Sunday Night Sketch and Chill

Hey everybody, happy, um, Sunday, November 23rd, 2025. Hope you're having a good Sunday. Um, I'm Jason Nicholas Nicholas with the Inkspired Life. If you haven't seen me before, I love sketching sketching architecture mostly, but I love just sketching anything in general. So, uh, yeah, feel free to stick around and join me for a little bit as I do some sketching tonight. And, um, yeah, be great to say hello to you guys in the chat. Let me click some buttons here, we'll get sketching in a minute or so. Um, hope you're having a great Sunday. Thanksgiving week is here, yay! Oh my gosh, love Thanksgiving. Um, it's probably my favorite holiday. I just love a day that, um, first of all, it's a day of just a reminder that, hey, we should all be thankful for something, because sometimes we do need that reminder, right? We kind of get lost in the daily grind, and it's good to have a reminder. So that's cool. I also like eating stuff, um, although I can't have any sweets this year. It'll be interesting. And, um, it's a short week at school, so, um, teachers need it, admin needs it, kids need it. So it's all good, right? So it's a win-win-win-win. All right guys, I'm sorry, I'm just clicking around here on— make sure I'm streaming live everywhere. I was having some issues. I think I'm live everywhere I need to be live. And good to see you, hope all's well. I see you tuning in already, that's Awesome. Um, Facebook, I don't know if Facebook land is working, but I am clicking here. I'm sure we'll figure it out. I think it is streaming. All right, let's put some music on, do some sketching. I think what I want to do tonight is, um, I think I'm just going to practice, uh, my Christmas trees. I like doing Christmas trees located in New York City. This is a Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, um, that I sketched last year. Yep, 12/24. So let's just practice, maybe throw down some Christmas trees, and we'll see what happens. I just want to have fun tonight. That's my goal. I haven't— I have not streamed live in probably over a week, um, because I've just been so tired at night and going to bed early. But I wanted to come on tonight and just Say hello to you guys. It's always fun to catch up with y'all. Y'all. All right, let's do it. I'm gonna put some music on. Let me X out of that. Boom. And I'm just looking for a playlist here. I am an amateur streamer. I don't have any of this scripted. Um, I don't have all the buttons ready to go. I just, I just wanted to come on and said, hey, let's go for it. I'm just looking to hit this play button list somewhere. I made— I thought I made it tonight. Did it not save? A Chihuahua. Hmm, this is not the playlist I want. Interesting. Let me know what you guys are up to. Did you have a great weekend? I hope you did. Hope you did something fun and exciting. That would be amazing. I just got a text and said, hey, is your show on tonight? Hey Chip, my, my show is on tonight, Chip. This is frustrating. I had a whole playlist of music and it is gone. Holy moly, that's so funny. Kind of funny, but kind of not. All right, let's catch— I don't know where the music went. Emily says, I can't wait for break. I— me too, right? Um, let me know if you guys can hear me okay, if you can see me okay, all that fun stuff. And wow, I am having some tech— we're having some tech glitches. Hope you guys are enjoying this so far. Um, if you go back and watch the replay, I'm going to try to cut all this tech stuff out. This is fun. I am— here's what I'm going to do. Can I do this? I am going to— I am actually going to literally click and drag songs onto this playlist. So while I'm doing that, let me talk a little bit about what's going on. So we have Thanksgiving coming up, and then before you know it, it's going to be winter break. Um, I am super excited for, um, for winter break because I am going to be going on a, a training tour to Paris. Um, it'll be like 2 days in Paris. Um, it's going to be so exciting. I'm, I'm leading a tour group in end of March, I think. If yes, end of March to Spain and Italy. So that'll be a lot of fun. And then This trip in December, it's going to be like a kind of a training tour of things to us, for us to expect when we go on the trip, um, in March. So I'm really excited. I have never been there. It's going to be a whirlwind kind of visit, but I will definitely have my sketchbook with me and I will try to sketch any minute I get. So that's gonna be a lot of fun. Stay tuned. I'll definitely be sharing more about that and definitely share what I sketch while I'm there. I think it's gonna be exciting. I'm really— yeah, I can't wait for it. Hey, all right, I'm gonna play this playlist. Boom, here we go. I know, I'm sorry guys, I'm talking a lot and I haven't sketched yet. Let me know if the music's too loud at home. All right, let's sketch. So, um, I'm just— I have a Sharpie and we're just gonna go for it. Like I said, come on guys, all you will be more prepared. So I'm gonna— this is gonna be a Rockefeller-centered inspired Christmas tree sketch here. Hey, Chip's in the house! Great to see you, Chip. Guys, again, please let me know if the music is too loud for you over my voice. I'm probably gonna not talk too, too much. I'd rather enjoy some music. I'm sure you guys would rather enjoy music too, especially if any of my students are watching. You hear enough of me during the week. I'm just kidding. So I'm throwing down some Sharpie and we'll loosely scribble maybe some peeps kind of in the foreground. Chip, great to see you. Hope all's well. Um, maybe catch up this week and chat. That would be awesome. All right, cool. All right, I'm gonna throw down some color here. So my goal tonight, really my intention tonight, is just to, uh, just start throwing down some Christmas tree kind of shapes. I'll probably be— I'll probably do about maybe 4 sketches this holiday season inspired by different trees in the city. I'm definitely going to try to get into the city after the tree lighting. I think the tree lighting is— I don't know the exact day. I think it's the first week of December, Rockefeller Center tree. Some of the other smaller trees have been lit already. It gets crazy packed, let me tell you. I went in last year to look at the tree. It was— holy moly, it is— it's insanely, insanely busy, but you have to expect that, right? I have to go in with a mindset saying, hey, it's going to be busy there, and just kind of enjoy, enjoy the crowds. If you're not into crowds, you probably don't want to go to see the tree in person. Um, I know if I could recommend a really awesome live streamer if you want to see the Rockefeller Center tree and other New York holiday sites, check out the NYC Walking Show. Um, Sifat is a friend of mine. He, he does amazing, amazing live streams from New York City, and he is on almost every day live streaming. Um, I got to meet up with him 3 or 4 times in person, and he's just an amazing human being. Loves what he does, and he really covers New York City well. And if you want to check out all the vibes and get that holiday feeling from the city, definitely check out his stuff. I will post a link at some point in time. Yeah, Chip, I definitely want to talk to you about Paris. I know you probably have some pro tips for me. I would love to hear them. My trip's gonna be so quick. I won't— it's a 5-day trip, but I'm literally only gonna have— be there 2 days, I think. Oh wait, I may have said that wrong. I know I'm only gonna be like there 2 days in Paris, and I don't think we have a lot of exploring time on our own. Yeah, I'm open for any suggestions. All right, so these are some buildings at Rockefeller Center in the background. I'm just kind of graying them in. I'm using blue and brown watercolor paint, just mixing up my own gray because I want these to be a backdrop. I want the tree to be the star of the show. Usually I use some ink for the green tree. I don't have any of that ink out right now, so we'll come back to that at some point in time. You know what, I might break out— maybe we'll throw some Creative Markers on this. So here's— I'll show you the one I'm looking at here. Here's my reference from last year. This was done with ink, watercolor, and some Sharpie creative marker as well. Get a little closer, you can see some of the details on it. So I really love the way this tree came out. Notice I left some white space there, and it has kind of a glow, a back glow, and that is actually colored pencil, neon yellow, and then I have neon pink there as well. So pretty cool stuff. Hey Kelly, if you're out there on Instagram, great to see you, hope all's well. Cool, right?

But she punched my order in like she'd already found my fears, my flaws, my 3 AM doom. Like she keeps a file on me somewhere in the back room. She slid the cup over with a knowing grin, said, "Extra shot today, you're going down." Gonna need it again. She's the barista who knows too much. Reads my soul with a single touch. Calls my move before I take a breath. Pretty sure she knows the hour of my death. Yeah, she sees right through my caffeinated front. The barista who knows too much. All right, cool.

Zoom in a little bit. I think you should, uh, play— oh, hey Em, I would play it if I could, but I, I can't play that song because it's copyrighted. —and they'll shut off my sound. So the playlist I'm playing right now is actually a playlist of songs I created via— yes, I'm gonna say AI. I know a lot of people, there's a lot of question marks about AI-generated music and any AI-generated content, and I have to say, for me, it's a creative outlet. I am not musical, but I'm able to put my ideas and some thoughts and storylines I've had in my head or things I've experienced, I'm able to get it out in a musical form. So for me, I'm just seeing it as a creative tool. I'm not out there trying to sell it or take away from any professionals. It's just to create another creative outlet that I'm exploring. So yeah, so that's where this music is coming from. You know what, I'm gonna be brave. We're gonna throw some pink on here. I really want to throw a color pencil down, but I have to wait for it to dry, and I don't No time for that tonight. All right, let me see, see if I can break out some markers.

Staring down the whiteboard again, pen in hand, but the ink won't bend. My thoughts, they're locked behind steel bars, dreams fading like old burnouts. Stars. One more sip, one more try. Like destiny rising to the sky. Maybe this time, maybe tonight, I'll find the words to make you All right, this is a quick sketch.

I, I'm excited, so I'm just going to throw down some red on here. Normally I would come, come on and do it, um, later, or I'd add it later. I just want to keep taking this up a little bit more. I'm only gonna be on for maybe 5, 10 more minutes. You can kind of see where this— just give you an idea of where this tree It's gonna be headed—

ink page trembles, heart beats loud, her smile breaks through the heavy cloud. One more sip, one more try, let tasty rise into the sky. Maybe be this time Maybe tonight I'll find the words to make it right. Liquid church flowing fast, breaking chains, the spell is cast, her voice lifts Fingers, a melody, the muse I lost, she set me free, set me free. like bam donuts. And then you turn, you turn back and you're like, there's cake and you know what, there's muffins and the scones. And you're like, we just went sugar Free honey, and then that's when you know you've got the pastry blues. The pastry blues, the pastry blues, you got the pastry blues. Mm-hmm! Mm-hmm! Walked in for latte— nothing more. Till the pastry slipped off the pastry shelf and dove for the floor. Slow motion hit like a cosmic sign. Time froze, angels whispered, this one's mine. Someone gasped, someone screamed, no! —My reflex kicked in like a caffeine-fueled glow. Reached out fast, defied gravity's rule. Caught that pastry like the world's coolest fool. And the café cheered like I saved the Earth. A hero crowned in crumbs and caffeinated worth. Triumphant hearts, epic glory, Monk Chan starts to rise. Yeah. think that's the greatest thing I ever saw. Something whispered, was that destiny? Another shouted, bro, sign my coffee. Then a monk in line on the sacred tone, Gregorian magic shaking cups to the bone. He bowed once low like he knew my fate. Blue Stays Pastries transcends the gate and the cafe cheered like I saved the Earth. A hero crowned in crumbs and caffeinated words. Triumphant hearts, epic glory, monk chants start to rise. Yeah, I caught that pastry. Yeah, I changed some lives. Spotlight hits, steam curls above. A moment written by caffeine and love. If life had bosses, I'd have beat this stage. A pastry car, the cafe saved. And the cafe cheered, the legend crowned. They'll tell the story every Cool.

All right, cool. I like, uh, kind of like this first layer on here. So it's gonna have to dry before I can come back and really add anything to it. So when I come back next time, I will, um, I'll add some Sharpie Creative Marker. We'll add some kind of lights and ornaments on here. Purple, I see purple on here, maybe some blue, oranges happening. I'll break out some neon color pencils as well. We'll throw down some pink and yellow on here, give it kind of a glow in the background. And then I'll pull out— I'm going to pull out the tree darker so it really pops out. You can see here, kind of like I did last year, I kind of went— I went around it with a Sharpie just to pull the shape of it forward a little bit more because that's going to be kind of my inspo. Yeah, it's kind of cool. I like it. Uh, what else did— oh, I also added a sepia. We can do that actually. I have a sepia marker kind of background. Let's do that before I head out. And then I'll wrap up. So for that, I'm going to use a Winsor Newton watercolor marker, sepia tone. Oopsie. All right, here we go. All right, cool. I think I like where this one's headed. I'll zoom in, show some details, and we'll, uh, wrap up. And if you guys have any final questions, comments, thoughts, any good Thanksgiving recipes, let me know. I don't think I am making anything, um, anything extraordinary this year. Hmm, I just thought about that. I make a mean apple pie, mean chocolate chip cookies, but I, uh, I've been instructed to stay away from sweet sweets for 2 weeks. So yep, I'm doing that. So I'm not gonna— I am not baking anything sweet. Um, I can make a pretty good turkey. We'll figure this out. If you need special Thanksgiving Day recipes, let me know. Cool. I can zoom in. You can see how this is drying. It's always fun, I think, to zoom in and take a look. So these are just buildings in the background. I'm going to add a little more blue and gray to them to bring them— tone them down a little bit. But I like that. Here's how the tree is looking as it's drying. I'm going to use gravity. Gravity is a really great creative tool when you're watercoloring or using inks because it's still wet and you can move the puddle around just by moving your sketchbook around. Let gravity do its trick. Cool. I really like this. I think it's going to go up a whole level when I add the next layer to it. Ta-da! All right, awesome. I just want to see if there's any questions or comments before I head out, drink some water. I know my camera lighting is not the best. That's okay, we're not here to see me, we're gonna see this, this bad boy right here. Um, if you're looking for a good movie recommendation, go check out Rental Family with Brendan Fraser. I saw that movie today. Um, it is a tearjerker. Um, it has a really— it's just, I think it's one of my favorite movies of all time. I just like the movie. I like the storyline, um, and one of those movies that just kind of makes you think. So yeah, I highly recommend it. It's called Rental Family. And that is— no one's paying me to say that, I'm just doing that on my own. Um, yeah, good movie. Good, good movie. All right guys, that's it for tonight. I'm Jason Nicholas Nicholas with The Inspired Life. Hope you have an amazing rest of your Sunday. Have an amazing Monday. And, uh, I will try to pop on before Thanksgiving and maybe even after Thanksgiving dinner. We'll see. All right, until we meet again, um, keep, keep, uh, spreading positivity through creativity. Sketch boldly, live creatively, and inspire endlessly. See you soon.