After finishing my previous Stillman and Birn pocket Beta sketchbook I started a new one. I normally use the first page to draw my palette, but this time I just skipped the first page and started a full page spread. I was sketching in my favourite cafe after a hot and humid run and for a change I decided to also sketch the fridge full of deli food.
My favourite barista on the left, deli food fridge on the right and my breakfast at the bottom
I made a few mistakes with the original barista sketch, which I erased with a white gel pen. It’s not the cleanest, but that’s the nature of urban sketching. I also forgot to colour in the tomatoes in my sandwich – an omission that I’ll correct later.
The full sketch
It’s a bit of an unusual spread for me, but I like it enough to continue experimenting with spreads like it in this sketchbook.
I filled the last page of my Stillman and Birn pocket beta today, a bit less than a year after starting it.
Last page
After a hot and humid run this morning I went to my favourite cafe and sketched Orit, my favourite barista. The line drawing was done with a Staedtler 0.8 pigment liner pen.
Line sketch
Then came the watercolours- Schmincke Horadam in a tiny art toolkit palette.
It’s been a while since my last update, and though I drafted a post in my blogging notebook over a month ago, I didn’t get to posting it here.
I got a new job! The process was much quicker than I expected both because of my excellent friends and colleagues network and because I aggressively pursued new employment opportunities. I was getting three interviews a day plus sending several applications a day despite being sick and having another “delightful” rocket round from Iran to deal with. In the end it took me two and a half weeks to find a new (and better) place, and I learned a lot from the process.
Bakery cafe sketch
I had a little time off before I started my new job (I started two weeks ago) and I spent most of it on catching up with friends, getting on top of doctor’s appointments, decluttering and honing my technical skills. I didn’t get half of what I planned on doing done, but that’s the nature of the beast. I am very glad that I prioritised meeting friends because it was so energising and fun and fulfilling to be able to do that. It made me realise yet again just how important real life meetings with friends are.
I finished the NYT Summer Reading Challenge on the 6th of August, well before the deadline. I enjoyed the challenge and I’m glad that I participated as it got me reading books that have long been languishing on my reading list. I decided that I will review each of the ten books that I read, so expect those reviews up shortly.
I saw the new Spiderman movie (Spiderman: Brand New Day) and it’s very good. It reminded me of The Thunderbolts, which I loved. It was well written and performed, and Florence Pugh and Jon Berenthal steal every scene they’re in they are so magnetic.
Talek cafe sketch
I’m almost done with my Stillman and Birn pocket beta sketchbook and I might post a flip-through here. I normally take ages to finish a sketchbook because I have so many sketchbooks running in parallel, but this one took about a year, which is super fast for me. Most of it is full of cafe sketches, because I’ve put a focus on sketching people on the move. I do plan on getting back to more landscape and other sketches in my next sketchbook.
I’m still struggling with my journaling, and I also have a large pile of notebooks that I was planning to review but I’m not so sure how to go about that. Standard reviews take a lot of time and I’m not sure that they’re that enjoyable or interesting to read. I don’t want to spew a fact sheet of information on paper weight and binding types as you can find more accurate information on the manufacturer’s website these days. Even Moleksine, who had been elusive about their paper weights in the past, now publish all the relevant details on their website. I think it would be more interesting to read about why I selected a notebook, who I think would enjoy it, and who I think should steer clear of it. What do you think?
I wasn’t feeling well earlier this week, so I decided to sketch close to home and to simplify my setup. I was feeling the “Toulouse Blues” (where you’re part of the urban sketchers community but miss out on the urban sketchers symposium in Toulouse), so I wanted to sketch to cheer myself up.
The sketch
The setup was unusual for me on all counts:
The notebook is a Leuccchturm1917 sketchbook that I’ve had since my first urban sketchers symposium in Porto back in 2018. It was Leucchturm’s first foray into sketchbooks, and so the paper isn’t the best. They have since improved it somewhat, even though it’s still far from a high end sketchbook. In this case I wanted something simple and serviceable, and it helped that this evoked fond memories of symposiums past.
The pen is a Sailor Fude Mannen fountain pen with De Atramentis Black Document ink. I usually don’t bother with the Fude pen and use fineliners but in this case I wanted something more expressive.
Two colors only – the green is a Faber Castell Polychromo earth green (172) and the Sienna is a Daniel Smith Quinacridone Sienna watercolor stick. That with a waterbrush provided the reddish earth tones on the tree trunk. The stick was a gift from the Poznan symposium goody bag, and I still find it very cumbersome and messy to use.
I kind of like the result, and I’ll try to create more experiments like it in the future.
The last post I made was a month and half ago. My life has gone through quite a lot of turmoil in the interim.
I lost my job due to downsizing in the small startup that I was working in. This was a shock to the system that has still left me reeling. I’m good at my job and a dedicated worker, so I didn’t see it coming – but I’m also highly paid, and I guess that I should have seen the signs that the company wasn’t doing as well as it should have. I’m deep in the job search process, and learning a lot about myself and the industry as I go along. I enjoy the challenge of technical interviews and I enjoy meeting and talking to new people, but I wish that I could have done this under different circumstances. This is just a reminder that no, it doesn’t matter if you’re the best at what you do, and no, the company isn’t your family. It’s a business interest that sees you as a number, and it is your responsibility to ensure that your worth and your identity is never in their hands, but only in yours.
Cafe sketch
I lost my remaining grandparents – both my father’s mother and father died just three weeks apart. They were old and in poor health so it wasn’t a shock, but it’s still a “memento mori” sort of moment.
We’ve had more rockets, on-again off-again peace agreements, and are now in constant existential murk of “what does the future hold?” The only clarity from all this is that if we want a future here, we absolutely must have a new and better government come autumn.
My journaling practice has become patchy – the more stress I’m under the more I need it, and the more stress I’m under the less likely I am to pick up a pen and actually journal. I am still trying to figure out how to get back into the habit.
I got a cold, so the past two weeks my training has suffered. I only just got back to weight lifting, and I’ll see if my battered lungs can handle a bit of run and swim this weekend. Ever since my chemotherapy upper respiratory infections have been taking me longer to recover from (it’s a known long term side effect of the treatment), and as my mood is directly tied to how much exercise I manage to get in, it’s been rough.
I have been rucking more, to make up for not being able to run or swim. Rucking is just a fancy name for walking with weight on your back. As a treat for finishing my certification earlier in the year, I bought myself a GoRuck Basic Rucker and a 10lb ruck plate. I’ve been using it a few times a week to get more out of walks in my neighbourhood.
I’ve been using social media to numb some of these anxieties, and it’s not a good thing. It’s time for a “detox” and to get back to using my free time for things that actually benefit me and the world, not a group of billionaires.
Last day of the challenge and I got all 100 (well, 101) people done. Today includes people in the streets near my house as well as people in the shelter.
Field Notes sketchbook and Faber Castell Pitt pens.
The bottom panel was supposed to a panorama in fountain pen ink but this is very unfountain pen friendly paper
As usual this was a fun and challenging challenge to do, and I hope to get to do it again next year.
We had a rocket attack every three hours last night so I was very tired today. Got only 10 sketches out of the 20, although I may be able to get some more tonight.
Shelter sketches today as well, on a battered Field Notes sketchbook using Faber Castell Pitt pens. I have a cold, so it was a struggle to get these done today.
Writing at Large 