And a happy one it is for me, as I have been honored with Katherine Tyrrell’s, “Travels with a Sketchbook Shield” award for 2007!

Holidays at Bar César,
Berkeley (larger)

It is indeed an honor to be recognized by Katherine, and especially in the company of the other finalists, all of whom have been great inspirations to me:

Katherine’s award is extra meaningful to me because it was her "Blogging Art in 2006" posts, Part 1 and Part 2 which really inspired me to get serious about sketchblogging. Her blog is chock full of useful art information and links, her sketching and artwork is wonderful, and I have learned so much from her about blogging as well. She is a pro indeed!

Thank you Katherine for your very kind regard, and thank you to all the sketchbloggers out there who inspire me every day.

Happy New Year Everyone!

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Arlington Fountain,
Crop for Card (larger)

Arlington Fountain,
Original Sketch (larger)

This year for our holiday cards I made a sketch of my favorite fountain all decked out for the holidays. Arlington Fountain sits in the center of the Marin traffic circle, here in Berkeley, and is a reproduction of the fountain that stood there from 1911 through the 1950’s.

The sketch seemed a bit stark to me though (maybe needs a bit of background?), so decided to try an extremely cropped version of it for some of the cards. I like the result! I had the cards made at Shutterfly, who did a fine job just like they did on my cards last year and on my foodie note cards.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Related:
  Other Projects
  Arlington Fountain SketchCrawl

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Picasso Ceramics: Fish, 1951 (larger)

Picasso Ceramics: Double Face, 1950 (larger)

Picasso Ceramics: Head and Face of Bull, 1950-51 (larger)

Picasso Ceramics: Face Pitcher 1959 (larger)

A few weeks ago I went to Las Vegas with a good friend for a couple of days of rest and relaxation and a chance to explore the Bellagio Resort. What a visual feast! Vegas (Update: The Vegas Strip, I mean) is a crazy, tacky place, but I have to say the Bellagio is lovely. I especially like the Chiuhuly sculptures (including the amazing lobby ceiling), and the Conservatory Garden, which was transforming from Fall to Christmas while we were there. We also had a great time eating well, (most notably at Picasso and Olives), seeing "O", people watching, and enjoying the fountain shows.

Picasso, from Photo at Exhibit (larger)

The highlight of our trip though was a small and charming exhibit of Picasso ceramics at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art. Well-focused and assembled with care, including photos, a great timeline and video, it kept us happily absorbed for an afternoon. In contrast, the Modern Masters show at the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum in the Venetian was a haphazard assortment of barely related pieces, seemingly intended to impress rather than illuminate.

As always in museums, I sketched with pencil then did the ink and color afterwards. I find that when I can finish a sketch all on the same day, the results are fresher. That is not always possible when traveling, but I try!

More information on the Exhibit:

• ARTINFO
• MGM Magazine

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Wurster Hall, UC Berkeley (larger)

I found myself on the U.C. Berkeley campus recently and decided to sketch Wurster Hall: the Architecture Department and my alma mater. This “neo-brutalist” building is widely regarded as an ugly monstrosity, especially it’s prison-like tower. Having spent a LOT of time there I can tell you it’s just as unpleasant to be inside of as it is look at.

Of course I am biased. Although I loved my overall experience at Berkeley I did not enjoy the architecture program in the least. The explanatory rant is a long one which I will spare you. Here is one oddity though: at the time I liked engineering but detested freehand drawing, which we had to be very good at but which was never taught.

Now I love sketching and often draw buildings, no less. Life can be so ironic sometimes, can’t it?

Related Post: SketchCrawl on the Berkeley Campus

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Well it’s happened: I have been at this for a full year!

The experience has been so different and so much more amazing than I ever expected: I am just stunned. Most especially wonderful are all of the great people I have met, both online and in person, as a result of this endeavor.

Because I played around with the blog before publicly announcing it the actual anniversary date is murky. I have decided on today because it was one year ago when I received my very first comment, and from the wonderfully inspiring Jana Bouc no less. Jana’s blog was influential in getting me started on this adventure in the first place, and I have since had the pleasure of sketching with her as well.

It’s been a crazy whirlwind of a year. When I started the blog I hoped that it would get me sketching more, and it certainly has done that. I had no idea though how much work it would be or how hectic it would sometimes make my life. But I also didn’t expect the community, encouragement, new directions and immense satisfaction it has brought to me.

The Crazy Life of the Sketchblogger (larger)

I would like to extend a heartfelt
    * T H A N K   Y O U *
to the sketchblog community: fellow bloggers who inspire me every day, the many wonderful people who leave encouraging comments and emails, and all the folks out there who come by for a visit now and then or read via the RSS feed or the EDM Superblog. It is the human connection of this experience that has been the best reward of all.

And now, I’m off to drink a glass of champagne 🙂

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Mari's Costa Rica Sketchbook

After recently reading the new book The Art of Travel With a Sketchbook I wanted to know more about the author, Mari Le Glatin-Keis. I was fortunate to be able to correspond with her by both email and phone, and discovered that she is very enthusiastic about the joys of travel sketching.

Mari
Sketching

Martha: What kind of sketching do you for your own enjoyment?

Mari: Sketching is amazing, isn’t it? I find myself sketching whenever I travel; everything I see stimulates me to record. My sketchbook pages are all I have to carry memories, as I don’t take photographs. At home, I don’t sketch every day but I always carry a small sketchbook and pencil on my walks and bicycle rides. Even if I do not use them I like to have them on hand. When I don’t have my sketchbook, I sketch with my eyes; I literally use my eyes as if they were pens or brushes.

Martha: You travel quite a bit then?

Mari’s Bretagne
Sketchbook (full page)

Mari: Yes, I grew up in France and each year I spend time there, here in the US, and also in Mexico. My travel workshops give me the opportunity to keep a balance between continents but I feel at home wherever I happen to be. I am living primarily in Oregon right now and every time I come back to Corvallis I jump on my bike and ride towards the coastal range with a smile on my face. I am here right now and it is beautiful, even as we move into winter.

I have always been a sketcher and a traveler. I met my husband Dick in Ecuador 30 years ago when I was making my way through South America sketching plants and flowers. Back then sketching was already my life and expression, my “raison d’être” as I moved deep through the Andes and the Amazon, amongst the local people. Sadly, I later lost those four years of recordings in a shipwreck in 1978 (another long story!) and that was that. It was my first big lesson in “letting go” and about the ephemeral side of life.

Martha: What prompted you to write The Art of Travel With a Sketchbook?

Mari’s Estuary
Sketchbook
(full page)

Mari: In years of leading sketching workshops I have seen people of all ages, with no art training, becoming bold, confident and expressive. I hoped to share what I have witnessed and encourage more people to sketch.

I wanted to tell people how sketching can save your life as it saved mine! Sketchbooks are more valuable than any finished piece to be hung on a wall as they contain your first emotions and your own interpretation of a moment or a situation. When sketching we are open to the world outside us, we forget about pains and worries, and are totally in the moment.

I also wanted to encourage people to have a deeper travel experience by observing cultural details and local people more closely. In many countries traveling with a sketchbook will set you apart from a regular tourist. Often I remind my participants that if traveling with a sketchbook is about recording life as it is, wherever we are, then we should allow our pages to reflect what we see. For example, when I look at my many sketchbooks from Oaxaca in the eight years I went there, I can see what was coming. The tension, the increasing contrast between the rich and the poor, it is all there in my pages.

Martha: How did you go about publishing the book?

Mari’s Summer
Lake Sketchbook
(full page)

Mari: I met my publisher Suzanne McNeil in one of my workshops in Oaxaca. She was enthusiastic about the book and upon coming back from my travels I had a contract waiting for me.

Although I have created other books, this was the first time I had to write the full text as well as illustrate. This was a new challenge, especially since English is not my first language. Making the entire book took a year and a half of intense work. I even created pages in my sleep!

But the real hardship came when the designer asked me put my mockup on the computer. Until then, when laying out pages for a book I manually cut and pasted the pages and I loved that process. Layout on the computer was very different. A friend and workshop participant, Dianne Roth, saved me when she volunteered to help me transfer my hard copy onto the computer.

Martha: You’ve included quite a bit of student work in the book?

Mari’s Bretagne
Sketchbook
(full page)

Mari: Yes, I always knew that if I was going to make a book on sketching I had to give my participants a voice. Only they could illustrate the approach. Over 20 participants volunteered to share their sketchbook pages and write about their experiences.

In workshops I see people re-discovering the “child” in themselves and playing, and I always feel privileged to witness their transformation. I am totally amazed by their spontaneity as, without any hesitation, they lay down the most innocent lines in their sketchbooks. I often envy my participants for their pure and spontaneous renderings: I am still trying to let go of the heavy training I received in art school!

Martha: What other books have you done?

Mari's Oregon Sketchbook
(full page)

Mari: In art school I studied printmaking and I have always wanted to be a book illustrator. I love to illustrate people’s lives and words. In 1997, a couple of weeks after returning from a two year stay in Provence with my family, Margaret Anderson asked me to illustrate her story Children of Summer, based on the insect world of Jean Henri Fabre. I loved the whole process, working with Margaret and drawing the fascinating world of insects.

Meanwhile, I was sending my sketchbooks to French publishers. In 1999, Equinoxe offered me a contract to publish my travel sketchbooks: a dream come true! Four sketchbooks that I had already created, with no publication in mind at the time, were published as books. A fifth sketchbook, Balades a travers l’Armor et l’Argoat, was a new assignment.

I also created a daybook, Mon Jardin Jour après Jour, in 2001. Day after day I went out in my small garden here in Oregon, a sketchbook in one hand and a pencil in the other, and I recorded all the changes I saw throughout the year. I loved the process of creating that book!

Martha: Reproductions of travel sketchbooks are especially popular in Europe then?

Mari’s Mexico
Sketchbook
(full page)

Mari: In Europe the market is flourishing, and publishers are eager to meet traveler-artists to publish their sketchbooks. The sketchbooks describe not only the beauty of the places they travel through but also the social and political climate, and are most often about far away places. These books are used quite a bit in teaching as well. The focus though is on artists who are of professional standing and their work is fairly polished. It’s not something that non-artists are encouraged to try.

It was seeing more and more of these “beautiful” art travel books on the shelves, and remembering the real miracle of the expression taking place over and over right in front of my eyes during workshops that motivated me to write my new book. I knew I had to tell people that if they wanted to sketch too, they could!

Martha: How do you teach Travel Sketching?

Mari’s Toulouse
Sketchbook (full page)

Mari: I don’t teach; I encourage people to take visual notes. I give them tips to help them launch into this great adventure of recording whatever they see wherever they are, either at home or traveling.

You do not learn “how to” sketch, you sketch. In travel sketching there is no right or wrong, no rules or recipes. Words, lines, colors, collage: use anything you have on hand to express yourself. In sketching it seems like the less technique you know the better you are. Many of us have to gain confidence in ourselves before learning skills. It is all about trusting. If we put our expectations and our critical mind aside, beauty will come through.

Martha: What workshops are you planning for 2008?

Mari’s Provence
Sketchbook (full page)

Mari: Next year I will be leading workshops in the US, France and Mexico. All of my workshops take place in visually and culturally stimulating environments. For 5, 8 or 10 days, my participants can totally relax, play and dedicate their time to exploring the wonders of sketching.

I’ve created three workshops in the Pacific Northwest for next year, each in a unique environment. Wherever we are there is culture and beauty to record in our sketchbooks and I am really happy to develop such workshops here in the US.

Nevertheless, I keep going back to the two regions of France I know best: Brittany, where I grew up, and Provence, where I lived from 1992-94. In 2009, I will add Le Lot to my destinations. It is a part of France that I have been discovering over the years and I feel I know enough of the region now to share its wonders with my participants.

I am also about to travel to Mexico to make final plans for a workshop there in 2008 as well.

Each trip is not only a sketching workshop but a voyage through cultures and peoples on which I am able share my friends, food and culture with my participants.

In her book’s introduction Mari says: “This book is a humble statement with no pretensions, written from my heart”. Her enthusiasm for sketching and sincere desire to share it with others is contagious, and I can see that this book was done as a Labor of Love. It was a true joy to talk with Mari and I hope I”ll get to attend one of those workshops soon!

For More Information:
   Book Review: The Art of Travel With a Sketchbook
   About Mari Le Glatin-Keis
   Mari’s 2008 Workshops

Posted in Book Reviews, Holidays, How to Sketch, Landscapes, Travel Sketching, Workshop Reviews | Leave a Comment » | View 14 Comments »

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People who are new to sketch journaling sometimes fear they have years of practice ahead before creating worthy pages. Mari Le Glatin Keis would no doubt disagree. She has been leading travel sketching workshops for 13 years, helping those who have never done visual travel journaling t immediately enjoy the joys and rewards of recording their experiences. No wait or artistic training are required: anyone can jump right in.

Mari has written a delightful book, The Art of Travel With a Sketchbook, which describes her approach. She explains how to make deeper connections to places, cultures, and people with simple sketching and observation. It is what happens during the sketching and the memories preserved that are the reward, rather than any specific artistic result.

The large pages of this concise volume are bursting with color. Subtitled Six Tips to Get Started, these are in fact broad areas which Mari introduces and describes with a variety of tips. Each idea is also demonstrated with lots of work and commentary from the new journalers in her workshops. Their diverse pages feature simple sketches, collage, and colorful backgrounds. It is clear that many have been inspired and moved by Mari’s workshops.

This book would be a great introduction for those new to travel journaling or fun for anyone looking for a fresh outlook or a shot of inspiration. And, I have not taken Mari’s workshop, but it sounds like a lot of fun. In 2008 she will be leading trips in Oregon, France and Mexico.

   Related Article: An Interview with Mari Le Glatin Keis

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View up North Main Street (larger)

Last month I went to Ashland Oregon for a long weekend of play and relaxation with some women from my book club. It’s the “Bad Girls” book club: you don’t have to read the book if you bring good snacks!

Ashland is a pretty town surrounded by scenic rural areas, and is especially known for it’s almost year round Oregon Shakespeare Festival. We were not able to get tickets for all of the plays we had hoped to see, but we had a great time hanging out, eating out, shopping and talking.

The Fall colors were stunning! The trees were on fire each with their own blast of color: yellow, orange, pink or red. I was able to do some sketching but didn’t fully do those colors justice, I’m afraid. I also had fun sketching from the plane again. That sketch, of course, was drawn mostly from memory.

Lithia Park (larger)

Marin County from the Air (larger)

Main St. Restaurant (larger)

Backyard Cabana (larger)

Sketching in Ashland

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Argonautika, Act I (larger)

We went to see Argonautika the other night at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. It was quite good, especially the staging and costumes, and I particularly liked the helmets and crowns. All of their (otherwise) triumphant spikes and spires were frayed or bent and curled as if they’d been deflated – very funny.

I was inspired to draw in the dark which I have done before. I kept running off the paper though and had no idea when my sketches were overlapping. At one point I had my fountain pen upside down and got only faint scratches for my effort. I did add the watercolor paint later though, which helped to pull out the sketches I could recognize.

Not being able to see the paper is unnerving but it’s a great way to practice seeing: an important and often overlooked aspect of drawing. By contour drawing, following the outlines with your eyes as you draw lines on the unseen page, you can train your eye and get some surprising results. Who knew that overlapping sketches could look interesting? It’s a great exercise: try sketching at the next dark performance you go to!

Argonautika, Act II (larger)

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Lunch at MarketBar (larger)

Last Sunday was the 16th SketchCrawl event. My husband and I spent the day in San Francisco sketching and exploring at the Ferry Building. We had a great day!

Lamps at Market Bar (larger)

This historic building has been extensively restored and reopened in 2003 as a food-oriented marketplace. It bustles with energy and activity and the architecture and shops are quite striking. It’s a great place to sketch. There are also awesome Bay views and on Saturdays and Tuesdays, a Farmer’s Market.

We also enjoyed a wonderful lunch outside at MarketBar. The weather was just perfect: a gloriously crisp Fall day.

Frog Hollow Farm: Fruit Stand (larger)

Berkeley BART Station (larger)

Giant Pumpkin (larger)

Far West Fungi: Mushrooms Only (larger)

Related:

• More SketchCrawls

Posted in Food, Interiors, Landscapes, San Francisco, SketchCrawl, Still Life, Travel Sketching | Leave a Comment » | View 8 Comments »

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Continued from: New Mexico Sketchbook, Part One: Taos

New Mexico Museum of Art (larger)

After a couple of days in Taos we headed down to Santa Fe and stopped for lunch at Rancho de Chimayó, a rambling, bustling restaurant featuring authentic Northern New Mexico cuisine.

Adobe House (larger)

We ate well: bright pink prickly pear margaritas, warm sopaipillas with honey, posole, carne adovado, and assorted sauces featuring local chilies. Yum!

Around Town

Santa Fe is one of my favorite towns. It is tourist-y to be sure, but the unique aesthetics of the region are not diminished and there are details to savor everywhere. Although it is a somewhat sprawling city the historic area is very walk-able, laid out on a grid around the Santa Fe Plaza. There are other interesting neighborhoods within walking distance as well. And on every block, great sketching opportunities.

Cafe Pasqual’s (larger)

On one walk I found my dream house; at least from the outside! On a dirt road and walking distance to the center of town, it is a true adobe building with five intriguing doorways. And it was for sale, but no, we didn’t buy it. 🙂

Another favorite restaurant of mine is La Casa Sena. They have tables outside in an enclosed and tree-shaded courtyard. We ate there on a warm breezy evening and it was sublime.

Sketching on the Go

As you can see, there is lots of adobe to draw and paint in Santa Fe! The colors vary dramatically as the light changes. It was fun to mix up each batch of watercolor and try to get it just right. I used the same paint colors as I did in Taos, which worked quite well.

Garden Gate (larger)

We were in Santa Fe right after Labor Day and the town was deserted! It was actually a bit eerie, but it was easy to move around, get into restaurants and museums, and to stand on the street working in my sketchbook. As I often do when traveling, I did the ink drawing on site and added the watercolor in the evenings and on the plane ride home.

Gallery on
Canyon Road (larger)

I love Northern New Mexico environments, both natural and man-made. Pink-y brown adobe, warm blue details and sky, red chili ristras, and strong Mexican and Indian influences make the built atmosphere very alluring. And, the surrounding desert, subtle in neutrals, pinks and muted grey-greens and -blues, spectacularly sets off mountains and canyon walls with their warm red/orange/pink hues.

The light is special too. In September it was strong and bright: at other times it can be sparkly, almost electric, or fiery and glowing. The light enlivens the scenery and highlights the unique details of this extraordinary landscape.

Corner San Francisco & Old Santa Fe Trail (larger)

Dream House (larger)

See Also:

• New Mexico 2007 Sketchbook, Part One: Taos
• Santa Fe 2008 Sketch Grids
• Santa Fe 2008 Sketchbook
• Other Travel Sketchbooks

Posted in Landscapes, New Mexico, Travel Sketching | Leave a Comment » | View 12 Comments »

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Harwood Museum (larger)

Last month we went with some friends on a wonderful trip to Northern New Mexico to explore and relax. And to sketch, of course. I pulled out my sketchbook on a number of occasions in Taos; I could happily draw there for days. [continued below]

Chama River (larger)

Historic Window (larger)

Storm Brewing (larger)

Above Taos Plaza (larger)

I have been to New Mexico several times and I love it. There is something unique and captivating about the colors, shapes, and light of the high desert and the towns there. And the food: oh my!

On our way out of Albuquerque we had the most amazing green chile cornbread at the Gruet Grill. The restaurant does not look memorable from the outside, but all our food was wonderful. I’m still dreaming about that cornbread.

Then we headed up to Taos for a couple of days. There the sky churned with alternating sun and dark storm clouds, adding drama to the views of the mountains beyond. We got caught in two torrential downpours: the biggest I’ve ever seen. Luckily for us they didn’t last long as we had no umbrellas. And, I managed to keep my sketchbook nice and dry.

The little sketch of the Chama River, carving it’s way through the valley, was drawn from the car. I noted the colors in ink right on the drawing for painting later. I rather like the effect: similar to what I did in the museum on my New York trip.

My standard paint colors covered most of my needs in New Mexico (for adobe walls and buildings: various combos of Perm. Rose, Burnt Sienna, and Raw Sienna, with sometimes a bit of Ultramarine or Perm. Alizerin Crimson). But trim and other details on adobe buildings is often a warm bright blue so I took along some Manganese Blue as well.

See Also:

• New Mexico 2007 Sketchbook, Part Two: Santa Fe
• Santa Fe 2008 Sketch Grids
• Santa Fe 2008 Sketchbook
• Other Travel Sketchbooks

Posted in Landscapes, New Mexico, Travel Sketching | Leave a Comment » | View 12 Comments »

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