Urban Sketch at Pro Democracy Demonstration

Back to the weekly pro democracy demonstration. Used some new art supplies that I’ll review later. Tons of energy and wind tonight.

Process photo
People gathering to demonstrate

Urban Sketchers Tel Aviv Sketchwalk: Park HaMesila

My first Urban Sketchers Sketchcrawl of the year (there was one earlier, in March, but my mom was hospitalized, so I couldn’t make it) to the brand new Park HaMesila in the beautiful Neve Zedek neighbourhood. A dump and parking lot have been transformed into a park that will lead all the way to the Tachana complex once it’s complete. At the moment it offers a very little shade and not much greenery, but you can see the potential, and you can definitely see how much people are loving it.

View from the Shlush Bridge.

The park follows the old Turkish railroad (which went from Jaffa to Jerusalem and was notoriously slow), and though I didn’t draw them because things were starting to get too busy in my sketch, the path has old rail lines embedded into it, which is a lovely touch.

Suzanne Dellal Center for Dance

I then drew part of Suzanne Dellal’s Center of Dance (it’s the Batsheva’s Dance Company’s home, and in Hebew is generally pronounced Suzanne Dallal).

A spread summarizing my day and a bit more of the neighbourhood, created at home (unlike the first two) from pictures. I traced the map from a navigation map that I got from a local navigation race that happened to take place in the area, and had fun with some design elements that I learned in the Sketchbook Design course that I took.

I used my new palette and a brand new Stillman and Birn Alpha and I quite like the freedom that its lightweight paper encourages.

Starting To Get Back To Normal

I met with friends for a meal for the first time in a little over a year and it was glorious. We were all vaccinated, and so we could sit down and talk over food and drinks in Tel Aviv that was starting to get back to normal. There are still plenty of signs that Covid is still with us: we were masked at first as was the staff, the first place we chose to go to had closed down and due to the new occupancy rules it was difficult to find a place that could seat us. None of that mattered as we sat down and talked and laughed for hours. I hadn’t realized how much I missed meeting people face to face until I finally had a chance to do so.
As I was waiting for everyone to arrive I sat on a bench and drew the first thing that I saw in the dusky evening. In the end I ran out of time and light, but I decided to leave the drawing as is and not fix it at home. A true Urban Sketch that will forever capture the moment for me.

Urban Sketchers Tel Aviv: Dubnov Garden

We haven’t had an Urban Sketchers sketchwalk in Tel Aviv since June due to Covid-19. We met today and drew, socially distanced and with masks, for three hours in Dubnov garden, which is not far from Rabin Square and is just behind the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

The first drawing, focusing on the strange rock sunken sculpture in the middle of the garden, was drawn on a Stillman and Birn Pocket Alpha, with a TWSBI ECO 1.1 stub filled with Rohrer and Klingner Emma SketchINK and Schminke watercolours.

The second drawing is a panorama of the architecture near the park, and it was drawn on a Moleskine Large Watercolour notebook, with the same materials and the drawing above.

My drawing challenge has allowed me to streamline my process and bring in much fewer art supplies to the sketchwalk without feeling that I’m missing out. It was also the first time I brought my Walkit sketchbag to a sketchcrawl and it worked very well. I’ll write a review of it later on, once I’ve finalized the kit I put in it.

Happy Passover!

It’s a weird one, but the flowers are still blooming and there’s still hope in the world. Try to stay happy and healthy, even if it means staying away from your family this holiday (as I am).

Here’s the drawing before I applied watercolour to it. Feel free to print it out for your personal use, and colour it yourself.

Market stall sketch

Decided to stick to a limited palette on this one. Zebra and Faber Castell brush pens on paper bag, drawn during an Urban Sketchers sketch walk.

Flower stall

Flower stall at the Tel Aviv Port. Zebra and Faber Castell brush pens on a paper bag, drawn during an Urban Sketchers sketch walk.

Scenes from the market

I drew this on a small paper bag with Koh-I-Noor Tri Tone coloured pencils set. Scenes from the Tel Aviv Port market, drawn during an Urban Sketchers sketch walk.

Jaffa in the Sunshine

It looks like another year without winter here. I drew this during an Urban Sketchers sketch crawl, but since the sun was right in my face and it was blazing hot (31 degrees centigrade), I didn’t place the shadows properly.

Moleskine large watercolour notebook, Lamy Safari medium, Rohrer and Klingner Emma SketchINK, Schmincke watercolours.