a sketchbooking workshop class this weekend at The Art League in the Old Town area of Alexandria, Virginia. It's taught by Susan Abbott, whose paintings of Vermont and India are amazingly alive with color. (And besides, what better excuse to get more art supplies? ;) Actually, I'm being good -- I'm only getting a few brushes and a roll-up case to hold everything in. I pretty much have everything else I need already. I've never participated in a workshop before, so I'm hoping this will be fun -- and that it won't rain too much when we're outdoors. The only other time I've been in Old Town was on a trip to D.C. last year when we biked from Crystal City south to Alexandria at 7 a.m. on a Sunday -- so everything looked tempting yet nothing was open. Hopefully I'll experience it more fully this time. Plus, the cherry blossoms look to be in peak bloom, so with any luck we'll be able to stop by and see them on Friday as we're driving down. And no spring trip to the area is complete without a stop at Behnke Nurseries, so that's in the plan, too, if all works out!

I've been reading back issues of The Artist's Magazine and American Artist that I bought at a garage sale a few weeks ago -- they're entertaining as much for the peek they provide into the culture of the low- to mid-range art world as for the actual how-to articles in them. The whole workshop culture is fascinating -- I guess some people go from workshop to workshop following a particular artist all over the world. It reminds me a bit of the crafters I'd encounter when I was selling my greeting cards at art fairs -- there are many who literally just drive from show to show when they're not creating their work. It practically begs for anthropological study!

After much sifting through photographs old and newer, I've selected a moody shot I took of a road in County Donegal, Ireland, as the subject for my next oil painting. The seven-year-old photo depicts an overcast sky, and the winter landscape is mostly gray-green with touches of yellowish brown, but I'd like to inject some more color into it. Here's a first take on it in watercolor.

Walked down to the beach yesterday, since it was 50 degrees. There weren't many people about -- just a few intrepid couples and families. I decided to try painting the pier, even though I only had my small set of watercolors and my waterbrush. It was chilly, so I had to hurry. I thought the first painting was too precious-looking and suffered from an attempt to put too much detail in, so I tried it again with a more abstract hand. I liked the effect, but it looks too Caribbean (perhaps I was subconsciously painting where I'd LIKE to have been).
































(Pencil and watercolors in small Moleskine watercolor sketchbook.)

Was looking for something to paint today, and decided to try a little interior subject. This brown velveteen couch was bought for a song at the Pottery Barn outlet in Riverhead, N.Y., a few years ago. I think it was meant to be part of a sectional, but it works wonderfully on its own in the space at the head of the stairs. The floral pillow covers are Marimekko; I brought one ready-made pillow case and several yards of complementary fabric back with me from Helsinki, Finland. I had originally bought them thinking they'd be great for a porch or garden room, but they add a welcome jolt of color to the upstairs.























(Pencil and Winsor & Newton artists watercolors on Arches hot press watercolor block.)

Stayed at the Land's End Inn in Provincetown, MA, during a little Cape Cod getaway. Lovely bed-and-breakfast with eclectic decor and gorgeous views. This was a clumsy attempt to capture the sunrise out of the window in our room. I don't think I've done a single painting I like in this Cotman watercolor spiral pad. (It must be the paper, not me, ha!)












And here is a stone head in the garden of the inn, also drawn while looking out the window:

Great little diner on Rte. 1 in Norwalk, with a nice long menu of breakfast items.

(Lamy Safari with Noodler's ink in Lexington Gray, with watercolor added, in Moleskine watercolor sketchbook.)

I was getting ready to post an elaborate excuse for why I haven't been sketching in a while, which included big freelance projects, nonprofits, the declining price of oil in the Middle East, and the major local-and-national distraction that is Travis ... but then, I took the early-but-full train to work today -- which meant I had to stand in the vestibule all the way. There was a woman sitting there with her dog on a leash, which made for fun -- if challenging -- sketching and watercoloring! So here it is. And please excuse the wobbliness, lack of proportion, etc. It's not easy to balance a sketchbook, pen, watercolor box and waterbrush on a swaying train.

(Faber-Castell Pitt artist pen, Pilot Varsity fountain pen and watercolors in small Moleskine watercolor sketchbook.)

Had to stand on the Metro-North this morning on my way to Harlem, so I took advantage of my vantage point in the train vestibule.

Quick iPhone sketch of another commuter. The train wasn't very full -- surprising because the roads are rather icy this morning.

Here's one from a few years ago -- drew this in June of 2007 while waiting for the M4 bus in Manhattan to go back downtown after visiting the Cloisters.

(Pentel brush pen in Moleskine watercolor sketchbook, with watercolors.)

Went on a drive to look for a snowy scene to sketch. Drove all over town before settling on Ward Pound Ridge Reservation in New York. There were lots of sledders on a big hill inside the park. It was a little hard to see from the parking lot, but it was warmer to sit in the car, so I tried my best to do what I could. It's not so easy to draw a snowy landscape in watercolor when the sky is completely overcast -- it's very hard to see any shadows at all. I even used white for what I hoped would be a gouache-y look, but no such luck. Had to pick out the details of the branches with a white colored pencil later.


(Winsor & Newton Artists watercolors in Cotman cold-pressed watercolor pad; details added in Berol Verithin white pencil.)

It was nice and warm in the office, but bitterly cold outside today in New York -- felt as if I'd gone through a wormhole and ended up in Quebec City again!

(Venus Velvet pencil, watercolors, and Lamy Safari pen with Noodler's ink in Lexington Gray, in Moleskine watercolor sketchbook.)

Went to dinner at Eos, a fairly new Greek restaurant in Stamford that we really like, last night. Sat at the bar, so I had a chance to do a quick sketch of the bartender and a few patrons.

(Pitt Artists pen, Superfine black and other colors, and Stabilo point 88 pens, in small Moleskine watercolor sketchbook.)

Met up with a group of sketchers at Grand Central Terminal in New York. Here are some of the sketches from the day: