New Painting

I've had a bit of a dry spell when it comes to making art lately, but I've started a couple new pieces to try and get back into it.  There was an piece I began of the Eastman Theater I tried to finish a while back that, for what ever reason, became a a road block I wasn't able to get past.  There was another piece of a statue in Sweden that ended up having the same way.  Half finished, with no motivation to keep working on them, or frankly much of anything.

So I am putting them aside and hopefully will be able move past whatever it was that was mentally in my way.  So here is a quick, grainy, iphonie shot of a larger drawing/painting I've started.  I haven't been terribly consistent in my time spent on it, but compared to the last two or three years I'm doing much better at moving it along. 

(p.s. It's not meant to bee folded like this, the finished product will be flattened out)

Sketchcrawl 34 + a few couple extras

DC held our branch of  International Sketchcrawl #34 at the National Portrait Gallery/American Art Museum last Sunday, and we had a pretty good turn out! (Erica had to go before we got our shot!)

We met in the Kogod Courtyard, expecting to head into the museums to start sketching, but we were pleasantly surprised to find it was "Farm to Table Family Day" which included a concert by The Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra. The band actually came over to check out what we had been up to, as they noticed a lot of people listening but with their noses buried in sketchbooks.

Afterwords we headed up to the Modern & Contemporary wing and sketched a bit. We toured the museums for a while also, but eventually most everyone found they had to head out or where tired so we called it a day.  I was happy to get a sketch of Duane Hanson's "Woman Eating" before leaving though.

And here are a couple of sketches I made when our Sketchcrawl group went to the Native American Indian Museum about a month ago.

Something Good Came in the Mail Today...

My gratis copy of "The Art of Urban Sketching" came in the mail today! (*see yours truly on page 78)
Get your copy on February 1st!
http://amzn.to/AoAVkH

Figure Drawing

Some drawing from a figure drawing session at the Arts Institute of Washington in Rosslyn, VA.

Albert Einstein Memorial

After I sketched Martin and saw how much attention he was getting, I thought I would give a little love to Albert too.

MLK Jr. Memorial

I may not be the first person to sketch the just-dedicated Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, but I was happy to go finally see it, see the very moved crowds, and get a chance to sketch it myself.

Congressional Cemetery [September Sketchcrawl]

A bunch of us were itching for another sketchcrawl, so we gathered up at Congressional Cemetery (near the Stadium Armory Station) this past weekend. We started by getting an extremely interesting tour of the grounds from former chairman of the board of the Cemetery Preservation Association & sketcher himself, Patrick Crowley. We had a great overview of the grounds, peaked into a vault or two and learned quite a bit about the cemetery and DC history. Add to that, there was an over abundance of subject matter to tackle.

After our tour I began the sketch below, and managed to halfway finish it before being interrupted by the rain. Now some of the other sketchers braved the rain better than I and made some beautiful work, but not I. So I took a break and walked around a bit, searching for a beautiful little statue Patrick pointed out on our tour. "Marie Estelle Krachmar" caught my eye with her broken legs, eroded surface (marble is vulnerable to acid rain) and the fact that everyday someone puts a coin in her lap. So I began sketching her when a there came a lull in the rain. That lull was short though, and ultimately I had to finish the sketch at home, but the group has talked about coming back on a sunnier day that may be more conducive to sketching outdoors. I'm looking forward to it.