April 8 Sketches

This was a drawing done at the Marktplatz in Basel, Switzerland. Everyday they have a market (foreground) in front of the Rathaus (background). It's great. The Rathaus itself is a stunning building. You gotta see it in real life. Click. I loved the long flags hanging from the building waving in the breeze.

Sandee took a picture of me sketching by the tram tracks. It's funny how people try to get near you and take a peek at what you're drawing. The Rathaus is just to right of this picture.

Later, after the above, I walked to the Muenster and sketched the back side of cathedral. Again, people try and get close to see what I'm drawing. I'm kinda shy about having strangers look at my drawings especially before I'm done.

Full page from my Moleskine sketchbook.

Sunday Sketch 29.03.09

Went to the Basel Cathedral again for service. I'm always quite taken with the towering pulpit (if that's what you call it). It in itself is quite an artful masterpiece made completely from red sandstone.
Today as the pastor spoke I counted up to 4 seconds after his last word was spoken before the echo of his voice stopped booming around the cathedral walls. The whole experience is always very moving.
This is the beginning of the Passion week. Even though I only caught about half of his German words, he presentation was full of the correct emotion leading up to the death of Christ on the cross.

After the service I sat in Starbucks and finished my cathedral sketch and added this little one below. The cappuccino, like the church service, was inspirational. I also enjoyed reading several more chapters in "What's so Great about Christianity". It's a very good book. I recommend it.

My pencil serves as a divider between these two disparate drawings.

Basel Munster Sketch

Attended the Gottesdienst (Sunday worship service) this morning at the Basel Munster. I made some random sketches during the service (tried to be very discreet). Obviously, I could only draw the backs of heads. It's interesting what you can tell from a slumped shoulder or an alert and upright head.

Some observations from the service. 1) Cathedrals are cold! Everyone keeps their winter coats on. 2) No one (or very few) carries their Bible. 3) The seats are very HARD and straight! So, the service was mercifully short - one hour. 4) The chair backs are all unique! Cool patterns. 5) The sounds are fabulous - the deep church bells, the organ, the Pastor's echoing voice, the singing. 6) The Pastor's white collar is extremely WHITE! I wonder who does his laundry and what keeps it so bright?

A sketch for today - updated

This is the view looking NW out our balcony window. I just had to draw something today. This was it. (I posted a photo of this drawing today. I wasn't happy with the original scan below. There is a big difference when you click on the drawing to see the larger version.)

A Kandern street scene

All pencil. I walk by this scene everyday on my way to the office. I've been wanting to draw it for a long time.

Prague Trio

This was a fun quick sketch to do. I was scrolling through old digital pics yesterday from Prague, CZ. This was an awesome little trio. They were performing on the street out in the cold.
I did this sketch on a scrap piece of graph paper.

Just doodlin' around

Ok, it's not perfect, but it was fun to try.

One of my handsome sons - Luke. Faces are hard to draw. I don't want to give up yet.

Basel Munster Sketch

I started this sketch yesterday - standing in the Basel Munsterhof. If you are familiar with this spot (some of you are), the Munster (cathedral) is just to the right of this drawing.
I finished this drawing from memory at home where it was warm.

Special Music

We were graced today by some special music in church this morning. A small ensemble of string players played a wonderful worship chorus during the service. I did a quick sketch of one of the violinists - Evan Fung. He did a great job - not sure that my sketch is that great, but it was fun to try.

Train Sketch on American Thanksgiving Day

I just arrived back to Germany from a quick trip to Canada this morning. I arrived in Zurich, Switzerland and had to take the train to Basel. My train trip took about an hour and 20 minutes, plenty of time to do a quick sketch of the guy across from me. I'm pretty sure he didn't know I was sketching him. It was a fine way to pass the time.

I was quite intrigued with the guy's e-book. I think it was one of those Sony ebooks. I would love to try one out some day.

Duomo in Florence, Italy

We were in Florence the other day with the senior class on their class trip. When you are in Italy you can't help but feel like drawing. So that's what I did. This Duomo, (domed Cathedral) is quite beautiful. Michaelangelo designed this dome.

This sketch is done in pencil. I usually draw using a fine tipped pen. This time I used pencil thinking that I might do some watercolor later. I found that I enjoyed working with pencil. It's easy to add tone and make quick adjustments. I might do more.
This was done in my new Moleskine watercolor sketchbook. Nice paper.