More found drawings

I was digging through some boxes I had posted to Australia from Israel and rediscovered one of my old pocket moleskine notebooks. I mainly use them for jotting down notes but I did find some drawings that I did during my lunch hour a couple of years ago. Perhaps some of my early 'urban sketcher' experiences.

Still Here

I feel like I've been a bit absent lately. For all those Americans out there, happy 4th of July. While you are all BBQ'ing and watching fireworks in the heat, it's winter in Australia, albeit mild compared to a winter in the Midwest.

I've been doodling recently but not so much sketching on location like I have done in the past few months. I'm thinking of directions I may want to go, not only with drawing but other things as well. Here are a couple of sketches I did some months ago around the gardens in Haifa.

I'm also on the hunt for a new sketchbook. The ecosystem notebook I bought earlier this year worked out well enough but I'm looking for something different. While I would love to buy everything in an art store, I end up paralyzed by choice, leaving wanting everything but buying nothing. Oh well, it's probably for the best :) 

Until Next Time

I made it through one 10 hour flight and am waiting for another in Seoul, Korea. My husband and I left Israel yesterday evening. Never really knowing what to expect, it seemed that in the end we had one of the easier exits from Ben Gurion Airport.  Aside from battling a Korean tour group, the lines were short and no fuss. You can believe that you had a decent experience when one of the "worst" things that happened was discovering that the McDonalds was replaced with a Burger Ranch. Let's hope I didn't speak too soon.

Right now the airport in Seoul is quiet.  My husband will be staying in Korea for a few days to visit his brother while I go straight on to Australia.

These past few months in Haifa have gone by so quickly. I've managed to start a habit of sketching on location and hopefully a better appreciation of my surroundings, and I am looking to continue it in the land down unda! Once I work out the scanner situation (or temporarily resort to taking snapshots again) I'll be posting again.  In the meantime, better start sketching.

Ciao.

Work in Progress

On Thursdays we have an hour and a half lunch period versus the usual hour. I wanted to get out a little  so I ate lunch quickly and walked a bit up the mountain to try to get in a quick sketch. Couldn't finish everything I wanted so I'll have to go back sometime soon to complete it. Will post final product once it's done :)

Just down the street

Went out early afternoon on Saturday. Didn't go much further than going down the street, but I at least wanted to take advantage of the weather and keep up the intended goal of doing one longer drawing per week. After awhile the sun got too intense for me, and I lost the motivation to do anything else in depth. I was probably out for about an hour or so before going back home. Drawn first in pencil and then inked later.

There's some people out there with pretty awesome stuff. They keep me inspired and push me to expand my abilities -- hopefully without debilitating comparison. Some people draw on location for the sake of capturing a moment, much like keeping a regular diary or taking a photograph. Others are committed to a form of reportage, visually creating eyewitness accounts of events.  Here is but a sample of the things out there: 

Veronica Lawlor

Rolf Schroeter

Don Low

Inma Serrano

Ekaterina Khozatskaya

Wil Freeborn

In Retrospect

Rehov Ha-Atzma'ut (Independence Street)

Zebra Cafe

Had a longer weekend this past week, which meant that we got to start our work week on Monday instead of Sunday. How novel. Went out to a few places, taking advantage of the good weather. My body was sore from all the walking up and down the mountain. It's all good though. Managed to do a bit of sketching. The first being after my art store errand. Of course I keep carrying around the faded out brush pen. *That's* what I should have bought. The second is from this little burger joint on one of the more eclectic streets in Haifa. The owners are French. The food is good and cheap and they have a good dessert--tarte tatin! My camera battery needed a good charging. Of course I couldn't locate the charger which equals lack of real time photos.

I only have one more month left in Israel. These past two months have gone where? Hoping to make the most of it--seeing, sketching, and exploring all the things I can before I change locations again.

birds of a feather

When I find myself having lunch on my own I often eat in a short period of time, leaving a good portion of my hour break left over to run errands or whatever else I'm inspired to do. Lately, I've been taking advantage of the warmer weather by using those moments to walk around the surrounding gardens. The other day I passed by one the coral trees and watched to see which birds stopped by. There were a couple of what I believe to be Rose-ringed Parakeets hanging out and being noisy as ever. They're not native to Israel but they've managed to make a fairly permenant home here. I was able to get in a quick sketch before lunch was over -- the bit of color was added later. 

On the way home

I had a break from the office this past Friday, so after doing a quick cleaning of the flat I walked through the Hadar, one the neighborhoods in Haifa, hoping to catch a particular art store while it was open. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. There was a sign posted on the door but considering my inability to read Hebrew, I was at a loss.

I wasn't quite committed to drawing on this trip but on my way back I stopped along Shifra stairs and sat for the next hour or so. I didn't quite finish but I was satisfied with the effort. There were various groups travelling through, mainly tourists, along with one of the inhabitants of the house I was sitting next to, and got a few comments and acknowledgements. These are the interactions you won't get when you're sketching at home.