One Week 100 People - Day 1

 For the 6th year Marc Holmes and Liz Steel have challenged artists to sketch 100 people in the span of 1 week. For some reason their week only lasts for 5 days. I've done this challenge several times before and I always enjoy it. It pushes me to do something that I need to practice anyway. I am finally relaxing enough that I will venture into the mall, but I'm still wearing my mask.

For Day 1 I headed over to the Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove thinking that would be a great place to find a lot of people. Thinking ahead I knew I needed to find mall locations where people would be relatively still. First I headed to Barnes and Noble which is right outside the mall itself. I know there are small tables by the Starbucks Cafe and a window ledge by the magazines. (Yes, I've sketched there before.)

Next I headed to the Food Court. There were lots of subjects to sketch and I waited for people to sit down at a table which was an indication that they would be there for a while since they were eating. I completed 2 pages of sketches there.

On my way out of the mall I passed the Apple Store. There were charging stations right opposite the store and there were stools to sit on. They were just asking me to sit down and sketch weren't they? The Apple Store has captive models who stand for a long time checking out the iPhones and other merchandise.

I was able to complete 43 sketches in one day!!!

Starbucks

Rainy days are always good for sketching in Starbucks. This on was inside a Barnes & Noble.

Barnes & Noble's Starbucks

We had a damp, mostly dreary day so I wanted to sketch something indoors. I was rather tired of being in the same places so I went to the Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove. Right outside is a Barnes & Noble with a Starbucks inside. Most Starbucks look pretty much alike but I like that the showcase was visible here.

The funny thing was that I was using my water brush which was still filled from last Saturday with a mix of water and rubbing alcohol so it wouldn't freeze. I hadn't used the water brush on Saturday...just my jar of water. For this sketch the water/alcohol mix made the watercolor pigments behave a bit strangely... they separated a lot on the palette and the paper. I'll have to remember that in the future and not mix them. My friend put vodka in her water to keep it from freezing. lol

After I finished this I went into the mall and there in the center was Santa all set up already. That was my first Santa sighting of the season, but I didn't sketch him. They use the same setup and outfit each year. I'll have to find a new location to sketch Santa.

Barnes & Noble and a Bookmaking Class

After not getting much sketching through the holidays I was itching to go out sketching. I had some shopping to do up at the mall and stopped at Barnes & Noble. We have a Starbucks inside, but I've sketched so many Starbucks counters I wasn't in the mood to sketch the counter again. Instead I sketched this group of young girls hanging out at a nearby table.

I had signed up for a bookmaking class at one of our local libraries and the class was tonight. The instructor was teaching the coptic stitch which I've long wanted to learn...especially after seeing the neatly bound sketchbooks made by my friend, Tina Koyama (http://tina-koyama.blogspot.com).
My book came out OK, but I am aware that I made a few mistakes and will have to practice quite a bit to master this binding. It is much harder than the Japanese stab binding I did a few years ago. Here are photos of my book which is about 5 x 7 and has 5 signatures.

Rainy Day at Barnes and Noble

We had some rain last week and I wanted to sketch so I headed over to Barnes & Noble at the mall.

The customer service desk looked like a good spot to sketch.

Rainy Day at Starbucks

Last week we had a few days of rain. One of the days I decided to do a bit of shopping so I headed over to the Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove. When I was done I stopped in Barnes & Noble to have a coffee in their Starbucks inside the store and do a sketch. I loved these colorful ladies in their rain gear. They were just begging to be sketched.