The weather was lovely at George Washington Birthplace National Monument. The house on the grounds was inspired by architecture of the time period (in other words, based on nothing in particular). The foundation of the real house was found about 100 feet away. Still, I enjoyed sketching one of the few houses George Washington never slept in.
I was wandering downtown Manassas and decided to take advantage of the lovely weather to draw the train station there. I sat in the gazebo across the street, which seems a common location to take photographs. To be honest, I’m not at all happy with this; I’m simply not very good at drawing buildings. But you know what? That’s why we practice.
Despite having grown up absolutely nowhere near water, I really like lighthouses. I stood in the wind as I drew, a man nearby flying a kite far above my head as the sun started to set. A lovely day, and I’m glad I took the time to draw part of it.
(I also love national parks because I can put the stamp in my sketchbook.)
It was a windy and chilly April day that I visited Oxon Hill Farm, far too windy to draw the cows in the field as I’d wanted. So I took shelter in this little building and drew the old tractor they had on display along with other ancient technology.
The day before Memorial Day I was supposed to go on a sketchcrawl at the National Zoo. However, I’d underestimated the traffic-snarling power of Rolling Thunder. When it took me two hours just to get to Arlington, I decided to stay west of the Potomac and wandered aimlessly down I-66 until I stopped randomly in The Plains. After grabbing lunch at the farmer’s market, I stopped in Happy Creek Coffee and Tea and tried their nitro cold brew coffee. Quite tasty, even if I did have a little bit of trouble with the proportions of my glass.
(And yes, I know it says Honey Creek. I fixed it after scanning.)
Because the cafe shares its space with Haymarket Bicycles, there was a gorgeous chandelier made of bicycle parts and coffee paraphernalia. It was quite fun to draw.
So even though I missed the sketchcrawl, I’m glad I still took the time to do a little sketching on my own.
I recently went on a little road trip, snarfing my way across Maryland’s Eastern Shore. One of my stops was Berlin. This town is absolutely precious. I stopped by Rayne’s Reef for lunch, and sketched the display window of Town Center Antiques across the street (which I also enjoyed browsing – it’s huge!).
I’d like to note that this was my first time sketching in public with no other artists around. I’d joined in sketchcrawls before, and I’d drawn in public with no one else around, but this time I was the only one drawing among a bunch of strangers going about their day. And you know what? It was fine. Nobody bothered me or rushed me or commented on my drawing. I felt comfortable and confident.
And I may just do it again sometime.
A week ago, my husband and I attended the Takoma Park Folk Festival for the second time. We saw some really great groups: ilyAIMY, Lulu’s Fate, Urban Funk, 50 Man Machine, and others. I’m really bad at sitting still, so I brought my sketchbook and a regular #2 pencil and drew some of the musicians.
I think I don’t like drawing musicians. The hands are awkward (and hands are tough to begin with) and guitars defeat me. Still, I suppose this counts as urban sketching, which I’ve been trying to do more of in general.
Anyway, if you’d like to see photos from our day, my husband has posted a bunch here. Enjoy! Just don’t compare them to my drawings. I’m not so good at lifelike portraiture.
© 2010-2024 kate weber All Rights Reserved -- Copyright notice by Blog Copyright