Eduardo Salavisa talks about sketchbooks

Eduardo Salavisa talks about sketchbooks
Originally uploaded by Urban Sketchers

I love what he says about sketchbooks being different from individual drawings. I'm going to show this at my Sketchbook Journaling Workshop today - then head outside, because it's BEAUTIFUL out there today. Drawings to come!

Hey, I can see our house from here!

I asked the people in my workshop to keep a sketchbook this week, and I suppose I can’t be the exception! It’s good - it’s reminding me to take a moment out in the middle of a busy time and fill up my creative cup. Side benefit - you can’t think about profit margins when you’re trying to figure out what colour a clump of leaves are. That thing that looks like a giant peach in the left foreground really IS a giant peach. It’s the concession stand at the beach in front of our house.

The Virtues of Foot Sketches

As this page reads, I spent a fair amount of time in the workshop talking about the virtues of sketching ones own feet. They are handy subjects: always available, interesting without being too complicated. The view out the window was spectacular, but quickly became overwhelming. I showed them Danny Gregory’s book, and how he started with a line drawing of his medicine cabinet. Keep it simple Shweetheart ;-).

Workshop at the Penticton Art Gallery

After a month of being consumed by business, it was a real pleasure to put it all aside and go teach a workshop at the Penticton Art Gallery on Watercolour Sketchbook Journaling. We had a great group; 8 eager future sketchbook addicts. It was a bit gloomy outside, so we stayed in the tearoom at the gallery, which has no shortage of interesting things to sketch. Lots of people tried sketching the view out the window, which was very complex. I started talking about how to approach simplifying a complex scene, and since there was a sketchbook nearby, it ended up as a little demo. The garden just outside the tearoom is phenomenal. This sketch was about 5-10 minutes. I could spend 5-10 weeks sketching in that garden.

I kept driving past this spot, thinking “That’d be a great place to stop and paint”. I love how the vineyards undulate as they go - It has that great twisted corduroy look to it. This morning we woke up early and we were out of coffee cream. Clearly I HAD to go out. Drive through coffee in hand, I drove up here. I nestled my chair in a the grassy shoulder on a side road, Yogi at my feet, and sketched this. The two towers on the right side are Lakeshore, where we live.

This winery has such a great feel to it. They pipe great 60’s and 70’s music into the vineyards, and are VERY dog friendly. Yogi got treats. So did I - a very nice taste of white - I forget the grape now. See!! That’s why we need to carry wine journals with us! The owner’s name is Prudence (as in Dear) I’ve been humming ‘Ruby Tuesday’ all day. Hey, it IS Tuesday! How fitting. Must have been meant to be.

Ironman Canada Start From Our Balcony

Ironman Canada Start From Our Balcony
Originally uploaded by sketchalina

The start of Ironman Canada. It's a 3.8 K swim, 180 K bike, and 42 K run. That's a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26 miles for you non-metric folks. We're usually knee deep in the water, cheering them on, but this year we're in the comfort of our home. It's always a beautiful, emotional moment watching these athletes begin their journey. Love it. Top finishers will be in this afternoon, but the race continues on until midnight. Congrats to all who are here - including the thousands of volunteers who make it all possible!