The reason for my recent trip to Vietnam was an invitation from the art teachers of the UN school in Hanoi. UNIS is a lovely place with 2,000 students from preschool to 12th grade — and I worked with and spoke to them all.
Here’s a little film I made about my trip and my work with the students.
Maybe it’s just been overwhelming. You’ve been hearing me talk for weeks about how amazing this new term at Sketchbook Skool is going to be. And yet, you haven’t signed up.
The only impediment left to your indecision must be the sheer abundance of choices. So let me walk you through your options and help you figure out what would be best for you. Let’s do this thing.
Sometimes, I worry that I don’t adequately convey my enthusiasm for the things I truly love. People tell me I am too soft-spoken, too grumpy, too English… Well, I’d like to try to remedy that by telling you about a project I worked hard on and which I think is deserving of your time too.
Ah, Barcelona! I drool to think of sketching there, on a rooftop, with an amigo or two, sipping a cerveza. An idle fantasy, you say, for a snow-bound New Yorker — unless a couple of pals make you a little video of them doing just that so you can share the moment.
My buddies Lapin and Miguel by the way, also had us over for a delightful virtual artists’ dinner party.
They know how to live, these Barcelonans. Here’s a link so you too can hang out with them again in just a few days —when they teach in Stretching at Sketchbook Skool Click for more details.
I’m just back from a trip to Grand Central Station with two artists I really love: France Belleville van Stone and (former President of Urban Sketchers) Jason Das. The weather outside was frightful but the airy spaces and poetic architecture were a delight. We began with a visit to the Apple Store on the mezzanine to check out the new iPad pros which are zippy and powerful and a pleasure to draw on with the new Apple Pencil.
Then France gave Jason a lesson in how to use Paper, the drawing app for the iPad, and the two of them settled in to draw the information booth and the massive chandelier beyond. It was great to hear how they tackle the space, what they feel about drawing digitally, how to contend with spectators and finally, to see the beautiful art they made.
If you are as entranced as I am by these artists, join them and four other great teachers) in Stretching in the new term at Sketchbook Skool. Find out more here.
This week I finished my homework early, in part because it was a short, sweet assignment. Our teacher was the legendary Michael Nobbs, my old pal and a calm and lovely spirit. Speaking of, this week I met an ent.
This is the last week of “Expressing” and I have enjoyed sharing my homework projects with you. I do hope you’ll join me in one of the klasses beginning next Friday at Sketchbook Skool. You can sign up today to make sure you have a spot.
After crawling from my sickbed, I finally finished my homework for Penelope Dullaghan’s klass in Expressing at Sketchbook Skool.
It was a bit messy and I managed to completely screw it up at one point, but her assignment got me to thinking a lot about one of my other favorite artists, Andy Warhol. In this rather adenoidal video, I explain what I was thinking, and then make three different pieces that I like quite a bit.
One of the many recent cultural highlights has been the Picasso sculpture retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. Another was undoubtedly Jonathan Twingley‘s klass, Stretching at Sketchbook Skool.
If you missed either or both, I’m sure you are quite bereft.
Last Friday, Mr. Twingley and I braved the snow to see the Picasso show one last time. I brought along my camera and Jonathan brought his sketchbook — he has visited the show a dozen times and drawn virtually every sculpture in the show.
Unfortunately, the MOMA show ended a few days later. Fortunately, however, and by popular demand, Stretching is set to return for an encore performance at SBS in just a couple of weeks. I hope I’ll see you there. Enroll now before it too is but a memory.
This week, what I learned from Felix Scheinberger‘s klass on watercolor techniques. Actually, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I keep studying Felix’s work and learn more and more each time. As he says, watercolors are the fastest medium to paint with, but the longest one to learn.
PS I inadvertently posted this article twice. I have been sick for the past few days and am not my usual fastidious self.
I was enormously happy to convince Felix Scheinberger to join the fakulty of Sketchbook Skool. Felix is an amazing watercolorist and a great teacher and his book Urban Watercolor Sketching is one of my favorites. Felix’s lessons started this week in Expressing and I really enjoyed tackling his assignment: to paint my lunch.
Danny Gregory 