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Showing posts from 2010

Last post of 2010

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Apologies for the long absence.  Don't have a good reason, but I can make one up if requested. I have a few ideas that I'd like to try out in the next few weeks.  I recently did a trial run of an idea in my small Strathmore pad-- a square-ish panorama that I think might be really cool on a large scale.  There are a few iterations I'm working on in this direction, and I've also essentially finished my folding pano as well, but none of those images have been scanned yet.  Wait 'til next year folks.  Meanwhile, I have this: See y'all next year.

A few more from the Strathmore sketch pad

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I filled my old 8" x 10" Strathmore drawing pad, so I got another one.  I like the scale because it fits perfectly in my small mapcase bag.   First, the Commerce Building from my last Strathmore.  No idea why I didn't post this already, seeing as how I posted it on Urban Sketchers 3 weeks ago. This is a detail of the facade of the south side of the AT&T Building.  The east side has by far the most detail, but little in the way of shade to sketch from.  It's also a little bit intimidating.  The south side seemed more manageable.  Linda and I drove out to Fredericksburg for a day last week and I got this sketch done of the weird but cool  Admiral Nimitz Museum on main street.   There are a whole bunch of other cool buildings there I'd like to sketch at some point, but its difficult because the streets have diagonal pull-in parking, so there are no big gaps between cars to sketch the other side of the street.  Many of the benches there also have this

More of the panorama

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Stage three (Commerce Street) of the pano project is progressing much more more slowly than the first two, partly because my "shady" spot is really a blustery wind-tunnel of a site that makes for unpleasant sketching.  That and it's the most pedestrian-heavy area I've yet drawn, which means a lot of questions and curiosity from passers by, which, while well-meaning, make it hard to focus.  I have finished the Navarro Street pano, though, so here it is: details:

Sketching in progress

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I've been asked a few times to post photos showing my sketching process, but it's always been hard to do because I'm usually alone.  This past weekend Linda came downtown with me and took some pictures.  Now you can finally see me spilling out of my tiny chair! Sketching on Broadway: the finished sketch: Sketching on the Riverwalk: and the sketch:

Brand new Moleskine

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Since I've been doing the longer-term sketches in a Strathmore pad, I'm trying to do much looser, quicker sketches in my moleskine now, less than an hour.  Knowing me this could all come to an end at any time, but for now I'm having fun. a 15 minute sketch of the Koehler House on the campus of San Antonio College: This view is from the window of the Subway restaurant on Broadway.  Special appearance by my truck, on the right: This one was getting close to the hour limit, but still within the timeframe.  The Gunter Hotel (which deserves it's own larger, more detailed study):

San Antonio Museum of Art sketches

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Just a few from a recent Tuesday evening.  It was too dark to draw outside, but the museum is open late on Tuesdays.  Lots of people there in the evening, including a sketching group.  Need to do this more often.

Triple Self-Portrait in the big moleskine

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Done late one evening after too much internet time.  These perspectives always make the living room seem much larger than it really is.

The Panorama Project

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I finally started working in my limited edition USk folding Moleskine.  It took me a while to think of how I wanted to use it, but I decided I would do a series of street panoramas here in San Antonio, Texas.  The first of these, on Houston Street north of Alamo Plaza, is (almost) done, but I should have room for two more in the sketchbook.  I did part of it during the sketchcrawl, but I wasn't able to round up any other local crawlers this time around. The next street will be Navarro Street in front of the Nix Hospital, which I've already begun. The Federal Courthouse and Post Office More Courthouse The Express-News building is in the background left, Emily Morgan Hotel foreground right The Emily Morgan Hotel Starting the Navarro Street pano The whole shebang

Settling on a theme

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I'm still trying to figure out a large-scale project I'd like to do here in San Antonio-- something like my Bozeman Main Street series where the drawings work together as a group.  Lately Houston Street has just been popping up in my Strathmore pad.  I suppose it's because it's easy to sketch there: lots of buildings, lots of shade, easy to get to.  I might still want to do something else with the street; not sure yet. Texas Theater facade Hotel Valencia and Sip Coffee Bar South Texas Building

RIP Moleskine 7-20-10 to 10-7-10

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Well, another three months, another moleskine down.  There were ups, there were downs, there were laughs and tears, and now we begin all over again. This sketch was done from the car.  Santa Rosa hospital is a large hospital complex downtown.  Some of the buildings are old and some are new.  Judging by the odd angle that it connects with the larger building, I think the tower is an older structure and the building behind it more modern.  But who knows?* This sketch of Mission San Jose only took about twenty minutes, but I think it came out pretty good.  The light was just right and I wanted to close out the book with a simple, economical sketch. *Many people do, obviously.

san antonio from the tower of the americas parts 2 and 3

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I did another few sketches from the TOA the other day, one in a Moleskine, the other in my Strathmore pad, and realized that both were at almost the same scale as my first drawing from the tower back in February, and there was minimal overlap.  I plugged them into Photoshop and merged them into a little panorama of the city skyline.  There are still a few skyscrapers to the east I couldn't fit, including San Antonio's two tallest hotel, so perhaps another visit is in order. Here's the final panorama (click for a larger view):

More Strathmore sketches

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The Emily Morgan Hotel, done sitting on the brick wall of the flowerbed in Alamo Plaza on a beautiful day. Bexar County Courthouse-- unfortunately there are few views available (except for in the middle of the street) that afford one an opportunity to really draw the whole building.  The towers here were the only thing visible above a massive live oak that obscure the rest of the facade.  

Moleskine update

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More moleskining from the past week or so...

Sketching up in Austin

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I went to pick up Linda last week in Austin, and got some sketching in along South Congress. Linda also bought me a raspa.

The Express-News Building

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The Express-News is San Antonio's only major newspaper. This is their headquarters, and an attractive building to boot. Linda and I have a good friend who writes for the paper, Vianna. Maybe I can convince her to buy this sketch.

Two moleskine sketches

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Linda and I went to our friend Heather's birthday get-together the other night and a sketch resulted: This one is from a coffee shop in downtown SA on Houston Street, looking toward the Gunter Hotel (where the famous blues performer Robert Johnson recorded all of his songs):