Stargazer Lily

bought these for my girl two weeks ago and there are still a few going strong.

Guest Room

at Evan and David's

Waiting at The Gladstone

a bulk post

A few things from this week. I will be in Toronto for the next few day and hope to have time to sketch there.

Tupperware

A quick sketch at lunch. I have been watching art documentaries during on my break and get so inspired i had to sketch WHILE watching.

The result are so-so but the feeling while drawing was priceless.

I am using the Stillman & Birn ketchbook from the symposium. The format is a little smaller than i usually use but this will be an excersise in drawing across the gutter. ( well not in this sketch)

A new plan....

to document the city i live in. More to come soon

New mini palette and lazy

I just realized how dormant this blog has been. I am sketching but not posting. Some if it has been that the sketches were for me only and the rest, well that's just been laziness.

It's all about to change :)

To start off the rebirth of this blog is a quick photoshop collage of my new mini palette. (The center image is actual size. the top and bottom were adjusted to fit the canvas)

While in Lisbon for the Urban Sketching Symposium my girlfriend and I stopped at a few antique shops. One of them had this old eyeglass case w/ glasses. Immediately I thought it would make a great palette for my purse. So with a little coaxing we were able to buy just the case. (it was dirt chewap too)

It currently has 5 half pans and a brush i cut down. There's a pen barrel that I have kept on the brush to protect the bristles in my purse. So if I flip it around it acts as an extender making for the right length brush. (similar to Cathy Johnson's drinking straw idea)

The palette measures 4 3/8" x 1 3/4" x 5/8" and weighs almost nothing!!!

I finished it last night so we'll see how it works. I must say it fits anywhere.

Waiting for coffee time

The sky is washed out for some reason on thhis scan.

Pear

A friend brought me in a bag of pears from her garden. It was so good ( i usually don't like the texture) and so tough to stop and sketch when i wanted to eat it.

Water for Sudan benefit

I drew this last Friday night while waiting for the benefit show to start. This Other Life (thisotherlife.us )and Left on Red (http://www.leftonredmusic.com/) played at a church to raise money for the Water for Sudan organization. They are a local not for profit who's "mission is simple: drill borehole wells which bring safe drinking water to the people in South Sudan's remote villages, transforming lives in the process. " check out their website for more info http://www.waterforsudan.org/mission/

It was such a good night. Awesome music, great company, sketching and doing for others. Need i saw more...

found sketches from Portugal

I found these small sketches from Portugal in the pocket of my sketchbook. A few times i went out wiht just a small bag which i put some folded paper in. You know a girl cannot leave the house (or hotel) without paper and a pen. :) So here they are. One from dinner out, one from a lunch stop at a wonderful cafe in Sintra and the last done during a Fado dinner show.
It's crazy how looking at a sketch can transport you back to a moment so quickly.

Waiting for dinner

Over the weekend I had dinner with friend and family. Luckily ( I never thought I would say luckily about this) there was an hour wait. So we got to sit outside by the water, have good conversations AND i got to sketch. Which was followed by a good dinner and ice cream.

Does it get any better?????

So here was the sketch. Not sure I am done with it but I figured I'd post in case I can't get back to it.

Drawn with Noodlers Flex pen and Noodlers Polar Brown Ink

South Wedge Market results

We had a sketchcrawl at the South Wedge Farmers Market on the 4th. It was the second of 2 events coordinated with the market.

We had a great time drawing, chatting with the passers and recruiting people to join our band of merry sketchers.

These things are so great. I love that we can get the creative word out there. One by one I think we can get everyone out there sketching and truly seeing the world around us. At least that's what I hope. :)


The highlight of the night for me was meeting the newest sketchcrawl member... see the sketch below. :)

II International Urban Sketching Symposium- Lisbon

I cannot begin to describe what a fantastic experience i had at the Urban Sketching Symposium in Lisbon. I had the opportunity to meet so many amazing people from all over the globe. All of us sharing the same passion for capturing the world around us.

I got to see so many different styles of sketching, learn new techniques not only from the workshops but from the artists around me.

One of my favorite things was being able to see other peoples sketch books. Throughout the workshops and lectures and down time people swap sketchbooks. The amount of inspiration i got from that is immeasurable.

Well, as you can tell i loved everything about it and I haven't even talked about how beautiful the city was.

So, here are my sketches from the first few workshops. There is a following post with the remaining workshops sketches as well as the one i worked on during the 32nd World Wide SketchCrawl.
-Enjoy

II International Urban Sketching Symposium- Lisbon

These are the skecthes from ths last two workshops and the 32nd World Wide Sketchcrawl which coincided with the last day of the symposium.
It was so amazing to have nearly 300 people all drawing in the same place.

Urban Sketching Symposium

I just returned from Portugal where I attended the three day Urban Sketching Symposium (http://symposium.urbansketchers.org/) which culminated with the 32nd World Wide SketchCrawl. There were approximately 300 people sketching and painting in the Praco do Commercio. The energy that surrounds a group of people (large or small) who share the same passion for creating is infectious and inspiring.

I had the opportunity to meet so many wonderful and talented people. People I have followed online and people I will now follow. Seeing their sketchbooks in person is awesome. It was such an amazing experience. I got to see so many different styles of sketching and pick up new techniques that i cannot wait to try out.


If you get the opportunity to attend next year you should!! I hope to :)

Having just returned from the trip i am not yet unpacked. I plan to share sketches from the symposium over the next few days.

For now Check out the USK Lisbon site http://symposium.urbansketchers.org/ for other peoples' sketches, photos and videos.

Happy sketching,
Genine

Catch up...

It's been a while since i've posted. I have been sketching but haven't had so much as a moment to scan. Here are a few. My plan is to post on a more regualr basis.. Here we go :)

Rochester SketchCrawl

We had a sketchcrawl here in Rochester yesterday. This is one of my pages.

The Berkshires

Took a quick trip to the Berkshires aA few weekends ago. This is a page of random sketches.

Rochester Public Market

a quick sketch at the public market. painted the next day at home. And the back of a few people at church.

Java's SketchOut

Lately i have been copying a sketch a few times to try out different things. This is one of those times. Depending on time i may do another. This was the result of the first weekly SketchOut. Turn out was slim... ok really it was me but i am hopeful.
Going to do another next week. This time there will also be great music.
Either way at least it's a block of time set aside for sketching.

more details on the sketchout here.. http://rochestersketchcrawl.blogspot.com/

random sketches

Some random sketches from the other night. Seems i am doing alot of that lately.

Sketching at Jemnetat

I met a friend to sketch on Wednesday night at a cafe / gallery/ shop. They have a large range of African art and jewelry. It is a great place to crab a coffee and sketch. But, I got hungry before I could add color so I went home ate and then copied my sketch a few times to play with color, hatching etc. Shown are the original sketch and two of the one I experimented with.

Hanging out on a Sunday evening

Saturday evening with friends

Hanging out wih some great firends on a saturday night. Eating chili, chatting and a bit of sketching.
Life is good.

Rochester Sketchcrawl results

We had the first Rochester Sketchcrawl of the year and a GREAT turn out. (This would explain the lack of sketches. ) There were quite a few new "crawlers" who met us at the conservatory. I always forget how great it is in there. It's like a little summer when you need it most.

So below are a few sketches. Switching mediums every sketch which is usual for a sketchcrawl.