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Saturday, May 26, 2018

A small conversation.

Pencil and watercolor on A5 Hahnemuhle Watercolor Book
-What are you doing here?
-Sketching.
-Aren't you hot?
-Thank you.


Sunday, May 20, 2018

USk Chicago monthly meet up

Pen, ink and watercolor on A5 Hahnemühle Watercolor book.
Once more, like every month, the Urban Sketchers of Chicago met. A lot of people showed up despite the rain and the cold. Yeap, that’s Chicago’s weather, yesterday was beautiful and today not so. I was late, I found a table with a view indoors. Nobody was outside when I started, which made my sketch easier to do. Later the rain gave up and people started to walk outside. I caught a young man challenging the weather wearing his hood. The water seemed mint green, I tried to get that. The clouds covering the top of buildings were mystical to me. A gloomy day today, but it was nice to keep in touch with the Chicago gang, I missed them.

Photo by Alex Zonis

Saturday, May 19, 2018

The last addition to my sketch.

Pen, ink and watercolor on A5 Hahnemühle Watercolor book
Oh, it was so beautiful outside today! Even the concrete bridge above the walking path seemed beautiful, a subject that should be in my Hahnemühle sketchbook. I aimed to sketch both. I thought I was done when I saw some birds flying under the bridge, birds returning to their nest or building one! They were the last addition to my sketch on the left. I always forget sketching living creatures other than greens. The birds reminded me there are many forms of life out there I need to pay more attention to.

Thursday, May 17, 2018

The two seasons of the Midwest.

Pen ink, watercolor on A5 Hahnemühle Watercolor Book
It is that time of the year when you will see road construction/repairs everywhere in the Midwest. It's well known, for us residents of the Chicago area, that there are two seasons here, Winter and Construction. The harsh winters damage the roads and that leads to the eternal repair of the roads when the weather gets better. I have to say though, that here where I live, the seasons of the year are very well defined. You get to experience the drastic changes year long and there is beauty on it. The warm temperature at the beginning of the summer is a good reason to go outside and sketch. Here I used a watercolor book courtesy of Hahnemühle, one of the generous sponsors of this coming 2018 USk Chicago Sketch Seminar. The paper holds watercolor paint well. I love the size A5, it's comfortable to carry on and a little wider than other sketchbooks of similar size. I'll keep trying it, so far I like it. 

Tuesday, May 8, 2018

A glaring object.

7" x 4" pencil and watercolor on Stillman & Birn Alpha
I find this view a little uninterested, indifferent, any way, I sat at a bench near this gas station and just stared at that big shinny tank like fish to baits, like cats to tires in motion, like sketchers to their view, you get the idea. The enormous gasoline tank parked behind various cars and I just went for it. I like how the reflective surface turned out, which it was to the one I put on most of my attention. It was a casual sketch. I used  here a new set of transparent watercolor paint for the first time and found out that the paint is highly staining. I'm not sure if I quite like or not yet but I'll keep trying it until I find out.




Sunday, May 6, 2018

Handmade roll-up sketching case


Out of a creative urge and a necessity really, I have created roll-up sketching cases to carry-on my sketching gear in an organized and easy access way. I made one small and one large.  I tend to do my own whenever I can and that is what I did. Of course I tried to make them beautiful and colorful with patterned fabric so when I unroll the case it will make me happy to just look at it. Why wouldn't the sketching tool case be as colorful as the drawings I do?


They are mainly made of cotton, soft for the hands and tools, but sturdy and tripled stitched to reinforce key joints to make them last. Both have compartments of different sizes to fit it all in one case, from a travel watercolor palette and water containers to pens and pencils, brushes, clips and even a small sketchbook or notebook.

The small size measurements are 12" x 9".

Essential kit fits in for a fun day.

Easy to open and easy access to organized art tools.

Compact size when closed.
 
 Perfect size for an every day bag.


The larger size measurements are 15" x 15".

A bigger watercolor travel set fits in the large size.



 
They were made with care thinking on the needs of us artists on the go. 

I after I made mine, I thought these my be useful for some sketchers with the same needs, so I kept sewing more. For a limited time and quantity I'll bring some of them in different sizes and colors to sketchcrawls. If you see me and are interested in getting one of these, just come and say hi! I'll be happy to show you some.