Switzerland sketchbook Part 1 and 2: Basel

Recently I tagged along with my wife on her business trip to Basel, Switzerland. Basel (pronounced Baa-zel) sits on Switzerland's north-northwest corner bordering France and Germany. While she worked I wandered the cities of Basel, Strasbourg in France, Freiburg in Germany and Lucerne. Prior to this trip I had only been to Italy so I made the best of visiting Central Europe in only 1 short week.

Here is the unedited, un-fact-checked, typo filled part 1 and 2 of the sketchbook journal I kept while there. I will post the rest eventually. There should be 7 parts in all.

Above is one of the many places I sat to draw. This one being the Marketplatz in Basel.

Sneak Peeks from upcoming work.

Waiting...

I began carrying a tiny moleskin sketchbook about a year ago simply because I find that it is much more convenient to carry than a larger sketchbook. This way I can throw it in my pocket along with a pen and it will always be at the ready. I find I utilize it most when I am waiting in line, waiting for my wife (as was the case with the drawing here) when we are shopping, or waiting for the train. In this current sketchbook I decided to focus on drawing full figures. The first small sketchbook focused mostly on faces.

Adirondack sketchbook.

Daisy and I vacationed in the Adirondacks (specifically the Lake Placid and Saranac areas) and here are a few pages from my sketchbook. I foolishly started it in very thin pen (01 or 02) and felt like I had to stick with it. Please be kind while looking at these, I did them without any pencil and I have done no spelling or fact checks so I may come across as an idiot.

After watching the olympic Aerialists train and do their show, I had some of them autograph my sketchbook (below). I thought it was pretty funny that the only one to sign the actual drawing was a bob sledder who just happened to be there that day.

I later found out this bird below was actually a Chickadee.

I actually did the below sketch on a return trip from DC. I quickly drew people as the zoomed by us. It was a fun exercise so I thought I'd throw it in here.

I can't remember why I drew these bears. I was probably wishing I was in Yellowstone, which is how I spend a good 25% of each day.

40th anniversary of the Moon Landing.

I still would give anything to be an astronaut.

The rest of my blog can be read by clicking here.

Trains, Planes and Boats.

I sketch people pretty much every time I am on a train, a plane or a boat (in this case on our cruise last December). I don't use any pencil and alternate between a brush pen (refillable Copic) and a 05 Micron. It's a great way to pass the time and if you're lucky you get some nice characters for future projects.

These last 4 were done on the last night of our cruise at the "American Idol" Karaoke contest. Ted, the guy in the black turtle neck doing the air guitar, stole the show.