Rome drawings

I was in Rome last week. The city was, as expected, full of fantastic things to see. And still, what I appreciated the most was that the temperature outside was much more drawing-friendly than back home in Stockholm. Finally a chance to go out and just draw!

Holi Festival

Holi or the Festival of Colors is celebrated every spring by Hindus, Buddists and Sikks. It is primarily celebrated in countries with large Indic diaspora populations. From what I read, I anticipated people decorating themselves with brightly colored chalks. This was something I had to sketch. I read that this celebration was taking place right here in Orlando so I packed my art supplies and drove over to the Citrus Bowl where it was taking place. That evening I was also going to a Oscars party so I put on a nice suit and dress pants.
When I arrived at the Citrus bowl, I could hear the very loud music. Parking was $10 which was annoying but I bit the bullet and drove into the dirt lot. When I entered the fenced in area where Holi Fest was happening there were a few tents set up for food and assorted goods. There was a table full of colorful, romance filled and vibrant Balliwood DVDs. Leaning against the fence were a wide variety of paintings of Krishna, Radna and other exotic and beautiful gods. The place was rather deserted when I got there. People were just setting up and the sound engineers were standing near the stage truck and the huge wall of speakers. As I was finishing my sketch of the main stage a woman approached me from behind and rubbed her hand along the back of my neck. I thought, well, isn't that friendly. Then when I looked back at my sketchbook, I saw that the page was covered in bright pink powdered pigments. I quickly blew off as much pigment as I could but some had landed in a wet patch of watercolor so it remained. Then I noticed that my suit jacked was also coated in the pigment. Glancing around I realized that the field was now filled with hundreds of people, most of them dressed in white and covered in various pigments.
With my first sketch finished, I stated wandering around the crowd looking for my next subject. Everywhere I looked people were throwing or wiping brightly colored chalks on each other. People were using super soakers full of pigmented water and squinting each other. I was in a colorful war zone. I backed myself up against the fence and relaxed in the shade of a tree for a while.
Rather than try and draw the huge and constantly moving crowd, I decided to approach these children who were relaxing behind the speakers. I asked I they minded me sketching them, and the young girl said' "Of course not!" I sat a few feet away and started working. I was anointed with pigments several more times as I worked on this sketch. I realized that I stood out like a soar thumb since I was the only man in a black suit and everyone else was dressed mostly in white. I slowly blended in as I became more colorful. Performers who approached the stage would walk right in front of me. They were smart, having covered themselves with long raincoats which they only took off when they got on the stage. There was music and dancing all afternoon. Songs often would have to do with the epic love story of Radna Krishna. I didn't understand the words, but the spirit and playful fun of the event were not lost on me. By the time I finally decided to leave there had to be several thousand people crowded on the field. Everyone was brightly colored and often soaking wet. The family I had sketched had flown from New York State to Orlando just to go to this event. I gave the mother of the children I had sketched the address to this blog so she could get a copy of the sketch. She then offered me a huge plate of Indian food which was fantastic. There was an apricot pastry, and several really tasty Guijia, which are fried dumplings. This is s fine example of how it is often impossible to sketch and observe an event without it coloring and influencing my life. How great that Orlando still offers new and unexpected experiences. This is a fabulous, fun and free event that I certainly plan to attend again next year.
-Analog Artist Digital World

McSorley's

This has to be my favorite spot to draw in New York. The Bar is McSorley's, 15 east seventh st. It tends to get a bit crowded at evenings and on weekends but if you can manage to get there for lunch during the week you will see the place for what it is, a living museum. The light in this place is magnificent and with a pot bellied stove for heat on a cold day you can't beat it for atmosphere. I wish I were there right now.

CHINATOWN in Semarang, Indonesia

It was a very hot day and I had to buy some building material at the hardware store. We call the area PECINAN in Indonesian.

Returning from the hardware store I stopped by at a 'fruit ice' shop for refreshment. While waiting for my order , suddently I captured this spot and did not want to waste the time. I took my sketchbook and had a quick move with the pencil.

You could see a Chinesse temple on the leftside.

Float Planes at the Inner Harbour

Victoria - Harbour Air float planes, originally uploaded by mc_bds.

A couple of weekends ago, on the spur of the moment, I jumped on a float plane to head over to Vancouver to see the city for a few days during the olympics. It was beautiful clear weather and the flights were smooth with lots of fantastic scenery to take in.
The city was busier than I've ever seen it with thousands and thousands of people milling around many with their national colours and flags. A lot of beer was consumed.
Probably like most people in the city, I'm glad it's over now. We did well and now it's time to pay for the party.

SOHO HONG KONG

It was really chilly this morning. Packed my sketch book, I set off with some friends to SOHO area in Hong Kong looking for nice restaurant for brunch. Took the tram and after 40 minutes, we reach this place called The Real Bread Company at no. 14 Kau U Fong, SOHO. Cozy decor and good food, this place is also very popular and famous for their fantastic french style bread and pastries.




Sketch some interesting spots nearby after our brunch. The Man Mo Temple is popular among the locals and nice new fancy cafe like Lotus and old traditional one serving 'snake meat dishes'

Jill Tracy at Thrillpeddlers SF

Scribbling by the light of my phone's clock. Took in Jill Tracy and Paul Mercer at Thrillpeddlers this Sunday night. I'm the hugest fan of her music. And as of now, his haunted violin. Dark, sonorous, sensual. Was a tremendous show, in an intimate venue. If you get a chance to hear either of them live - it's well worth it. Randy Odell completes the ensemble on percussion - backing it up with low beats and hissing cymbals. Had to also enjoy the drowned dancer. Creeeeepy!

SEMARANG, INDONESIA

So far only 2 members of USK in Semarang. It is me and Gunawan. Last Sunday morning we were sketching together in old town. One of my favorite spots is Kepodang Street. I find it many interesting historical buildings were built in the period of Dutch Collony. One of the Legends architect and urban designer was Thomas Karsten. He did succesfully in planning the Town.

The good thing about sketching on this street is no polution and quiet on Sunday. I did not see any cars arround.

Normally I go sketching on my own. This time my son Akmal also came along. You can see him enjoy watching Gunawan worked on his sketchbook.

wings

found object on the sidewalk. webster st, berkeley

Winter returns to Germany

Like so often, winter returned to Germany after giving us a warm glimpse of spring. Icy winds and sudden snowfalls are back, at least for a couple weeks. I found myself once again sketching from inside a warm car.

Russia

A sketch of a view from the train between Domodedovo airport and the Moscow towncenter. In Russia most apartment buildings don't have enough parking space for the growing number of cars. So a lot of car owners have a garage, made of dull green painted corrugated steel plate. They form large gated complexes in leftover pieces of land . The garages are often supervised, like this one which had a permanent guardhouse overlooking the terrain.

This is a Ural truck, a powerfull heavy 6 wheel truck originating from the Russian army, but now in use on the building site. No luxury, but I have seen them working at minus 35 degrees celcius.

Arquiteto Ramos de Azevedo

Last Sunday I went to the city center to draw one building, but I ended up caught by this amazing architecture, from the 1930's. The project is from Ramos de Azevedo, who was one of the greatest architects of Brazil. Here the same building, drew by a friend of mine. And here, a nice picture of the place. I didn't have time to draw the context, but I'll try to do it some day.

summer is here

Pune is experiencing summer now.In pune we have major three seasons, summer, rainy and winter..inbetween there is spring but temprature is not very different.At present all the leaves are falling and the trees are looking naked.On this sunday i did some sketch paintings and tried to show the summer feel..

Update

Spend the better part of the last days scanning through sketchbooks and shooting photographs of figure drawings because I wanted to finally update my website.

It's done, and here's some train sketches that I put in.











Check here if you're curious about non urban sketchy sketches.

Cheers,
Lok

She Woke Up!