Brush Pen at the Cemetery

6/15/15 Platinum brush pen, Canson XL 140 lb. paper

On my way home from an appointment on Capitol Hill, I stopped for a few minutes at Lake View Cemetery. It’s been close to two years since I last sketched there, and I have to remember to go back again soon for some longer sketches. I had only a little time to spare this morning, so I pulled out a brush pen – my favorite tool for limited-time sketches. I use it the way I use a sumi brush with India ink in my ink-drawing class. In fact, it’s even closer to twig sketching, KK-style. The brush pen won’t let me get into fussy details – just the broad strokes and shadows – so I can finish in a matter of minutes (only seven for this sketch).

As far as cemeteries go, Lake View probably isn’t the most interesting (Bruce Lee’s grave notwithstanding); there are no impressive statues or mausoleums. But it does have many large old trees among the headstones that are especially beautiful in the fall, and the rolling hillscape can make for interesting compositions.

Sketching in cemeteries is so serene and relaxing. They’re almost always empty or nearly so (today, I saw only one groundskeeper and one jogger), I can’t hear the nearby neighborhood traffic, and, at least today, dragonflies and hummingbirds were having a heyday in the sunshine.