The Journey

Here are some sketches I did today while at Borders Bookstore.

Workers sitting at a meeting:


Man sitting in a chair:

Shirts hanging up on a shelf:

Modern sink in a bathroom:

Woman from the cover of a magazine:

Friday evening sketches:

Sabbath sketches:

Sunday - Veteran’s Day in DC sketches:

These ducks were diving head first into the water. They would come up to survey their surroundings and then go right back down.

I went to the WWII memorial with some friends, and while they walked around I sat down to sketch. This gentleman was sitting on one of the steps looking around. It was a perfect opportunity to sketch my surroundings and an observer. I call it “Contemplation”.

This is the “Vietnam Women’s Memorial Project, Inc.” It was done by Sculptor Glenna Goodacre.

I started off this morning with a sketch of my mailbox; which can be seen from my bedroom window. The bottle to the left is spray bottle that comes with my portable H2Ocolor set. To the right of the mailbox, you can see the miniature “cup” that I use to hold water when I paint in watercolor at home.

This is a portion of the cover of the current “Sports Illustrated” magazine. The faces of the men were really lively.

This is a formula for one of my favorite edible delights…smoothies :). I LOVE smoothies. So, while I was preparing to make a smoothie this evening, I decided to sketch some of the ingredients that I normally use. (In the picture - strawberries, soymilk, and peanut butter. mmm good)

The beauty of the multi-colored leaves:

My view from Barnes & Noble and a book on organization that I liked:

While I was at Barnes & Noble I found a book on Blacks in America. It talks about the differentiation between middle-class and upper-middle-class and if there really is a difference. The summation of the book on the back seemed very interesting, so I purchased it. So far it has been very enlightening.

Yesterday I went to downtown DC with my friend Eryn. I decided to do some sketches throughout the day and was amazed by how many I was able to complete.
Here is the first one I did while sitting on the Metro (Transit train in MD/DC/VA area). I had to wear my sunglasses as I sketched this lady sitting reading her book on the train.

We got off the train at L’Enfant Plaza and transferred to the Blue Line so that we could go to “Federal Square”. Once there, we walked to the Smithsonian Castle. As we were walking we passed by the EPA building. While Eryn checked out the inside I decided to sketch the outside. The sketch turned out good and after finishing it, the sketch creativity began to really awaken within me. It was like my body was saying, “More, More.” At the castle, I sat in the lobby and noticed some really nice furniture pieces. There was a black leather tufted sofa chair that caught my eye. It had an antique flair, yet it was still modern and sleek. Then I looked up at the ceiling and saw intricate the details were. The ceilings of the past were built with intense detail and precision. Each aspect of the buildings were taken into consideration. The architects wanted their talent and ability to be appreciated even when one looked up.

When I got up from the lobby area, we walked into a separate room that had many historical pieces. There were antique chairs, glasses, coins, and the list went on. I was fascinated by a chair that belonged to Abraham Lincoln’s secretary. The detail in simply the arm of chair was amazing.

After finishing the rest of our sightseeing, I went to Starbucks. It was extremely cold outside, so I decided to order some hot chocolate. I sat inside sketching and observing for about an hour and a half. There were so many people passing by. Everyone seemed to be going somewhere important. I noticed many signs around me and began to think about what I wanted to document from the experience I was having. Here are a few signs that I saw, a view of the streetlight that I see often, and my starbucks cup.

It was a very good day. I really enjoyed sketching so much and I realized that I can sketch alot more.
Until next time

I am working on trying to paint using only the primary colors; blue, red, and yellow. It is a challenge to use only these three colors to make every other color, but it will develop my skill for seeing color.

Here are my first sketches using this theory/practice.

Pen & Ink sketch in my moleskin journal.