standards for ellipses & the appeal of urban sketching

Turns out I didn’t do much sketching on vacation. At the Amtrak station on the way down, I did a classic cafe sketch, plus speed sketches of people standing in line. On Wednesday, I woke up from my afternoon nap before BB and went outside to sketch the house. Also I did a food journal for myself on Wednesday and for BB on Thursday. That was it. Well, it was an action-packed week. The thing about being with BB is that he gloms onto me super hard and wants to be part of everything I do. We did plenty of drawing together, but none of it was my own sketches.

(And I didn’t teach him about limited palette exercises by having him pick three crayons and then bringing them to sketch on location…well, maybe over Christmas vacation.)

Here’s a funny thing: BB has standards for ellipses. I drew my drinking glass and he wanted me to draw cups for everyone in the family. Grandma’s cup turned out incredibly wonky and smushed (I was drawing at an odd angle and didn’t think he would care). BB did care and declared it was NOT Grandma’s cup. So it became “Teacher’s cup” and I drew a better cup for Grandma.

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Been thinking about why I’m enjoying urban sketching/sketching on location so much. Partly it’s just flavor of the moment. But also, there are two main aspects I enjoy:

• Visual journaling. The year after undergrad, I tried keeping a visual journal, but it didn’t stick. But of course I like journaling, and my drawings often have journal-esque elements (newbie at the daybloom farm, or chibi Hephaistos announcing a half-room cleave). Now I’m more conscious of my sketchbook as a chronicle of my life, and I have more ideas for what to draw.
• Bringing variety and fun to my daily walks. The routine was getting stale. Now I step outside actively looking for things to draw. I walk different routes, or even if I take my usual route, I see things with new eyes.

I also really like Liz’s loose mixed media style, but that’s not exclusive to urban sketching. The other day I drew a real nice phrog parasite with Liz-inspired scribbly crayon coloring.

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I’m planning to change my on-the-go sketchbook. I’ve been using a Strathmore 6 x 8, 24 pages, 80 lb / 130 gsm. I like the extreme portability and casual feel. I don’t like the top spiral and the amount of warping I get. So I’m upgrading to a side-spiral Canson 5.5 x 8.5, 60 pages, 98 lb / 160 gsm. I don’t want a real watercolor sketchbook (130 lb / 300 gsm) for sketching on the go because cold press texture isn’t great for drawing, and I’d feel bad for not using watercolor on every page. With a mixed media sketchbook I can happily freestyle. Sixty pages is kind of a brick, but I feel I’ve done enough sketching on location that it’s probably not just a flash in the pan and I can justify a larger sketchbook.

Having said all that, I didn’t sketch outside today. I didn’t finish the project changes before leaving last Tuesday, and I returned to find two new things on my desk. In the afternoon I stepped out to take out the trash. It was a nice day, sunny with a pleasant breeze, and I thought about sketching…but instead I came back inside and took a nap.