Two weeks in Japan, two urban sketch catch-ups

I visited Japan for a two week holiday and had the wonderful opportunity to catch up with the Tokyo urbansketchers organised by the ever generous Kumi-san (see her sketches here).

Urbansketcher Session 1 - Kumi-san, Hoso-san, Miyu-san and Lionel-san (below)
We visited the Yebisu Beer Museum with beer tasting. I would never have picked going to a brewery as I went to so many of them as a uni student for our studies. But the tour guide gave a good coverage of not just the way that they made it but why it got to be so popular as Japan adopted Western culture. 

It was great to see the different sketching style of everyone and as we had lunch and sketched around the table, we got to chat about interesting things at the same time.



Solo sketch 1 - Asakusa (below)
The sketch below is of Asakusa's Kaminarimon. I struggled with sketching it in the light drizzle but I love the effect it had on the page. I balanced the palette on a fence and had to keep adding the colour as it ran down the page.  

Solo sketch 2 - Kamakura (below)

The shape of the roof of the temple/shrines aren't square so it was tough to get the shape and proportions. This shrine was engulfed by greenery and was very peaceful. A little cat wandered across which I have captured in the sketch on the right. The paper on the left hand side came out with the Mattcha and sweet at the Bamboo shrine. I am loving how you can use the pocket in the back of the Moleskine to store these tickets and ephemera to stick in once you get back to the hotel. 

Solo sketch 3 - Rikugien (below)

This was my second attempt at the Matsu tree. As I am not used to sketching this kind of tree, it was a bit difficult to get the spiky look of the leaf. You can also see the "inkan" or stamp I bought at Sekaido (Art shop in Shinkjuku). 

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Urbansketcher Session 2 - Kumi-san and Taizo-kun (below) and later with Ina-san, Tetsu-san, Takashi-san and Keith-san
The second urbansketch catch-up with Kumi-san!! It was the Sanja festival in Asakusa. Lots of people in Happi (top) and went up and down the street carrying the Omikoshi (a mini shrine). The lantern at the Kaminarimon was raised to allow the omikoshi to pass under it.  

An amazing fun day. We had lunch at the restaurant overlooking the Kaminarimon followed by a jazz session by Akiko-san and Ikemen-san (sorry I don't remember the guitarist's name and this is what Akiko-san called him). 

Although I was born in Japan, I don't get to go back as much I like. It makes it so much more enjoyable to visit a town, when guided by such kind locals such as Kumi-san. 

I hope you all get to sketch with the Tokyo Urbansketchers some day - as I had a ball.

The rest of my sketches are on Flickr (see here). 

A

Melbourne - Post 90th Birthday Party

Hi

I was down in Western Victoria again for a Surprise 90th Birthday Party! It was such a fun lively gathering for wise L in Horsham.  

We drove back Sunday so I had the Monday for some last minute sketches ... 

Next time I'll have to be more organised and arrange a catch up with some Melbourne sketchers!  

On the corner of Swanston St and Flinders St, you have 4 distinctly Melbourne buildings. The two that I sketched are St Paul's Cathedral and the Flinders St Station. The third is Federation Square and the only thing I know about it is that I had a nice meal although dead tired at Taxi when I was in Melbourne for work. The last building is a pub, the Young and Jackson. The Young and Jackson houses the once scandalous nude Chloe. So next time, I think I'll have to sketch the other two buildings. 

I found a nice spot on the steps of the cathedral to paint the Station ... but I painted in full sun. It blinded me a bit and the colours turned out a little bit wild and bright. I don't think I have learnt to ease off on the Quin Gold or Azo Yellow ... as I am used to using Raw Sienna.  

The painting of the Cathedral was done on the steps of the Station - pretty much underneath the central hand rails. It was tough as I painted it at what seemed like peak hour for Australian standards and I had people walking passed really closely - palette to the right, bag under my knees, no room for a water bucket so I was spraying the water into the palette which means no clean brush. 

So I had two challenging sketch locations ... can other people share some tips on where they sit and how they get some space. Does having a  small seat help?

The last sketch was done in very pleasant surroundings at two cafes! Toby's Estate and Phillipa's. I am always a bit torn between relaxing and enjoying the cup of tea or coffee or getting out the sketchbook!

I found links to the Flinders Street Station design competition here and here. They announced the winner of the competition in August 2013 - the same people that designed? the Tate Modern and National Stadium, "the Bird's Nest", in Beijing. They are now going to see if it's viable ... 

A

Paper: Moleskine Watercolour A4
Tools: Watercolour, pencil

Question - when is a sketch an urbansketch ... and when is it not ...?

Hi Urbansketchers

I am loving seeing all the beautiful sketches from the BCN Symposium! I think the best part about it, even for a non-attender, is you can still be inspired from the sketchers and their sketches. 

In Australia, many of us don't mind driving ... driving long distances with not that many towns in between with signs saying Town A - 300km etc. As a uni student, I remember the 24 hr bus trips we had to take during our summer vacation for our "practicals" and the thump thump thump of the bus' bumper bar hitting the kangaroos at night ... I now here that the companies fly the students! 

So saying that you would drive 500km over 5 - 5.5 hrs in a day with a couple of stops doesn't attract the "you're mad" look that you get in the UK. 

It's a similar distance to driving from:
London to Newcastle, Madrid to Sevilla, France to Bordeaux, Tokyo to Kyoto, Halfway between Vancouver and Calgary ..., Montreal to Boston, New York to Pittsburgh, Mexico to Oaxaca.

I got a little bit carried away couch travelling ...  

This leads me to the question of when is a sketch an urbansketch and when does it stop being an urbansketch? 

This wasn't a leisurely car trip where we can sit for a couple of minutes to take a photo or 10 mins to do a sketch! It's a go ... go ... go ... car trip as M keeps the pace up. 

I couldn't figure out how to draw with watercolour in a moving vehicle so I used the Sketchbook Pro app on my iPad with a bamboo stylus. I sketched the pictures below of the scenery from the car to kill the boredom of a 5.5 hr drive - so it's sketching from what I see. 

I couldn't draw the straight lines of the road so I left it out. The Australian roads aren't bad - but going 110 kmph and drawing a straight line on an iPad is difficult. 

This leads me to my question again of when is a sketch an "urbansketch" and when does it stop becoming an urbansketch as I left some key elements out - ie the road and other cars. 

They took about 5-10 mins and I drew one every hour or so or when I noticed different looking clouds. 

A

PS I bought a A$3 stylus from Miniinthebox as well, and it works well. I prefer the tip of the bamboo stylus for scribing. But I am sitting on the fence to justify the A$30 bamboo stylus for sketching alone. 

PPS I will leave a sketch of the "Feathers" drawer from the Queensland Museum that I did on the weekend, just in case the others aren't an urban sketch ... 

The photo ... 

The back-up sketch ...