I recently went to Sketcher Fest Edmonds, a drawing conference in the Seattle area. It was organized by Gabi Campanario, the founder of Urban Sketchers. Many great artists from around the world attended. Lapin, Mario Linares, Stephanie Bower, Marielle Durant, Rita Sabler, Cyrille Briand and Nishant Jain, to name a few. There were many lectures and workshops. I went with my friend, Danny Gregory, the well known art guru. Over the course of a few days there, I managed this one elborate drawing. There was limited free time, so I drew early in the morning near our motel before the festivities began. Also, I kept a few rocks and shells in my pocket to sketch while listeneing to the talks. Mostly I mingled and met like-minded artists.
Times Square
I drew in Times Square with the artist, Lapin. I used his daughter, Louise as my model for the Samsung ad. His wife, Isabelle tried to stay cool in the 95 degree heat while we all sketched. It was extremely hard but also a lot of fun all at the same time. I’d never wanted to draw Times Square but for some reason Lapin inspired me, so I gave it my best shot. I Ieft most of the billboards blank. This way I could look for ads later that I wanted to populate my drawing with to make it more esthetically pleasing. Lapin and I dress alike in public adding to the oddness.
Godzilla In Dumbo
I took The Rabbit to Dumbo to draw the Manhattan Bridge. The incredible artist, Veronica Lawler, came along too. She teaches drawing at Pratt, the great New York art school. Her style is very explosive and gestural with a bit of Ralph Steadman thrown in. These two artists were going to eat me for lunch so I kenw I only had time to draw a small section of the bridge in my cumbersome style. At night, I added the godzilla from a toy. I met Lapin the next day at the Intrepid navy ship museum. I had the bright idea to draw the planes on the deck of the aircraft carrier separately as if they were flying around godzilla. Once again, I impressed The Rabbit. His wife and daughter were even amused.
West Village
I went to the West Village to draw. It was very hot so I popped into Joe’s Pizza on Carmine Street to get a soda. It’s considered one of New York’s top pizza joints. The walls are filled with tons of photographs of celebrities who have visited. But what caught my eye was an oversized photo of a beautiful model standing in front of Joe’s holding a leash with her pet llama. I was stunned because it was from a television commercial I shot 30 years ago. I was filming outside a grocery store next to Joe’s. An employee must have went out front and taken the photo. I never knew it was hanging in the pizza place all these decades. I’m like an animal marking my territory.
Swiss Truck
I drew this truck from a photo I took in Switzerland. Then I added a lot of unexplained items from strolling around New York.
F Stop
A drawing I did before I went to Europe on my adventure. This is in East Chinatown. It’s actually what you see when you exit the F train stop. I’m always in Chinatown for some reason or another. The place is a magnet for me. It’s packed full of interesting characters. All the young kids have moved in so it’s hip as hell. I see them eyeballing my outfits.
Cork City
I spent a week in Cork, Ireland seeing some of my great family who live there. Managed a drawing on the street next to our hotel over the course of a few days. I was able to bond with some of my very young cousins, who don’t know me yet. Thankfully, they are quite out of their minds which works out well for me. To say they are interesting is an understatement. Hopefully, I can get over to hang with them again at some point this year.
Corner In France
Here is a second street corner I drew in Lyon. We sat on the steps of the Opera House. A lot of hard work goes into making these sketches. It was hot as hell, with rain off and on. I was completely jetlagged and we had late dinners each night we were there. Endlessly pounding the pavement to find a place to draw that would satisfy each of the crazy artists I was with. Then I’d sit and bang this drawing out. Needless to say, I was exhausted by the time we left town but I never felt happier.
Chamonix
My wife and I went to the French Apls with Jean-Christophe and his wife, Valerie. They showed us around Chamonix which is the equivalent of living in a postcard. We saw Mont Blanc and the Eiger. Clearly it’s one of the most beautiful places on earth. My eyes were constantly bugging out of my head. I drew this section of some mountain peaks. It’s impossible to capture how breathtaking the views actually are in real life and certainly it can’t be done with a pen and a few watercolors. This puny sketch doesn’t translate the massive scale of what I was seeing. I gave it my best shot which was truely futile.
Lyon Rain
There was a tiny square past little alleyways that we drew in Lyon. Dozens of illustrators lined the perimeter. Then the rain came. Very hard rain. Most ducked for cover under awnings of cafes and shops. Some hard core artists stayed, sketching in the rain, balancing portable umbrellas quite precariously. My friend Arnaud was one such nut. Not me. I did the best I could each time the downpours cleared. There was a moment of joy when everyone sang happy birthday to Arnaud. Champagne glasses were passed around for the toast. The bubbly was dry but we were all a bit damp.
Fountain In Lyon
I drew with my cohorts, Jean-Christophe Defline, Arnaud De Meyer, Mauro Duro, and Jean Luc. We sketched the fountain in Place des Jacobins. The background I drew on train rides through the Alps from a photo I snapped. I tried to create an image that looked like an aged photograph. The background I did all in colored pencil that I made look soft and out of focus, almost like an old Kodachrome image taken in the 1950s.
Lyon Hotel
In Lyon, our home base was the Royal Hotel. The artist, Jean-Christophe Defline and his wife Valerie were stationed there too. Yun and Valerie toured the city. The husbands created lots of drawings over the week and galavanted with some slightly undersirable artist types. Defline and I have a posse who endlessly consume every culinary extravagance the city has to offer, washed down with a bottomless river of the best french wines. I’m Mr. salad and Perrier. Somehow they weren’t embarrassed by my presence. Maybe it was my red beret and fake glue-on Monet beard. Let me fill you in on one of my drawing tricks on the road. I sketch the hotel I’m staying at, or the view out the window, or a building on the block. This way I can draw a little bit at a time over the course of a few days without having to wander far. The mornings are perfect because no one is around except my wife filming me for 2 minutes. In the end, I have a great drawing that I was able to put quite a few hours of work into.
Lyon Corner
Sometimes in Lyon, I didn’t draw the same thing that my cohorts did. They plowed into dramatic panaromics which I knew I didn’t have enough time to deliver in my style. Everyone’s facing the same direction except for moi. Street corners became my saving grace. I can pound one out in a decent amount of time. The roofs are exotic to my used-to-american-architecture eyes. I gave personality to the tiles, chimneys, and antennas. The solo cloud helped make my sketch interesting.
