Tag Archives: #Travelsketch

🔙Back from a short break 💤

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Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better – Albert EinsteinOne of my all time favorite quotes! 

Sometimes I just need to take a break from things to quiet the mind and focus 🔬on other stuff. So every so often I take a short break (at times it extends into longer than expected) – a break from social media 📵. Turn off all external noise and focus on all things not social media! This frees up quite a bit of time⏱. (Ever wonder how much ⏳ we spend on social media 😜!

During these times I “do more things that make me forget to check my 📞📲⌚️”

I take that extra time to read 👓(read stuff not on social media) 📚, or spend time looking, 👀really looking🔎, and sketching 🎨in nature 🌿🌻🍀🍄🐞🐝🦋🐠, or take time to converse with family and friends🗣👥(not just txt) 🙇🏻‍♀️

Over the last four days I did just that. I finished two good books 📚 👍. I did lots of sketches 🖍🖍and studies en plein air 🏕⛰and quite a bit of gardening 🍃🎋🌾- in the cooler🆒 hours⌛️ of the day of course ! 

I sketch and paint everyday regardless of whether I post or not. A lot of these sketches never see the light of day 🌕 beyond my easel or sketch book. No matter, coz it’s the discipline that counts, right! 

If you haven’t guessed it already today is #WorldEmojiDay. I rarely use emojis! So it’s quite a comeback from a break on social media, wouldn’t you say!

Happy World Emoji Day or 😊🌎🌐🌕📆 

Here’s my favorite brushstroke done @hirshhorn of Roy Lichtenstein’s brushstroke!

Tomorrow I’ll post the stuff I’ve been working on over my break! 🚙 (interesting, that’s the emoji that came up for break- car brake! Hmmm) 

Tropical Patterns 

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Day 8/31 – #WorldWatercolorMonth

Today’s post is about Patterns. At the US Botanic Gardens the tropical plants all around were luscious and very green. Only a few had blooms on them, but that didn’t really matter because the leaves were large, some of them even a 2-3 feet long and a foot wide and heavily patterned. Meandering through the pathways you didn’t really distinguish each leaf individually because the stripes and the colors just seemed to merge and flow into one another forming intricate patterns of yellows and greens in all shades. This is just one pattern that stood out and it happened to have a calyx adding an extra pop of color. 

Circus Tent – Red,White and #YInMnBlue !

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Day4/31 – #WorldWstercolorMonth

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the theme is Circus Arts. The Festival brings the rich history, mystique and diversity of American circus arts to life on the National Mall. There were circus performances, behind the scenes, emerging artists and contemporary visionaries, and coaches, costume designers, makeup artists, musicians, prop and tent designers, riggers, poster artists, wagon builders, and many others whose collective creative work brings the circus to life. 

While the crowds lined up all the way around the tent I sat outside the big tent and sketched the Red, White and Blue under a somewhat ominous sky! They were calling for thunderstorms tonight. 

Happy 4th!

US Capitol – Ready for the 4th!

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Day3/31- #WorldWatercolorMonth – today’s post is a really quick sketch of the US Capitol Building from the distance.  

Utamaro’s Okubi-e

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Day2/31 #WorldWatercolorMonth 

Sackler gallery’s has a new exhibit ‘Inventing Utamaro’ displaying the famous triptych depicting the theme of “snow, moon and Flowers” of Kitagawa Utamaro. Along side this are also some fabulous woodblock prints of this legendary Japanese artist. I was really drawn to his woodblock prints. I managed to do a quick pen and ink sketch inside of a few and then used the sketches as reference to do this watercolor sitting just outside looking in. These prints now called okubi-e or large head pictures became part of his signature style. This one was titled ‘Wakana and Wakanoura of the Wakanaya’. 

I’ll be back again tomorrow for the second half of the painting. 

From my sketchbook

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A short trip to LA in October gave me the chance to visit Long Beach and the Los Angels County Museum of Art. The visit to LACMA was too short and I have to go back again, bit I did manage to do some sketches both outdoors and in. My favorite by far of the outdoor sculptures was Chris Burden’s Urban Light comprising 220 vintage lampposts. I managed a quick pen and ink sketch while I waited for the museum to open.

 

Indoors, the highlight for me was the Lazarof collection of Piccaso, Degas, Pissarro, Kandinsky, and a whole room filled with sculptures by Alberto Giacometti. Here’s a quick sketch of Giacometti’s Monumental Head.

Skyview Sketch – Lisbon

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Day 21/31 ‪#‎WorldWatercolorMonth‬

Airline magazine photo rendered in my Moleskine at 39,000 ft. (Photo credit: Pedro Guimaraes).

Trying to keep it going even as I’m traveling. This was the closest thing at hand so I gave it a go.

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