Sketches of Spain: Barcelona in 2007

I uploaded a gallery of drawings to Flickr from my first solo reportage trip to Barcelona, Spain, in the spring of 2007. These drawings bring such amazing memories back...

"I was nervously happy my entire stay, imagining the big globe and myself as a tiny dot across the ocean from home, parents, friends…on my own, DRAWING."

Take A Look >

The Landscapes Of My Thanksgiving Holiday

On the bus to MA

Amherst fall landscape

Amherst sunset

Paris :: Part 6 : Le Musee D'Orsay

Here's a drawing of the great hall of Le Musee D'Orsay with it's magnificent gilded clock. This once-upon-a-time railroad station is now housing most incredible 19th-century art, including impressionism, realism, postimpressionism, and art nouveau. Turns out the museum is only 33 years old.  I LOVE this place like no other. There are giant Toulouse-Lautrecs (how DID he paint such huge canvases? "With a broom", jokes my teacher Ronnie, as she walks by.) There are Van Goghs, vibrating with so much energy that they practically emit sounds. There are Degas figurines-a whole wall of them! There is the famous Renoir's "Boating Party" painting  that Amelie's neighbor kept copying in the movie. There's the Monet's "The Picnic" that Picasso studied over and over again with his numerous iterations. There are Bonnards, Cezannes, Daumiers, Gaugins, Monets, Vuillards...all those great impressionistic paintings are so alive in person, so beautiful, that their impact just overwhelms. I get very emotional there. I miss you, D'Orsay. 

p.s. Happy Birthday, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec! 

On Happiness:

"The potter sleeps soundly, 
for no one would steal his clay." 

Indian Proverb

 (circa 2007) 

Fashion Study

Drawn on my iPhone over pastels on paper

The Beautiful Wood-Pile

 Drawn on my iPhone over pastels on paper

Once at Mystic, I walk through the shipyard. It smells of wood. Wood is everywhere. Ship masts, tree trunks, chopped timber. A pile of cut wood is hypnotizing: planes run every which way under jumping sun rays. It's organized chaos, this beautiful wood-pile.

Masts and Restoration Shipyard Barn. 

Pastels on paper, iPhone

Drawing Music :: Grinderman @ The Nokia Theater

Nick Cave's punk rock band Grinderman shook the walls of the packed Nokia Theater on Times Square last night. Gladly for me, the mosh pit was subdued, but not without instigators.  It was deafening and awesome. And 53-year-old Cave jumped and kicked like a 20-year-old. That crazy Australian.

 Nick Cave.  Drawn on my iPhone

Grinderman at the Nokia Theater, NYC.   Drawn on my iPhone

Nick Cave.  Drawn on my iPhone

Veterans Day Special

November 11 is not only my Dad's birthday, but also a day of tribute to veterans. Veterans Day memorial services are always accompanied by bagpipes in USA.  Coincidentally, I just stumbled upon  3-year-old drawings from the National Tartan Day that took place at the Grand Central station in New York in 2007.  Even though the drawings were made at a fun cultural event and are light-hearted, I still want to post them as my tribute.  A happy tribute made by someone who is lucky enough not to be touched by war.

Also, I realized that I have no idea why they play bagpipes during memorial services and googled it. One of the links offered the following:

"They sound right for the occasion. Bagpipes seem to have become associated with U.S. military, police, and firefighter memorial services on account of their connection with Scottish martial history. As early as the 14th century, Scottish warriors used musical instruments—mostly horns—to intimidate their English adversaries. (Indeed, contemporary accounts suggest that every Scottish knight carried a horn around his neck.) But it's not clear why this Scottish tradition in particular might have caught on among the U.S. armed forces while others have not. (You rarely see tartan-clad Army rangers, for example.) Perhaps the popularity of bagpipes at funerals is simply a matter of aesthetics."

If *you* happen to know the historical tie between US military and bagpipes, leave it in a comment, I'd like to know.