Sketching in Fairmount Park

Drawing and painting in the landscape. We did that ten years ago in Vézelay, France during a week-long drawing camp organized by Chris Zelinsky, then a professor of drawing in the Graphic Design Department The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. There were over twenty of us alum. This past weekend we had a mini reunion organized by Andrew Iskowitz. A handful of us showed up, myself included, and this time in more humble settings — Fairmount Park in Philadelphia.

I had a particular vision in my mind in anticipation of this weekend so when I saw the park landscape before me with its majestic trees and cultivated bushes and an expansive view, I knew I had found it. Sitting on the grass under a big tree, shading me from the burning heat of the summer, I began to take in the view before me. And I began to sketch.

The first sketches were about taking in the essence of the landscape — light/shadow, differentiation among the trees, the composition. Later, quick reference sketches freed me to finding a way of capturing and translating the landscape. These look most like scribbles, but they are dynamic and probably my favorite. So much of my work is about expressing the line, discovering a language of the line. In these the landscape, depth, and detail give way and an impression remains.

Go here if you'd like to see more sketches.