LIVE Sketching - Loose and Wonky

What time is it? 4:00 PM on a Monday. Just going live sketching here, um, outside. It's beautiful out, so just kind of hanging in my backyard, and, um, I want to throw some color down on this, this sketch I started yesterday. So join me for a few minutes and we'll throw down some color. Uh, I am sketching on this paper, Ugly Pads paper. This was the first time I used this size sheet yesterday, 9x12. I really like it. It's a fun color too. I like the— I don't know, what do you call the background? It's like a beige-tan paper bag color background. It's really awesome. So last night the white lines I sketched were with a white gel pen, and today I just have some colored pencils here. So yeah, let's just sketch for a few minutes and, um, have some fun, see where it goes. I'm just grabbing and going from— this is my favorite assortment of color pencil colors, so we're gonna grab and go and just see what happens. You will end up using all the colors, I am not sure, but we'll see. So this is, this is Chartreuse. I like the neon yellow, that came out really well. The pink looks really cool on there as well. This paper is awesome with, with mixed media, with colored pencil, gel pen. I have Creative Marker, that's the purple you see, and some of the turquoise and yellow, that's Creative Marker. So this sketch is inspired by GCT, Grand Central Terminal, one of my most favorite places in NYC. I love going there, love sketching in there. It's awesome for people watching. All right, so I'm throwing down— this is cream colored. Hey, how are you? Good to see you, Dirk. It's been a long time. I hope you're doing well, man. Long time no see. How are things in Germany? Awesome to see you. So this cream color is, uh, interesting on this kind of beige background, right? I actually like the color combo. It's very subtle. Let's see, I'm— this, this fluorescent orange is calling my name. Let's see. Hey, thank you, Derek. I appreciate that. It's really good to see you. Oh, check out this neon— I'm sorry, this is, yeah, neon orange. You guys hear the birds in the background? It's so beautiful out here today. I'm just sitting in my backyard on my, my deck. My deck that needs some loving. It's really— I guess the deck is 20-something years old. It's been— was here when we bought the house 15 years ago or so. And it needs some help. You can see it, paint's peeling, but that's okay. I'm just— this is the step I'm sketching on right here. So I guess the point of it is, um, you know, don't make excuses that you don't have the perfect place to sketch or paint. You can find any little nook and cranny and set up and go. Obviously it has to be a small scale, but, um, sometimes we wait to find that perfect location for, for sketching, and, or we say we don't have a place around us where we can sketch. Well, sometimes I think that's just kind of us making excuses, um, and afraid to step up and just throw some color on paper. Or some ink on paper. Doesn't even have to be color. Yeah, look at that. This, this neon orange is really popping off the page. So cool. Feel free to say hello in the chat, everybody. I am trying to figure out how do I see the chat on my phone here. It's horizontal position. I actually have it on a little stand. Dirk says awesome, thank you so much. Dirk is always so positive in the chat, I love that. So cool. Oh, I'm sorry, I hope— I'm glad you're, um, You're well again. I just saw your message that you were in the hospital. Well, I am glad you're doing well again. That's awesome. Positive vibes your way. Yeah, look at this orange. This is so fun. Let's throw some orange down here. I like orange and pink together. They make a really cool color combo. So I'm kind of in the shade, so it was sunny when I started sketching. Now we're in the shade. Hopefully you guys can see this okay. What else we got in here? We got Process Red. I just love this color. It's called Process Red. Hey, Jen's in the house! Good to see you, Jen. I hope you're doing well. Good to see you. Process Red is such a fun color. It's— I don't know, it's almost like a maroon. I love the name. I need to Google and find out why is it called Process Red. Jen's in the house. Love seeing you guys pop on here. I am on random, random time. Was either napping or coming online today live, so I figured I'd do some sketching. Let's see. I might move this into the sun, but I don't want to— let's see, sketching. That's my laptop there. That's right, I'm not gonna move everything right now. I have to say, this paper really is taking the colored pencils super well. So I love using Prismacolor. Prismacolor Premier. That's just me saying I love it and no one's paying me to say that. It's my personal choice. It's going down so smooth and like butter on this paper. Again, I am— if you're just joining me, I'm using, sketching right here on— dun dun dun— Ugly Pads assorted colors. This turned out to be a fun sketch. Be sure to check the replay. I started this on last night's livestream. You could definitely go there and check it out, see how I started the sketch. Let's see, I'm gonna grab some gel pen here. Let's throw some white on. Actually, you know what, I have a white color pencil. Let's try that too. Jen, I hope you're having a really good day today. Alright, so let's throw down some white color pencil and just see how that looks. I'm hoping to get into NYC on Saturday, do some sketching. Maybe a bit of live streaming, that'd be a lot of fun. I have a cool workshop coming up on August 1st in Brooklyn at Stationery Fest. Tickets are still available. I have— I think there's 8 seats left. Um, I'd love for anybody out there to come and, you know, join, join us. Um, if you go to my website, theinkspiredlife.com, you'll see on the homepage there under workshops. Check that out. Um, also I want to do a sketch kind of workshop on my own in NYC before summer's over. So I'm thinking it's going to be in the Rockefeller Center, um, St. Patrick's Cathedral area. So I'd love to schedule some kind of workshop or meetup with maybe like not a big group. I'm thinking like 10 at the most, and we would hang out for a few hours, do some sketching. I'll do some instructing, some pro tips and stuff, and then maybe we'll eat. So it would be kind of, kind of a hangout sketching workshop session. So stay tuned for that. I'm actually going to put the workshop together after, um, I'm off this today. I guess tonight I'll do that. So it would be awesome to have some of you guys join us, if not all. Jen says, I see— I saw last night's stream, it was amazing. Oh. Thanks, Jen, you're amazing. I'm glad you're well. I really think this is coming up a level, stepping up a level, adding this color. Part of me wants to add some— something back in here. I don't know what, and I don't want to take away from the beautiful background color either. So I gotta be careful. There's a balance in my brain. I don't— in my brain I'm thinking I don't want to over— how do you say— overdo this. I don't want to overcomplicate what we're seeing here. It is kind of crazy and busy with colors, and I love that. It helps to carry that vibe of New York City that I love, the energy. So I'm cool that there's a kind of a mishmash happening with lines and colors and wavy sketchy lines, um, that I have no problem with. But there's like a balance. I don't want to cover too much of the paper color with other colors. I don't know if that makes sense. Am I rambling? I'm just like— I'm the rambling sketcher. Should that be my new name? Oh no, I think someone has that name. I can't do that. I meant rambling as in like talking all over the place. Um, I can't— so I can't use that name. I think it's out there already. But I just want to— these are some people here. Maybe we'll sketch some more people. I want to pull this edge out. So here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna pull this edge out a little bit. So let's grab some of that neon yellow. And there we go. I just want to kind of pull that out. Jen is posting. Jen is our emoji, the emoji queen. I love it. I think I just saw some sunglasses there on the screen. You always make the chat so much fun. I appreciate that. So, so good. Uh, man, you know what color you don't see a lot of? Black. Wait, this says True Red. Is this black or red? I just noticed it says True— I don't know if my camera's kind of blurry. It says True Red. Sorry if it's blurry on screen. I don't know if it's red or— let's find out. Is it red or black? No, it's black. Why does it say True Red if it's black? That is confusing the bejesus out of me. Is that a word? The bejesus? Yes, I am just as weird this time of the day as I am at night. Just me being me, not putting on any games, any shows, just embracing being my wonky, wonky self. So hopefully, um, You guys are getting Grand Central Terminal vibes from this? I am. I think it's working okay. I'm gonna throw some more people in here, I think. Make it a little more— a little busier. Make people a little bit bigger since they're kind of closer to us in a way. That looks like a, um, front view of a deer. Somehow a deer made its way into Grand Central Terminal. I am actually sketching at a very awkward angle right now. Um, I have one elbow on the deck, kind of reaching down here to sketch. Again, it goes back to no excuses, just get it down on paper, have fun with it. We'll add some color, I think, to those cray-cray people. They're kind of crazy looking. Hmm, pondering. Jen's pondering and laughing. Are you pondering at my deer? I know there's like a deer or something down there. I don't know how the heck that happened. And I'll— back, back to, um, no excuses. This is grab-and-go creativity. I literally just grabbed this Lockbee Quattro and this is all I have with me out here. So I was looking for markers, creative markers, but I have none and that's okay. We'll just throw— we'll color our Peeps with some pencils. Reason I was looking for markers, I wanted to use some of that turquoise. But I got this cool blue color we can use. Yeah, oh, I like that. I like this blue color, it's pretty nice. What is this called? Luminance 6901 permanent color. I think this is a water color pencil. I'm not even sure. Light blue, might be light blue. Just trying to read the label. What brand is it? Caran d'Ache, Swiss made. Caran d'Ache. I don't know, is that how you say that in Swiss? Caron d'Ache. Looks like it says Caron d'Ache. In English it would read Karen the Ache. Okay, I think I'm just gonna leave that all this kind of beige color. I don't, I don't want to color over it. Yes, that is my shoe down there too. Oh dear. Oh dear. What else we got in here? Any other colors I didn't use yet? I'm looking for the pink. Where did the pink go? That's a— I also have some coffee here. I think it's probably cold. Part of my arm. Oh yeah. All right, so it's looking pretty cool, guys. I think I'm gonna add a little more. I don't know where the pink is. We're gonna throw some more Process Red on here. So if you just joined me, hello, welcome to the Inkspired Life, where I love, love, love, love sketching architecture. It's my jam. Um, it puts me in my happy place. What puts you in your happy place? What are— what do you like to do that makes you happy? Put it in the chat, I'd love to know. What takes you to that happy place? Maybe a place you need to escape from for a few minutes, or escape to for a few minutes. Let's start on this one. I haven't used this color. So we're back to that Swiss Caran d'Ache colored pencil. This is— this color is called Spring Green. Spring Green. Hey, Edie's in the house! Good to see you. All right, so we're gonna throw down some Spring Green. Yeah, what puts you in that happy place? For me, it's sketching, eating ice cream. Sketching is healthier. Um, what the heck else? Walking. I love— I just love walking, being out in nature. Walking through the city, photography. I mean, yeah, I'm thinking about it. Maybe, um, for my summer meetup sketch workshop, yeah, I'm thinking either Rock Center, but now I'm thinking maybe Grand Central Terminal. We could actually even do both. Maybe we'll do like a little travel sketching and kind of stay in a certain radius and go to a few different locations, uh, and create our own travel sketch cards, like postcards. That'd be really fun. That would be a really cool workshop. I'm just brainstorming out loud here. Throw some more of this white on here. So this is interesting. Let's talk— let's just talk materials. So this is a Crayola white color pencil. Definite difference throwing down Crayola versus Prismacolor. Obviously two very different price points. Prismacolor has a very smooth, buttery feel. It just glides on the paper. Crayola is a little more scratchy. It doesn't seem to— it's not as buttery as the Prismacolor, so People sometimes ask me what I— what my favorite color pencils are. It would be the Prismacolor, um, but I know they're not cheap, but it's worth investigating. Just try different materials out. You never know. You, you never know what you're going to gravitate towards until you actually try it. That's what led me to trying these ugly books sketch pads and little sketchbooks I have. I just wanted to try something different and try— just try sketching on colored paper, and I'm really loving it. Thanks, Jen. I will stay cool. You stay cool also. Yes, Edie, it is. It is Grand Central Terminal, the inside. Awesome, I'm glad you Glad you noticed that. Thank you for the weather update, that's cool. Baking and singing. Jen likes baking and singing, that's cool. I'm with you with baking too, I love baking. What is your specialty, Jen? Jen, what is your like If you could only make one— bake one thing, or your people ask you to bake one thing for them, what would that be? Love that. My, my request is, um, chocolate chip cookies. So I know, I know I'm actually going over a lot of the same areas more than once. It's just, it's kind of like how I sketch. It's just a It's part of the process. Um, I don't know if you call it like a nervous sketching, or it's not very organized, right? I'm kind of chaotic all over. I'll go back over places, like I want to grind in this turquoise a little more, so I'm just adding on top of it. Um, yeah, it's just, it's interesting. Sometimes I'll go back and watch the replays and, uh to see how I sketch something or add color. It's fun to watch. This one might be almost done. Unfortunately, this gel pen's not working too great. Wait, am I lying? It's actually working now. I just want to throw some texture on here. There we go. I don't want to cover the beige paper, I just want to add a little texture to it. Yeah, now it's working. Thank you, Mr. Pen, for playing along nicely. Chocolate chip cookies, yum! Oh yeah, love making them. Chocolate chip banana bread, OMG, you're killing me! Oh, that sounds amazing. You want— you want to do a recipe exchange? Let's do a little recipe swap. Oh, that sounds amazing. I love banana bread, but chocolate chip banana bread just sounds killer. Awesome. With or without nuts? Cool. You guys digging this outdoor stream? Let me just grab some coffee. I'll kind of show you here, give you a little glimpse of what— just my kind of my surroundings here. This used to be grass. Well, there's still grass here, but Over the years it's turned into— past couple years it's turned into clover. You can see clover growing like down in here. I don't know how the heck that happened. So now my backyard's being overtaken by clover, and I have wild— there's some wild strawberries growing. Let's take a little field trip here. Uh, let's see, you can see some wild strawberries. I know they're edible. I have not eaten them. I think the bunnies in my yard eat them. So right there you can see a wild strawberry. Hey Dirk, great seeing you. I'm glad you're doing well. Thank you for visiting. I hope to see you again soon. Take care, my friend. But yeah, so just a little sneak peek. That's my most favorite tree in my yard, is right there, that kind of white birch tree growing there. Really cool. Oh, the circle of death. I'm not sure why. I'm not sure why. Sorry about that. Clover is weedy. Yes, it is. Yes, this is my backyard. I'm in my backyard right now. Sorry, my camera shaky. I'm just putting it back here. All right, cool. Oh, thanks. Yeah, this Take care again, Dirk. It was great, great seeing you. This is my backyard. It's, it's, um, it's very peaceful today back here. Very peaceful. It's very small, but I like it. It's home. All right, cool. This one might be done, guys. What do you think? I don't know what else to add to it. Get a close-up here. Might be some shadows, sorry about that. Get out of the way a little bit. That's worse. So the sun's been moving as we're creating here. Do I have a veggie garden? No, no veggie garden. Uh, believe it or not, I am not a green thumb. I've tried growing stuff, not too successful. Also, we have deer back here, we have groundhogs. There's actually a groundhog lives under our shed, so it would be really hard without fencing the veggie garden in. Rabbit, we have seen rabbits in the yard here, so, but no veggies. I love the idea though. All right, what should we name this piece? Anybody have any ideas? What do we want to name this one? I just wrote GCT down there, Grand Central Terminal, but maybe we can come up with a fun creative title for this. I likey likey. I think the pink— I have pink stuck in here. So I love, I love my Lockbee Quattro. Um, I have quite a few of them, but my only thing is when the pencils get small, they kind of get stuck in there. But there we go. Um, I used to put like a rubber band around them so they wouldn't slide down. Maybe I should do that again. Throw down some of this pink. All right, as we're getting ready to wrap up, let me know if you have any final questions, comments. This has been fun popping on today. Very random time. It's either napping or sketching, so I decided to sketch. What time is it? It's 4:30-ish, so we've been on for about a half hour. That's cool. Oh yeah, we need some pink people. Another thing with grab-and-go creativity is I grabbed and go— grabbed and go'd— grabbed and gone without a pencil sharpener. That's why, um, if you look at these, I'll typically sharpen both ends. That way, if I don't have a pencil sharpener, I have, you know, a backup point. I could also just fit a pencil sharpener in one of these pockets here. I just didn't stick one in there today. Could I go inside? Yeah, but you know what, I don't want to. I'm too lazy and we're just grabbing and going. I still see that deer, or it's like— yeah, it's like a deer down there, or even like maybe a cow or a steer. Can you guys see that? Maybe I'll just get closer on that shape. Jen, take care. It was great seeing you. I appreciate you. Uh, it's kind of blurry, but that's— I'll take a picture and post it later, but that looks like a deer or a cow or something. Yep, we're going to wrap here too. Jen, I appreciate your time as always. Have an amazing rest of your day. Summertime in Grand Central Station, I like that. That's actually a cool title. Oh, Jen says I'm still here. Yeah, I think we can call it that. Summertime at GCT. That's perfect, love it. Um, I will do that later when I go inside and get a nice fresh white gel pen. We'll just write it here. Actually, let's try this bad boy again. It's kind of on and off today. We'll just— Summer at GCT, we'll call it. How's that? Yeah, this is kind of— I'll rewrite it with the other gel pen. Summer at GCT. Perfect. Do a little What do you call the symbol? Does anybody know the official name for the symbol? I forget what it's called. Awesome. Whoa, I just hit the camera, which is my phone. All right, I think with that it's a wrap for today's sketch stream, livestream. I can sit here and talk forever and sketch forever. I need to start shifting into what am I making for dinner mode. Yeah, got a very busy morning tomorrow and something fun planned, so we'll see how that goes. Until we meet again. Well, before I sign off, I just want to say thank you. I appreciate every single one of you in the chat being positive and friendly and peaceful and encouraging, um, to me, with one another. It's such a great little positive community we have, so I appreciate y'all, and your time, uh, means the world to me. So thank you so, so much. Until we meet again, sketch boldly, live creatively, and embrace imperfection. See you soon. This was so awesome. Special shout out to the names I saw in the chat: Dirk and Jen and Edie. Appreciate your commenting live. Peace.