A few more from the Strathmore sketch pad

I filled my old 8" x 10" Strathmore drawing pad, so I got another one.  I like the scale because it fits perfectly in my small mapcase bag.  


First, the Commerce Building from my last Strathmore.  No idea why I didn't post this already, seeing as how I posted it on Urban Sketchers 3 weeks ago.


This is a detail of the facade of the south side of the AT&T Building.  The east side has by far the most detail, but little in the way of shade to sketch from.  It's also a little bit intimidating.  The south side seemed more manageable. 


Linda and I drove out to Fredericksburg for a day last week and I got this sketch done of the weird but cool 
Admiral Nimitz Museum on main street.  

There are a whole bunch of other cool buildings there I'd like to sketch at some point, but its difficult because the streets have diagonal pull-in parking, so there are no big gaps between cars to sketch the other side of the street.  Many of the benches there also have this new "face away from the street" urban-planning disease that I've noticed in many urban districts lately.  I suppose since they have no mass transit, there's no need for benches to face out away from the businesses.  Oh, well.

More of the panorama

Stage three (Commerce Street) of the pano project is progressing much more more slowly than the first two, partly because my "shady" spot is really a blustery wind-tunnel of a site that makes for unpleasant sketching.  That and it's the most pedestrian-heavy area I've yet drawn, which means a lot of questions and curiosity from passers by, which, while well-meaning, make it hard to focus.  I have finished the Navarro Street pano, though, so here it is:



details:

Sketching in progress

I've been asked a few times to post photos showing my sketching process, but it's always been hard to do because I'm usually alone.  This past weekend Linda came downtown with me and took some pictures.  Now you can finally see me spilling out of my tiny chair!


Sketching on Broadway:








the finished sketch:



Sketching on the Riverwalk:

and the sketch:

Brand new Moleskine

Since I've been doing the longer-term sketches in a Strathmore pad, I'm trying to do much looser, quicker sketches in my moleskine now, less than an hour.  Knowing me this could all come to an end at any time, but for now I'm having fun.

a 15 minute sketch of the Koehler House on the campus of San Antonio College:


This view is from the window of the Subway restaurant on Broadway.  Special appearance by my truck, on the right:


This one was getting close to the hour limit, but still within the timeframe.  The Gunter Hotel (which deserves it's own larger, more detailed study):

San Antonio Museum of Art sketches

Just a few from a recent Tuesday evening.  It was too dark to draw outside, but the museum is open late on Tuesdays.  Lots of people there in the evening, including a sketching group.  Need to do this more often.

Triple Self-Portrait in the big moleskine

Done late one evening after too much internet time.  These perspectives always make the living room seem much larger than it really is.