Sketching People: at the Protest.

Last Saturday was a No Kings protest: people in many cities around the United States went on the streets to peacefully exercise their right to express opinions about the current administration. I packed a whole bunch of colored pencils with me, but ended up using only one pen. I did a lot of walking and talking, saw many dogs and people in great costumes (it is October after all, and everyone is gearing up for Halloween).  My hero was a mom with a couple of kids. Kids were sitting in chairs, one closer to the action, another a little further, but both had signs propped in a cup holder.  One was reading a book in the shade of a redwood tree, and the other was talking to people, asking questions about their signs and dogs. They both waved from time to time at passing bikes and cars. 

Color Pencils or Colored Pencils?

Do you say Colored Pencils or Color Pencils? 

I've been thinking about the non-existent difference in these two and how one of these options drives me nuts for quite some time now. All while using color pencils as a part of my mixed media experimentation. Here are two recent sketches that were pure colored pencil were used - without any paints and other materials. I think I would like to keep them here as a record of some ideas that I would like to go back to. 

Little Notes From Walks and Hikes

These are three sketches from different days, but they tell a story of how some of the sketching is happening these days. I always have some drawing materials with me, but recently I started using more colored pencils but my black pen is always with me. Often when I draw on location the light situation is making me move super fast - palm trees were on a super sunny day, and the paper was blinding me. Where the evening sketch was done while the sun was disappearing. When I add these little sketches from the day to my main sketchbook, I might add some notes. And sometimes all the notes are from the moment when I was sketching - like on the very last drawing - where I was trying to find with my eyes all the birds that I was able to hear - and ants were driving me away from my perching spot!

Drawing Conversations About Time

I am a planning maniac and a time management freak - in recovery. I've been in recovery for quite some time, but it is an uneven road. For example, it means that this week I put on my weekly plans to forget about my plans :) I do try my best to let go of my attempts to have full control of my days, but I need my support group, so I read literature on the subject and listen to podcasts, too. This week, I even went further and went to an in-person event to meet an author whose books I recommend and gift often: Oliver Burkeman. Apart from several best-selling books Oliver Burkeman has a Newsletter too. His main message is deceptively simple: it is not humanly possible to do everything you want to do, and you have a very limited amount of time, so you need to choose what it is that you want to do and actually do it - today. I listened to the talk while drawing people around me. It was an hour well spent. 

Halloween Decorations

October is the season for people to pull their skeletons out in the open and display them in all the ways that can entertain, scare, educate, and pleasure their neighbors and passers by :) It is a season to draw pumpkins, doing all sorts of things too! And it is always a season to sit with a friend on a street and draw. This was an intersection of all of these: Halloween Decorations in San Jose, California :)