Daresay

8/24/16 watercolor, colored pencils, ink, Zig marker

Ever since I got back from the UK, I’ve been seeing trees all over town that are starting to show hints of turning. They’re all still mostly green, yet leaves near the top are definitely going yellow-orange. I sketch this aspen a few blocks from my house every fall, and I know that in a few weeks it will be completely gold. Today it’s still got a lot of green left, but I was surprised to see how quickly it’s changing.

I daresay fall is coming. 

Technical note: Normally I would start a sketch like this with ink to give me some guidelines – the base of the traffic circle, the caution sign, the tree trunk and the general shape of the tree. This morning, on a whim, I decided to paint the tree first. Then I went in afterwards with colored pencils to draw the trunk, lower plants and other details. I like the effect of having fewer guidelines. What do you think?

UK, Part 5: Sketch Kit Follow-Up and Swag

Most-often used items in my sketch kit.

I know this is the post you’ve been waiting for – the one in which I review which things I used most in my sketch kit and which I could have left at home and never missed. (My complete bag dump shows everything I brought.) It’s actually a favorite and important post for me, too, because it helps me evaluate what I bring on future trips (and what I keep in my bag day to day). Here are the results:

• Thank goodness I brought my waterproof Rickshaw Bagworks bag instead of my usual purple one. ‘Nuff said.

• Of no surprise at all was the fact that the things I used daily were the ones I also use most regularly when I’m not traveling: my Sailor fude fountain pens; a Kuretake brush pen; a waterbrush filled with gray ink; and about eight basic colored pencils.

• As usual, I brought a few ink refill cartridges just in case I ran out of ink – but I didn’t (one fountain pen and the brush pen came close to running dry, though). However, they take up little space in my bag and weigh nothing, so I suppose there’s no harm in packing them for peace of mind.

• The bag dump photo shows four fountain pens; I actually took one out at the last minute, but even that third one never got used (at least for sketching; I did use it for journal writing, however, so it still earned its keep). Two are all I ever need – one with waterproof ink; one with water-soluble ink.

• Although I didn’t use Zig markers often, when I did, they were super-handy for making bright spots of color very quickly. They earned their keep in my bag several times.

Watercolors: Not used much,
but still essential.

• The thing I hardly ever used surprised me somewhat: my watercolor box. While sketching at the symposium, I learned immediately that I had to keep things as simple as possible. Most of my sketches were done while standing on drizzly and sometimes very windy sidewalks under tight time constraints. Although I know many sketchers use watercolors under these conditions (check out Kumi Matsukawa’s symposium posts in which she uses watercolors beautifully with the same constraints), I just find it easier and simpler to grab pencils or markers for spots of color. Even when I had more time after the symposium, I still tended to use the same simple materials. I guess that’s not really a surprise – I’ve been leaning away from watercolors for a while now. But. . .

• Despite the little I used watercolors, I still can’t leave them out entirely. A few times in Wales and Bath, I had the time and stable conditions to make more leisurely sketches that deserved watercolors, and I was very happy I had them. Again, my Trader Joe’s mint tin of paints takes up very little space; I may as well have it.

One of many brews captured in my Field Notes. The blue
paper is pale enough that I could even use colored pencils on it. 

• A few other daily users were the pens I like to use specifically in colored Field Notes notebooks (more on that shortly) – a non-hairy brush pen and a white gel pen. Since I brought a light blue notebook instead of my usual red, I was even able to use colored pencils occasionally (when I wanted to enhance the brew effect ☺).

• Several colored pencils that I had chosen specifically for the trip (based on Google images of the places I would visit) turned out to be less than useful. The particularly warm tan of all the buildings in Bath eluded me – I didn’t have that pencil with me at all! But my shortage forced me to mix a close color with what I had, so it wasn’t really a problem. Ultimately I brought too many colored pencils – or not the right ones.

My sketch of Elizabeth Alley that
I donated to the USk auction.

• I relied on the waterbrush filled with sky-blue Iroshizuku Tsuyu-kusa ink frequently when I wanted a streak to simply represent the (rarely) clear sky. The one with Chiku-rin, which I use for splashes of foliage, will probably be taken out of my bag permanently. More and more, a lower-maintenance colored pencil does the same job.

• The Stillman & Birn spiral-bound hardcover Beta sketchbook in the 10-by-7 size that I had gotten specifically for the symposium worked perfectly as intended. The hardcover back gave me a stable base for sketching while standing, and the size was ideal, too. I sketched on only one side of each page until I filled the book, then I started working on the back sides of a few. My intention was to donate at least one sketch to the auction, which I did, and the spiral binding made it easy to remove. The book was an excellent solution for that specific need.

• As for the rest of my sketches? I was as happy as I always am with my hand-stitched signatures, and I look forward to binding them into a cohesive single volume from the trip. I filled only five of the seven signatures I’d prepared, however (I forgot to account for all the sketches that would go into the S&B during the symposium).

Left: Rhodia Rhodiarama notebook nearly full of journaling, photos, ephemera.
Right: Field Notes showing a little wear-and-tear from daily use but also
full of UK memories.

• Perhaps the biggest surprise of all was how I used my Rhodia journal in relation to a blue Field Notes notebook (that I almost didn’t bring). For the past three years, I’ve been happily using a pocket-size Rhodia Rhodiarama notebook as my travel journal (nearly filling one on each trip). Small enough to fit in any bag or pocket, it has paper that takes fountain pen beautifully with sizing that allows the ink to wash nicely. It’s been a great catch-all book for travel musings and memos, ephemeral collage and small sketches made in trains and cafés.
  
  But the past several months I’ve been having so much fun filling red Field Notes notebooks with exactly the kind of sketches I’m likely to put into the Rhodia that at the last minute I decided to take a blue one along to the UK (I still prefer red for the way it makes highlights pop, but it was fun having a different color while traveling). I feared the two notebooks would be redundant, and I’d waste time waffling over which notebook to sketch in. As it turned out, I hardly sketched in the Rhodia at all because I’ve grown so fond of the brush-pen-and-white-gel-pen combo that goes so well with colored paper. I completely filled the Field Notes with random chimney pots in Wales, heads in trains and planes, and all the brews I sampled throughout the UK.
  
  As for the Rhodia journal, it wasn’t wasted or redundant, either. Although I didn’t sketch in it, each evening as I relaxed in our hotel room, I’d pick out just two or three of my favorite photos of the day and print them with my Polaroid Zip printer. The self-adhesive ZINK paper made it easy to put them into the journal, and the sheets are exactly the right size. Filled with those photos as well as ticket stubs and other ephemera to accompany my notes and thoughts, the 192-page book came home with only a dozen or so empty pages. Although I would have preferred to keep doodly sketches in the same book as the writing, I’m happy that each book filled different needs without redundancy or waste. 
  
  I’ve decided to make a colored Field Notes a regular part of my travel bag – just as it is now a regular part of my day-to-day bag.

Images from my camera go directly into my journal with
the Zip printer.

I know I’ve said this before, but each time I come back from traveling, I learn the same lesson: The things I take with me when I travel should be the same things I use every day here at home. The bag I carry to Wales can contain exactly the same things it contains when I walk to Maple Leaf Park. Whenever I think I need something “special” or additional, I end up bringing it home unused. (Future self, please take note and remember this!) Overall, however, I’m pleased that my kit served me well with no serious regrets.

Finally, here’s a photo of the swag bag I received at the Manchester symposium! I appreciate the months of work the symposium team went through to acquire all the goodies from sponsors. (The photo also includes some cards I exchanged with other participants.) I’ve already enjoyed trying some of the Cretacolor pencils, especially a water-soluble graphite that I used on my first sketches back home in Seattle last week. The Leuchtturm 1917 sketchbook also looks interesting. (They come in a variety of colors, and I managed to snag a bright pink one!) As a keepsake, though, nothing makes me happier than the symposium-logo tote bag that all the swag came in. I’ve used and abused my Barcelona and Paraty symposium totes for years, and I look forward to doing the same to my Manchester bag.

Swag from the Manchester symposium!

UK, Part 4: Bath

8/9/16 River Avon from the Bridge Coffee Shop on the Pulteney Bridge

8/10/16 River Avon and Pulteney Bridge

Certainly the Manchester symposium and the substantial demands of being a correspondent gave me the greatest opportunity to grow as an urban sketcher. And the castles of Wales were impossible to beat in terms of sheer visual spectacle – and therefore challenging sketching! But if I had to choose, I’d say that the most sketching fun I had during our whole trip to the UK was in Bath.

With none of the rain frustrations of Manchester and Wales, and without London’s oppressive noise and crowds, Bath was a wonderland of sketchable ancient structures and beautiful architecture. Although it turned out that I hadn’t brought the right tones of warm tan colored pencils for the amazingly consistent buildings (the photos I studied online made them look cooler and darker), I was challenged to come up with the right mix myself. A bonus was being able to fill a waterbrush with ancient Roman spring water (after taking a sample sip, of course – yuck!) and then sketch with it afterwards! I love imbedding the “DNA” of a place in a sketch that way.

It was a pleasure to meet Ian Hedley and his family!

Two highlights of our visit to Bath were meeting up with other sketchers. The first was Ian Hedley, whose blog, Pens! Paper! Pencils!, has been one of my favorites for a long time. (I was thrilled when he invited me to write a guest post about urban sketching a few months ago.) When he heard we were going to be in Bath, he and his family, who live in a nearby town, came over on the train to meet us. It’s always a joy to finally meet people in person after conversing with them online.

The next day we met up with Ed Harker, another sketcher I’ve gotten to know through his blog the past few years. Keeping up with Mostly Drawing, I learned that Ed has been sketching about as long as I have, and what’s more, he has made it his practice to sketch every day. I admire his commitment to drawing, and I appreciate his sense of humor. It was a pleasure to finally meet him at the symposium, where he gave a lively presentation and a demo.

Long-time Bath resident Ed Harker shows us the best
(and backside) of Bath!

A long-time resident of Bath, he showed us around his charming town in a way that only a local could. I specifically asked him to show us the Bath that we wouldn’t see from one of the tour buses lumbering through the narrow streets, and he certainly came through – by taking us to the Carter’s Steam Fair! A delightful collection of vintage steam-operated rides and old-time attractions, Carter’s comes to town only for a week or so each year, and we happened to be there at just the right time. Greg and I loved it so much that we went back again the next day (and rode the “gallopers”)! Ed took us around to see the quirky backsides of old buildings (as well as the beautiful fronts). We also thoroughly enjoyed having local bitters with Ed at his favorite pub and strolling through the streets I’ve seen him sketch.

Bath must be a pleasant place to live because that’s where we encountered some of the friendliest and most helpful people. If we stood on a street corner, map in hand, looking perplexed, within moments someone would come to our aid and offer directions or answer our questions.

Every way I turned in Bath was a visual delight – stunning architecture, narrow, curved streets, strange faces carved into stone walls – that was challenging to sketch but not daunting. Our days in Bath were the only time on this trip that I felt I could sketch in the way that I enjoy most: Meandering through a place without an itinerary and being able to stop and sketch whatever I discover.

8/11/16 Bath Abbey

Now that Greg and I have done some traveling, I’ve come to learn that I’m happiest when we can build in time – especially toward the end of a trip – for that kind of agenda-free meandering. When travel planning, we always start out with a (probably common) compulsion to consult with the Rick Steves checklist, talk to friends who have visited the same places and try to see and do as much as possible. But when I read through my journals afterwards and thumb through my sketchbooks, I know that we’re both happiest when we ignore the checklist and simply explore. We couldn’t have picked a better location for that kind of exploration than Bath. Filled with charm around every corner, very walkable Bath made me feel safe and comfortable on my own (Greg likes to go off by himself with his camera just as I like to go off for a sketch).

After traveling 19 days and looking forward to sleeping in our own bed, we said fond farewells to both Bath and all of the UK, certain that we would return someday. The United Kingdom is full of sketchable pleasures, and I’ve only barely skimmed the surface.

8/10/16 Lions at Victoria Park entrance

8/9/16 Two "gallopers" at the Carter's Steam Fair

8/10/16 Ice cream vending truck at Carter's Steam Fair. . . 

. . . and of course the ice cream that came from it!

Riding the gallopers (note the images of kings
and queens above)!

8/10/16 A composite of some of the many faces
carved in stone walls.

8/9/16 I've sketched a lot of buskers, but this was the
first opera singer!

8/10/16 St. Michael's Without Church

8/9/16 Victoria Art Gallery

8/8/16 busker

8/10/16 One of Bath's many curved streets.

8/8/16 Inside the Roman Baths, where tourists listen to an audio guide.

8/8/16 detail inside the baths

The Roman Baths

8/8/16 busker

8/10/16 Bell tower at St. Swithins Yard

The front of the elegant and stately Royal Crescent. . .

. . . and the slightly less elegant backside.

Doing what I do best!

My waterbrush filled with ancient Roman
spring water!

Ed's favorite pub. . .

and the Bass bitters we drank there.

Farewell Bath and all of the United Kingdom! We'll be back for sure!

UK, Part 2: Northern Wales

8/2/16 Castle Conwy

Sheep, rain, magnificent castles – and lots of all three. That’s what I’ll remember most about northern Wales. It’s also a country of the greenest grass and some of the most beautiful landscapes I’ve ever seen. Ironically, I think I have the fewest number of sketches of gorgeous Wales because of all that rain and because much of that landscape was seen through car windows.

8/4/16 Castle Caernarfon

Although we didn’t have a car of our own in Wales (by choice – driving on the “wrong” side of the street was too fraught with peril!), it turned out that Seattle urban sketcher Julie Wieringa and her husband Doug were also planning to visit Wales after the symposium with some overlap in our schedules. They kindly offered to let us tour the Snowdonia National Park area with them one day, including charming small towns like Porthmadog and Blaenau Ffestniog (Wales is also a country of unpronounceable words!). Frustrated by rain, I was “forced” to sketch things like cake and my tea and scones!

At another rainy time Greg and I toured the Trefriew woolen mill, where wool is processed and tweed is still woven on traditional looms.

8/4/16 Castle Beaumaris

On a couple of days the weather improved for us – still somewhat chilly, but at least the rain changed to drizzle and even sporadic periods of sunshine. We took advantage of the improvement to visit three castles – Conwy (very close to Llandudno, where we were staying in a delightful B&B), Beaumaris and Caernarfon.

Before visiting northern Wales, my image of castles tended toward pointy, glittery structures where Disney princesses live. (I stopped watching Game of Thrones after the second season, so those bloody castles have thankfully faded from my memory.) About as far from Disney as I could imagine, the results of King Edwards’ egomaniacal pursuit of dominance were made of formidable, impenetrable stone. Rounded walls (corners in a structure are the most vulnerable areas, so they were avoided) proved to be as challenging to sketch as they were to scale or penetrate! Despite my complaints of rain, seeing and sketching those spectacular castles made our trip to Wales more than worthwhile.

8/2/16 Castle Conwy

8/2/16 Gloddaeth United Church, Llandudno

8/2/16 Fishing for tiny crabs in Conwy

8/4/14 Trefriew Woolen Mills

8/1/16 Rainy-day Jaffa cake in Blaenau Ffestiniog

8/2/16 Tea (and scones, unsketched because I wanted to eat
them warm!) in Conwy.

How about some llaeth y llan for breakfast?

Tina, Julie, Doug and Greg in Porthmadog

Stone walls and sheep -- we saw lots and lots of both in northern Wales.

Sure was happy to have my waterproof Rickshaw
bag in Wales!