I hope everyone had a great weekend and has a productive week ahead. Be sure to check back here later on this week because I am going to be posting details about a giveaway that I will be hosting. I’m excited! These are some cool videos that I came across recently. I hope you enjoy them.
I found this video via Steve Penberthy. It has some great shots of artist Don Colley doing some urban sketching in Cleveland and is worth watching if you look past the fact that it is really a long commercial for Faber-Castell PITT artist pens. I really like Don Colley’s large format sketchbooks and I think I’ll be on the lookout for something similar.
I found this movie trailer via the blog A Brush with Color. It has been awhile since I saw a good foreign film (I don’t mind the subtitles) and this looks like something interesting. This is the type of movie I will reserve for watching alone on a rainy day with a cup of tea perhaps.
And now for my cautionary tale:
I was driving (alone) down the highway last weekend and I pulled over into a “scenic rest area” and sketched this view with my new pens. It was in the middle of the day and I locked my car doors, but I got nervous for some reason so I got out of there really quickly. I did the watercolor from memory when I got home. I found out later when talking to someone that this particular rest stop is infamous for “anonymous encounters” (yuck!). This is a good reminder, especially for single women, to not risk your safety when out and about, and to trust your gut instincts. After this I decided that I’m going to take someone with me when I go out sketching in public places. When I am drawing and mentally absorbed in what I am doing, I am probably not as attentive as I should be to what could be sneaking up behind me. These days you can’t be too careful with all the crazies roaming around!
©2010 Carolyn A. Pappas, Valley Sketch. Ink and watercolor in 7 x 10 inch sketchbook.
Crazies roaming around indeed. How sad is this world? Truly frightening. I’m glad you were in the car with the doors locked, Carolyn. Even if someone came up that made you uncomfortable (and many times we’re not attuned to nut jobs), at least you would have been able to start the car and get the heck out of there. Unfortunately, murders can happen at those rest stops. Frightening!
Still and yet, I love this little painting. The sky looks amazing and I can picture such a sky. We had a similar one here just this past week and I even commented on it to my husband. You just make watercolors look both beautiful and easy. And yet I never seem to come close to achieving this look, try as I might. The colors are so gorgeous and so clean! I love the defining ink lines too.
Now I’m off to watch the videos. I love the look of his sketch book just as I see it on the still above. Now I must go watch!
Wow! I am awed by both the pens and the artist. He is from my neck of the woods so now I will be looking him up online and hoping to find more. His work is fantabulous! I loved that small self-portrait in the montage of art that came through at the end of the video. He gathers so much expression in what he does!
Carolyn – The place sounds scary. But look at the magic that an artist can do. You have transformed a scary place into a calm zen scene.
Sherry, thank you for saying that I make watercolors seem easy. They are not easy, but with practice they do get easier to work with. Keep practicing!
Sketch Gurl, I pulled over initially because it was such a beautiful scene, but once I parked my car I got weirded out by the other people hanging around.