A quote I cherish

Had to think about this one while talking to a fellow sketcher today:

'Begin with a proper sketch book. Draw in ink. Finish each drawing you begin, and keep every drawing you finish. No erasing, no ripping out a page, no covering a page with angry scribbles. What you draw is an invaluable and unique representation of how you saw at that moment in that place according to your abilities. That’s all we want. We already know what a dog really looks like. I found this was a benefit that rendered the quality of my drawings irrelevant. Whether they were good or bad had nothing to do with their most valuable asset: They were a means of experiencing a place or a moment more deeply.'

— Annette Goodheart

DR. SKETCHY’S ANTI ART SCHOOL - also a great resource for photo reference...

... if you cannot be there in person. 'Dr. Sketchy is when Cabaret meets life drawing'. It is a rare opportunity to draw from accordingly-to-the-theme dressed up live models. The "Faster, Pussykatz! Sketch! Sketch!" Session is what you will miss this coming weekend in Berlin. Luckily, should you be living too far away, like me, or just do not have time to take part, you can visit their Facebook or homepage to look up pictures, which were taken at the event. Turns out, you hardly find any better photo reference if you are looking for a theme like: 'Animals Are People Too', 'The End Of The World' or 'The Little Red Riding Hood'. Have fun browsing their stock! At least I will be using it extensively for private drawing practice.

Project Duesseldorf Thumbnails - Harbor #2

On our second trip to the Duesseldorf Media-Harbor I sketched some more buildings which, I believe, define the uniqueness of this area. Either they are newly build, like 1) 'Colorium', finished in 2011 and the highest building around or are repaired: Nr. 3, now called 'Small Villa', used to also be one. It is the smallest of them all and appears really tiny and cramped. But in my eyes it is the most beautiful. It now houses offices and an Italian restaurant. 2) used to be a silo, and now is referred to as a building of historic importance. A sign was placed hanging from the front wall with people on it carrying sacks of something, probably flour. I will have to find out.

In reality, not all of the buildings stand side by side. I placed them together to capture the difference of height. This are pretty small sketches, too. 13x9 cm, starting with watercolor and wrapping it up with a 0.05 black pen.

Because it was getting late, I did not want to start the Roggendorf-House, also a silo, from scratch. An idea, how this building looks from farther away is shown in the lower right corner of the second drawing. All in all, 24 'Flossis' figures found their home climbing up the front wall. Five more even try to conquer the building right next to it. It is just a crazy sight!

Project Duesseldorf Thumbnails - Harbor

This is the first thumbnail of a series of interesting places in Duesseldorf. Goal is to collect remarkable views, getting familiar with shapes and ideas for composition. They will be pretty rough and quickly done, but always on sight, which so will continue until the final painting. So, no photo reference.

Outtakes from 'The Miraculous Bilocational Travel Journal': Part 4

Greece - September 24th 2014

On this quick watercolor painting Volker and Christian are celebrating those rare shots of sun. Though chilling on the dinghy, I could not expect those crazies to hold still for too long. As for every activity that involves going into the water, Sebastian was mysteriously MIA. 

This will be the last sketch from Greece this year, I will put online. Much more where done, but while testing the wind, an unexpected big wave splashed down on my book. Learned my lesson for next year!

Please visit my Miraculous Bilocational Travel Journal on flickr for more drawings.