Sunday Sketching

Hey, happy, um, Sunday, December 14th. Yeah, Sunday, December 14th, 2025. I'm Jason Nicholas Nicholas with The Inkspired Life. It's been a— it's been a hot week or so since I've actually livestreamed sketching. Um, Sometimes creative minds need a creative break, and that's okay. So I just took a break from live streaming at night, and, um, yeah, it's all good though. I hope you're having a great, great day. Hope you're getting ready for the holidays. Um, happy Hanukkah if you celebrate Hanukkah. It's, uh, it's all good. We had our first kind of big snowfall for the year, and It's like 4 to 5 inches, so nothing major, but it's kind of fun just to see the ground all covered with some snow. It looks awesome, and I got some exercise getting out there shoveling, so that was good too. So hope you're having a great, great day, and, um, here's what I'm gonna do tonight. I am— I'm gonna sketch a church. This is— was actually a request from Linda, uh, So I'm going to lay out this church. You can see the image on screen here, and it's going to be my first sketch at it. I might do another one or two, we'll see how it goes. Um, I'm actually doing this as a, um, a commission, which I don't usually do a lot of kind of paid sketches, but I will entertain them. If you ever want me to sketch a building or a house, maybe, maybe your house or a house to give as a gift, let me know. Just send me an email, put comments, uh, in the chat. We could always definitely talk about it. So yeah, let's just sketch this church. And you'll see I have a metal ruler out here, I have a pencil. Rarely, rarely ever start with these two items, or rarely will use a ruler or a pencil at all when I'm sketching quick, loose architecture. But I know this sketch has to be a certain size, so I just want to kind of do a quick box with a pencil, um, to keep my sketch within that— fairly within that box, because, uh, the picture size will end up being, I think, 8x10, or framed in 8x10, probably with a mat. All right, so let's draw that, lay that out, and then I'll use some Sharpies. Let me know where you're watching from. Let me know if you have any questions or comments. Um, so I know the size of— I want to do is like going to be basically like 4x6. Again, this will be roughish. I don't, I don't mind if the lines are not parallel or perfectly 90 degrees. That's fine. This is just giving me a rough idea of the approximate size I want to sketch at, and I might go— I probably will go outside this box. But there we go, just a rough layout of where I'm going to kind of stay in.

He realized the truth of life. Some drinks kick your holiday spirit.

So if you're new to watching me, my style is very loose, quick sketching, especially when I'm out in the field urban sketching architecture. I want to capture things really quickly. Um, unless I think about it, the more cool the sketch usually turns out to be. So I don't really want to think about this too much. Let's see, I usually start with the roof and work my way down, so let's do it. And this is going to be just a quick first kind of crack at it here.

Hard against the windows like the weather had a pin. The cafe door froze shut at night and nobody liked that decision. He claimed his usual corner seat, table 7, survival mode. Meanwhile, a stranger whispered loudly about Mercury retrograde. Oh no, a college kid was crying softly —over finals and caffeine dead, and a guy in a suit kept insisting he was as close to inner zen. Not yet. He wrapped his hands around his latte like it might explain the day, but all it said was, "Buddy, breathe," in a steamy sort of way. Snowden at table 7 listening in on accidental confessions. Holiday chaos wrapped in quiet, and somehow he's okay. Snowed in at Table 7, stories drifting like powdered heaven. Strangers sharing warmth in their mildly caffeinated way. They both agreed on Blitzen, but only because he seems the sassiest. A man with earbuds tapping muttered about late-stage capitalism while a barista wiped the counter like she regretted every decision. And through it all, Table 7, gently ensorbed, he wasn't part of the story.

[FOREIGN] All right, cool. So you can see I'm really being quick. Fast with this. I'm really not thinking too much about it. Why I like to do it this way is it just allows my instinct to capture, um, or kind of sketch what is standing out to me without thinking about it. So it's kind of just a kind of an instinctual— is that a word? Instinctual kind of process. Um, and not, not pre-planned. And when I don't pre-plan, I could stay looser with my style because I'm not thinking about every single thing I'm doing. I'm just doing it. And it does— it takes practice for sure. Interesting pattern going on up in here, which I, I'm not doing it justice with that nice— with that scribble thing I just did. But that's okay. Again, this is just my first kind of layout. I want to see what I like, what I don't like. Uh, when I go back to do just a cleaner— it's still going to be a very loose sketch in the end. It'll be a little bit cleaner than this, but I definitely want to maintain my, my kind of characteristics with the final version of the sketch that's going to happen. All right, I'm gonna check in the chat in a second. I'll say hello, so feel free to say hi, ask some questions. Also let me know, is my music too loud in the background? It shouldn't be because I can, I can barely hear it. Hey Chip, great to see you. Hope all's well. Yes, we have snow. We have about, I think we got 4 to 5 inches here, so nothing major. Enough to cover things, make them look pretty. Enough to get me outside, get me some exercise. And shoveling. Um, would have been nice if it actually happened tonight into tomorrow so I could have either a delay, delayed opening, or a snow day. Just saying. Hope you're doing— hope you're doing well, my friend. What is the weather like in North Carolina? Uh, I wish I remember the name of this church. I don't remember. Sorry, Linda, if you're watching this or a replay, I don't remember the name of the church. I should Um, and I, I believe it is in Ohio somewhere. This is a quick first sketch. There's a couple different views of this. This was one of the views. Linda was kind enough to send me a few different photos, so I'm trying this view. I don't— I like it, but there's a more interesting perspective view I'm going to bring on screen. So maybe tonight we'll just do a quick— a few different quick studies, um, so I can figure out which final view I want to do. So let me, uh, I'm gonna go to my photos. I'm going to bring up another Image on screen. Where's my photo thingy? Here it is. Let's see, I'm kind of, kind of interested by this one here. I like this. This is an interesting view, this kind of corner. This, uh, two-point perspective here. And we'll see, I'll bring another one out. We'll just talk about— maybe I will talk about these photos and the things I like about them that kind of interests me and, um, interests my brain, my creative, my creative brain, as possible viewpoints that I want to sketch. So you can get kind of an inside scoop into how I look at architecture and what interests me and, um, what stands out to me about wanting to sketch something. Let's bring this view out too. I know it's similar to this other one, but oops, Jason, let me bring it out. Well, that stinks. There's a view here that I can't It's not letting me bring onto screen. I don't know why. Hm. Why can't I bring this one on screen? Let's bring this one, see if this one pops on there. No. There we go. All right, cool. All right, let's take a look at these 3 views. We'll talk about them kind of briefly here. Just line them up so you can see them. Make this a little bigger. All right. Let me move these two. I want— these two are kind of very similar. All right, so here are some of the things I, I'm looking at that interest me about these. So the first one on the left here, the one I just sketched, is, um, it's fairly straight on, not a lot of perspective to it. So it's a really good image for wanting to sketch, um, a flat kind of elevation sketch. So you can see the— well, the sketch I did underneath here, uh, was very kind of flat, flat. The one next to it in the middle has more of an angle, more of a perspective, more depth to it, especially if you look at the tower on the right. So I am liking the middle one better for me to sketch personally because I'm liking this tower. And how we have a two-point perspective. It goes off to the right— I'm sorry, it goes off to the left as well. A lot of shadow in there. You could also see this roofline coming back from the main gable area. So I kind of like that image. So I probably would definitely want to try to sketch that one. And then this one I like as well. This is just interesting because it has um, it's a corner view of this tower, and it's a two-point perspective, right? You can see the right side of the building, the left side of the building, and it's just really interesting what's happening here with that tower piece. So definitely really cool. So let's do a— let's do a quick sketch of maybe this one. Uh, I'm gonna close this one for now. Let's close that one. Let's just do a quickie of this there. I also like that it's vertical. So let's just use the back of this again. We're just doing some quick layouts just for fun. All right, so let me just do— we'll do a quick little box here. I'll just do a marker this time. Let's see, let's do like a 4 by— I can even do like a 5 by 7. We'll keep this 4 by 6 for now, just roughly. I will say something like that. It's kind of our area we'll stick in. Chip says it's cold and blustery, windy, and down to 17 degrees tonight. No snow, however. That is cold though, that is for sure. All right, I'm literally gonna look on screen here because I didn't print this corner perspective out. And let's do it. Okay, we're just gonna— I want this to be really quick.

There's a sign taped crooked to the counter. Cookie swapping, too. Take two. Someone brought something gluten-free. Someone else brought emotional baggage too. A woman in a reindeer sweater explains a recipe like it's lore. Says my aunt cried when she tasted these. No pressure standing near the door. The table's full of crumbs and hope and one suspicion I like this cool arch opening down there. —chaos, but honestly not bad. Yeah, cookie swap at the coffee shop where nobody wins but everyone's glad. Guy and Sister's cookies are experimental. No one asks follow-up questions. A kid drops one, 5-second rule. The crowd pretends that's not a lesson. The barista sneaks one behind the bar like it's contraband or self-care. Someone claps when the tray runs out. No one knows why, but they're there. The coffee's cold, but the room feels warm. Laughter cuts through the steam. It's not a miracle, but it's close to something that feels like it means something.

It's a cookie swap at I'm looking at it. I'm looking at a fairly small photo, so I think there are— looks like there's some kind of stairs here. Yeah, no, I'm liking— I'm liking this view better as a potential final sketch. I think it's just more interesting to capture this corner versus doing kind of the entire front. I, I'm going to look at the other perspective where we had more of an angle looking at this way. But I do— I like the proportions of this. Something about it just being vertical. And in my final sketch, I might even make it more dramatic, make it look really, um, like soaring almost. Just add some kind of hatch lines to this. Yeah, give it some shadows and see what happens. This is fun. I love— you guys know I love— I just love sketching, and I haven't done enough of it. I'm gonna take a break the past week from live streaming. My brain just needed a little creative break. Plus, I've been pretty tired at night, and I didn't want to force myself. So I am— I'm making a big health health shift, um, the past couple weeks and moving forward is I really need to work on sleeping more and sleeping more solidly. Um, this past year has not been a good sleep year for me. I've been very sleep deprived, but it is, it is getting back on track, which is awesome. So we're making, making positive pro— progress in that area. So please don't ever underestimate the power of sleep. All right, cool. Yeah, I'm liking this view. All right, let's do one more quick sketch before we wrap up here tonight. Let me see if I can bring back the other view. Not that one. This one? Nope, this one. Let's do a quick sketch of this perspective and we'll just kind of compare to the first one I did before. So it was definitely fun for me to be asked to, um, to, to do this sketch. It's gonna— they're going to be giving it, um, giving it as a gift to somebody. No extra pressure there. Again. And there is no pressure because my, you know, my style is very loose. It's whimsical. It's to capture the personality or essence of a building. I'm never trying to replicate it, um, 100%, copy every detail. It's a— it's almost a— I want to say caricature of a building, but maybe. I don't know if that's the right word or not. So that puts less pressure on me because I'm not recreating a photographic sketch here, a realistic sketch. All right, let's grab another sheet of paper and let's just do a quick sketch right here, quick sketch of this, uh, perspective on screen. Again, I'm looking at a really small picture on screen. I didn't print this one out to sketch.

Yeah, this— I actually like this this view.

I don't really like how I'm sketching it right now. I need to look at it probably a little bigger picture, but I think I'm getting the gist of what's happening. Let's see if we should come like that a little bit more. Boom, pull that line down. Down. Got kind of a window here, window there. I like, I like the view of this archway. We got kind of a door happening there. Got some windows in this piece. We got some more windows in this piece. Got a curved window there. Boom. Got the— this arch is very, very characteristic, very Definitely an iconic element of this church, kind of the arch here. And I have other photos that Linda was sent, so I can look at those definitely to get more of an idea of what's happening in here.

Groot said, "We're fine." Guess love survives the longest lies. Different stories, same cold night. Funny how we all arrived. Run, time! We all walked in carrying something more.

Yeah, I'm definitely missing some lines in this piece right in here.

All right, cool.

And let's just throw some hatch lines here. And we'll kind of do a comparison of this one in the first view I sketched, took a look at it together. I'll give you my kind of thoughts on it. We'll figure out what direction we're gonna bring this sketch in. Yeah, this, this piece here, really, I really need to capture that much better.

All right.

Cool. All right, all right, so let's take a look. Let me turn that off. So we got this one here, then here's the first one we did over here as well. So we can put them both on screen, maybe if I zoom out. A little bit. All right, so these are, um, these are two different views, and I think I really, I really am liking this, this one better. I just like the tower. I like how this view captures two sides of the tower. This one is more flat and straight on. This is more dynamic, more interesting, especially when you start adding these hatch lines for shadows. You get some nice depth to it. Um, I said like 4 times, but yeah, this, this— I really, I really messed this piece up sketching it. Uh, and the final one, I'll slow down and I'll capture it much better. I captured it better here. So, all right, so definitely now I gotta decide, I'm gonna do— am I gonna sketch that view for the final, or am I gonna go for maybe this tower, this corner tower? Hmm, I'm not sure. I kind of like them both. What if I— no, I don't want to cut that off there. What if I— let me add some shading, some hatch to this. Let me get just a little bit of depth. So I'm literally just kind of scribbling in these diagonal lines to give it some shadowy happenings here. There you go. Yeah, I'm kind of torn between both of these. I'm not sure which direction to go in. You know, I honestly think I like the vertical. My gut's saying to go with the vertical layout, this, this kind of view here. So I think I'm going to end up heading in this direction. I feel like this is just such an important element. It's capturing for me what I think are the two most important elements, architectural elements, of this building. Are the tower and these beautiful curved, uh, these stained glass areas. Stained glass areas. We have one here and another one over here. And I feel— and I'll put this out there for Linda— but I feel like, um, anybody that goes to this church, if they see this much of it they should be able to identify it. And that's kind of my goal, bringing out the main— the bringing out the characteristics of the building with the least amount of detail as possible. Something like that. It's kind of a mission. That's my mission, should I choose to accept it. All right, cool. All right, let me know if there's any last comments or questions before I wrap up here. It's 8:46 PM Sunday, December 14th, 2025. Getting closer to Christmas Day, and that means winter break. And, um, yeah, I'm so excited. I can't wait. Cool. All right, let me close this big window. And let's go to chat and say hello to everybody. I think some people popped in while I was sketching there. And Linda's in the house! Hey! Oh my gosh, good timing, Linda! This is awesome. Jennifer, are you still here? Good to see you too. That's awesome. Um, Jennifer is in Quartzsite, Arizona. I love that name so much. It is just so cool. It reminds me of, uh, you The Flintstones. You guys remember the Flintstones and the town of Bedrock? Um, Quartzsite sounds like it's from Flintstone Land. Cool, Linda, I'm so glad you're here. So yeah, I just wanted to do some quick sketches of a couple different views. I know I have to get this out to you. I have to say, I, I really actually like this one. Um, well, I'd like to know which view you like the best. This could almost have been a final, final, quote, sketch if I, uh— I'll do another version of it, but I do like this view. Jennifer says battling cancer, doing treatment now. Jennifer, oh, prayers, prayers to you, positive vibes to you. I am I am, uh, just sending amazing positivity and prayers your way. Peace to you, my friend. And yeah, you, um, you've got this. And thank you for putting that in the chat and just sharing with us. And everybody watching, please send hearts and positive vibes Jennifer's way. You're always so supportive and positive in the chats, and I appreciate you. I'm going to zoom in so you can see this a little bit closer. It's very strange because I'm actually— don't— the music's not playing and it feels weird. I always have music going. Do I have a— I don't know if I have a mat that fits an 8x10 frame. Pardon me as I go through my drawers here. Where did I put my mats? I don't think I have any. That's okay. Jennifer, thank you. I'm, I'm scared. That is, that is so understandable. 100% understandable. And, um, one minute at a time. Take it one minute at a time. Yeah, this is definitely ruled out. All right. All right, cool. I think, I think I'm going to focus on doing this one for the final. So that's kind of my end goal. And you know what, just for fun, let's throw some color on this tonight. Let's throw some color on these. How about this one? We got some creative markers. It's always fun to end some, uh, the live— to end the sketches with some colors. I think the one I do for you, Linda, I would actually I think I'm going to keep it black and white if that's cool with you. I kind of like— I think it's more powerful if I start adding colors. Then, you know, some people might be like, oh, that's not the color of our church, I don't know what that is, why did that guy use pink? And normally I'd be cool with that, but if you're giving it to someone as a gift, I don't— you know, do they want to see my bright colors? I'm not sure. I think black and white might say it all, but just for fun tonight, I'm gonna put some tunes back on and let's just throw some Creative Markers down. Um, colors, man, colors are a great way just to, to get some positive vibes going, some create some creative, um, endorphins going. Colors are fun, vibrant, um I like looking at them. They sometimes cheer me up, make me feel better. Yeah, isn't it amazing what colors can do? Jennifer says pink and green. You know what, let's do it. Let's do it. Hey Jennifer, I'm going to throw this out there for you. Um, if you want to, if you want to send me a, uh like in a private message, a DM message, in the chat message, uh, your mailing address. I'd love to send you, um, send you a sketch. So if you want to, it's up to you. If you want to, if you want to give me your— send me your address, that would be awesome. All right, let's put some music on. I don't know if— let's see, I created this playlist of This is actually music I generated. All right, I'm just gonna grab and go. I'm not thinking about color choices. Turn it up a notch, guys. You might not be able to hear me as well, but I'm not going to talk for a couple minutes as I color. Jennifer breaking out some neon pink. What's the man doing? He's getting crazy with the colors.

Great, thank you so much.

For putting your, um, your address. Oh my God, what is this guy doing? He's throwing bread down here now. Yes, we got the red out! Why not?

Very, maybe, kind of, slightly elated. He walked into the cafe like hope was on sale.

All right, so I want to show you something to zoom in quick. Here's a, uh, here's one of the reasons I like to keep markers as they're drying out. So this, this Sharpie is kind of drying out and I I wanted to keep it because if you look at the lines here, they're definitely uneven. They're almost like broken lines. That's really cool for doing, um, getting a texture of maybe some roof— roofing on here, whether there's shingles, you know, asphalt shingles, asphalt shingles, or slate, doesn't matter. It's just a great way to not worry about these lines being too dark because I don't want them to be. It's just to add some texture. If you're just joining me, hello, welcome to The Inspired Life. I'm Jason Nicholas Nicholas. I love sketching. Architecture. Love sketching anything. Love design. And more importantly, I just love you guys because you're awesome. Thank you for watching, as always. I appreciate the positive vibes in the chat. And, um, yeah, I always appreciate your time, guys. It's a fun way to spend Sunday night.

So do you—

what do you think of the colors I'm throwing down? Is it I gotta break out some Chartreuse. Chartreuse and I became friends about, about maybe 2 years ago, and we haven't parted ever since. Chartreuse is always in with all my color pencils here. So if you guys want to know kind of my favorite color pencil colors, let's talk. And my music's too loud, let me know. We got Chartreuse in the house. Um, this is a cool color, it's called Process Red. You know what, let's just throw the colors down as I'm talking about them. All right, so this is called Process Red, and we'll just— we're just playing around anyway with the sketch, so let's throw some Process Red on here. Got some Process Red happening. Um, of course, of course, Light Aqua is mi favorito color. I love Light Aqua. Light Aqua. And let's go Neon Yellow. Can't go wrong with neon. Little pop of Neon Yellow. Let's throw some right in here. It's like using a highlighter. Look at— look how fun that color is. That is just gonna bring it— we're gonna throw it on even more so you can see it. That's Neon Yellow, which Neon Pink is right up there with Neon Yellow. Neon Pink is kind of a signature color that I like to pop in on my sketches somewhere, even if it's just one or two places. We got some neon pink going on. What else? Um, orange isn't my favorite, but it's in there. This is, uh, this is— what is this color called? I bought it when I was in North Carolina, I think, with, with Rue. I mean, no, the name, but some kind of green. I think it's almost chartreuse-y. No, it's a nice green color. I can't— I don't know the name of it. Oh, Spring Green. Never mind, Spring Green, it says it right there. So there's some of my favorite color pencil colors. Feel free to say hi if you're in the chat and you're just joining us. I'd love to say hello, see where you're watching from. Let's throw down some purple. We're just going, having fun with this. I was just practicing some sketches for an actual final sketch I'll be doing of, of, um, of a church for Linda. So tonight I want to look at different views. So the final one will probably just be black and white, and we're gonna— I think it'll be looking something like this view of the church. This was my practice from earlier, and I thought we'd wrap up. You know what I want to wrap up with? One more thing, guys. I have these pens here. I haven't really used them. Friction Pilot, Friction Ball. They're actually erasable ink. Um, let's see what they look like. I have no idea. Welcome to this unboxing. This has never been used. Let's see.

So it is erasable ink.

I don't know how well it's going to erase off of, um, cold press watercolor paper because I'm really grinding it down into the page. Let's just see if it actually erases. I'm curious. Holy cow! Hey Gigi, great to see you! Hope all is well. Slowly but surely coming alive. It's good to see you. Hope all's well, Gigi. Um, wow, guys, uh, if you're looking for a pen that erases, I literally— this is like the maybe the second time I've ever used these pens. First time I used the green. Holy moly, this is what it is. This is not sponsored, this is just off the cuff breaking these things out, trying them. I'm not a fan of erasing on my sketches, as you know. That's why I use Sharpie a lot. But if you are looking for a pen that's erasable, these are kind of cool. Let's try a different color. Let's try a darker one, like a purple. I love sketching with um, gel pens, ballpoint pens. I have a whole Lockbee thing filled with pens here. I have more pens, but that purple's a nice— creating a nice shadow there. Uh, let's see what the red looks like. I'm pretty fussy with my reds. Pilot Precise has the best red that I like. Let's see how this one is. All right, I guess I'm just testing out this red. I kind of like it. Let's make like a little— maybe, maybe it's— we have bricks down here. I think in reality it's a stone base to the church, but we're just kind of messing around right now. This is creative playtime. There are no wrong answers, there's only right creative. I don't know what I'm trying to say. There are no wrong answers. We'll leave it at that. Sometimes I try to get deep and it just backfires. Backfiring with the deepness. It's a playground, right? This is our creative sandbox. We're gonna create things, build them up, tear them down, build them up again, change the shape, change the form. Change the style, the method how we create them. Think about building sandcastles. They're temporary. That's the cool thing about sandcastles, right? You build something, the waves come wash it away, and you rebuild it. It's never going to be the same castle twice, never going to be the same exact sand materials twice. Um, that's kind of what we're doing now. We're never going We're not trying to create the same thing twice, we're just, just having fun. All right, let's test the red and see how well that erases. Red is usually a pretty hard color to erase off of things. Um, there you go, I just erased the red. Gigi says, really like that purple. Yeah. It is. It's a very cool purple. I agree, Gigi. It's really cool for creating like a shadow here. You know, it's almost making me want to— we can mess around in that later if we want. But yeah, I like that purple too. Yeah, let's, um, let's try blue. Might as well just try all the colors again. If you are looking for a cool erasable pen, this is what it is. Pilot FriXion, I guess it's called. FriXion erasable gel ink. Oh, it's refillable! I just saw that. How do you refill it? I have no idea. Oh, all right, so this just unscrews. What do we got in there? All right, that's cool to know. So you can get refillable cartridges for these. Awesome. Thank you guys for learning with me tonight and just having playtime. I just care what's— let's see what the blue looks like. We'll just do in the sky here. So I learned this sky scribble technique in college from one of my professors. Um, I loved his sketches. I have his sketch, some of his sketches somewhere that he had given to me. And he had this really cool technique for doing skies with like a scribble technique. So his name was Professor Medina. I don't ever know what happened to him. He was a great— he was such a cool guy. I remember him well. I wonder where he is these days, if he's still around. Um, so shout out to Professor Medina for, for showing me how to quickly sketch in skies with the scribble technique. We'll test the blue, we'll see how well it erases. Also. Let me just throw some here. All right, cool. All right, so we got like a scribbly sky going on. So when I'm like in New York City and I'm sketching, you know, say I'm in Central Park and I want to capture a sky in the background, I'll usually use this kind of scribble technique because it's fast. And I'm a pretty fast sketcher. In New York City, it's hard for me to sit still in one place for more than maybe a half hour at the most, and I get restless because my brain wants to keep going on to the next thing, next thing. So I like to do really quick sketching. And I've tried to teach myself some like shortcuts of how to get things done quicker, and this is a really good shortcut. All right, cool. All right, now we got a sky, right? Let's see how this blue erases. Let's try it right here. That's actually really cool because I could do this. You guys know where I'm headed? Let me know. Do you think you're— where am I headed with what I'm— with what I am about to do? Any ideas? What can I use that erasing technique for with this sky? I love that you're having fun. Hey, thanks, Linda, I appreciate it. Um, do you frequent NYC often? Hey, I, I try to get in, um, at least once a month, if not twice a month. Yeah, I love going to New York City. Um, yeah, I, I get there often. It's one of my most favorite places to go. I am I'm lucky to live— I'm pretty close to a bus station. I'm about 20 minutes away from a bus station here in New Jersey, and then from the bus station to Port Authority is about an hour to an hour and 15 minute bus ride. So, uh, it's pretty easy for me to get into the city via bus. I, I don't, I don't want to drive to the city. I used to do that when I worked for an architect. Uh, years ago I would have to drive into the city, into Harlem, into Brooklyn, and I didn't really like it, so I take a bus in. All right, here's what I'm gonna do. Ready? Uh, make clouds, guys. You want to make clouds? This erasable pen, look what I'm gonna do. Holy moly, dude, I just made a cloud! How, how is this thing— I gotta— how does this work? This is like, this is an amazing— this is such a fun discovery tonight. Thank you guys for watching along with me. I know I geek, I geek out over this stuff. Yeah, I geek out over pens and colors and Scribbles. Um, we all nerd out about different things, right? So thank you for nerding out with me tonight. Um, oh, here, like, where'd I put the cap? I am loving these pens so, so much. Let's try black. All right, I'm gonna go through all these colors. Brown. Oops, well, that was orange or brown. I mean, if you guys have any questions or comments, um, I'll probably wrap up 9:12. I don't know, I'll wrap up sometime before 9:30 because I have school tomorrow. All right, let's try orange. Actually, I'm going to throw some orange in the sky. I want to see if I can what happens if I overlay orange over blue. Will I get black? Let's see. Just do it here. Yeah, so the colors, they're not really— they don't really mix together, which I wasn't expecting because they're dry. But that's kind of cool. We got some orange highlights going here. Don't be afraid of color, just throw it down, have fun with it. It's— this is therapeutic, guys. Throwing down colors and getting lost on the paper for me is really good therapy. This turned out to be a cool little sketch. All right, let's try this brown. I love sketching with brown and sepia ink. I actually like the design of these pens too. Can you see the Kind of a cool pattern on there. It's pretty awesome. I don't know who designed it, but I like it. All right, got some brown. Let's throw some brown here. I don't know, let's just do, uh, here. It's kind of cool brown. Yep, of course it's a racing. Yeah, it's Awesome. All right, and then black. Let's, let's sketch with some black here. Let's, um, we'll just continue this building. I'll make something up here. Coloring helps ease my anxiety. It is therapeutic. Yeah, Gigi, 100%, right? What kind of things do you like to color? And also, what, um, do you have any recommendations for me? What, what is something I should sketch? Maybe a location or a building? Um, in New York City? Is there a building or location that you really love? Let me know. I love— so just so you know, I love sketching the Brooklyn Bridge. That's one of my faves. Um, St. Patrick's Cathedral is a standard for me. I love sketching St. Patrick's. I love sketching the copper building. You probably, you probably know some of this already. Uh, the Empire State Building, of course. Hudson Yards, I love that area. All right, cool. All right, so here's the black. I honestly, I wouldn't, I would not trade my black Sharpies for the black pen, but that's because I'm just fussy and I love— I just love my Sharpies. Um, there you go. I think we went through all the colors. So pretty cool pens, guys. This was so fun. Thank you for sticking around and watching me play with these. There's a color I am missing here. I don't know, I don't think it was in there when we started. What color could it have been? Yellow, maybe? I don't know where the heck it is. I'm looking over here in this cup, I don't see it. That's okay. But again, if you are— these are what the pens are. That is non-sponsored, that's just me speaking off the cuff here. But hey, Pilot, if you're out there, just know I love those pens. Cool. Um, Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. Oh, is that, um, is that all the way up like the, like the north end of Central Park, like up beyond there? I think it's supposed to be like one of the World's biggest cathedrals, maybe. I have never been there. That would be amazing, actually. Jennifer says, would love to see the lodge from the North Rim of Grand Canyon. It burned down this year. The lodge from the North Rim. Oh, you, um, you just gave me an idea. I'm gonna have to Google that, Jennifer. It sounds really cool. Actually, I'm gonna Google as we're talking here. Thank you guys. I love, I love engaging here in the chat and talking. It's so fun. Thank you for putting up with my random, my rambling. I can't talk. That's why I teach architecture and design, not language arts. I am Never grammatically correct. Um, what is it? What is it? The Lodge from North Rim of Grand Canyon. I'm actually just— I'm intrigued, so I'm looking it up. Oh yeah. Peeps at home, you might want to— you might want to Google it, check it out. I could definitely sketch this. All right, I'm gonna put on my list. It's so sad that it burned down though. Holy moly. I'll have to read more about it. Um, that's a shame, right? I'm gonna zoom out. Oh, let's put a frame on this, guys, like a mat around it to see what it looks like. I like to do it because it makes the colors pop. Let me just grab a mat behind me, and it's not a, not a person named Matt because I don't— do I even— do I know any Matts? All right, let's see. I gotta buy some more of these. All right, let's throw some color frames around these. It'll make the colors pop a little bit. Yes, they are, they're small. I don't have a bigger size, but we can get the idea. We'll zoom in. Uh, Gigi says near Colombia. Yes, it's pretty cool. That sounds amazing. Field trip, field trip! Hey Gigi, let me know if you ever want to meet up and, uh, do some sketching. That'd be kind of fun. I'd be more than happy to, to do that. Be kind of cool. All right, check that out, right? So just put the mat around it. I'll let you guys take a look. Linda says, you do fine. Thank you so much, I appreciate that. You know what, when I started teaching high school, um, 8 years ago, Friday was the start of my 8th year of teaching. So this past Friday was like my anniversary, beginning of my 8th year. So how cool is that? But when I first started teaching, someone gave me some really simple advice, but really wise and awesome advice because they were a teacher. And I'm like, I'm like, I, I am not good at like talking in front of people. I'm very introverted. Even though I'm an architect, I've done lots of meetings and I've had a lot of clients and, um, very introverted person. So I don't know what— how do I behave and act and talk to a bunch of high school kids? I have no idea. This person told me, just be yourself. Yeah, I've had those words ring in my head every day I teach, just be myself. Sometimes I have to amp things up. Lots of times I amp things up— personality, vibe, positivity. I got to ramp it up big time, but I'm still being myself. Um, so I hopefully that comes across on these streams because I just want to be me and put myself out there because I'm human just like you guys, and we all have a voice. We're all different, we're all unique, and I appreciate you guys for, for hanging out with me. Cool, right? That looks awesome. But let's do this. Psych! Who thought we'd do that? What if we just take it and do it vertical? Yeah, Generosa said the view from the rim showing the south-facing facade is incredible. I worked there last year. Oh wow, Jennifer, how awesome that you worked there. That's amazing. I'm definitely gonna Google it, and, um, I don't know, I'm gonna ask you, and I'm gonna Google pictures, but if you have any pictures you've taken that you'd want to share or email or send them on Facebook, that would be awesome. I'm gonna do a sketch of that building and I'd like to send it to you. So, um, let me know. That'd be really cool. That's— I love the connection you have with that. Isn't it amazing how architecture and buildings can have such deep connections with us, right? These man-made structures can really connect to our hearts and to our souls. Um, that's why I love architecture. That's why I love design, because, oh yeah, buildings look— can look really cool, but for me it's really about— I mean, how do they make you feel? How do they make you feel when you look at them? How do they make you feel when you're inside of them, right? Um, design, architecture really can have a deep impact on us. And that's one of the things I try to drive home with my, my high school students is I'm always talking about the feeling of architecture. How does that color make you feel? How does that tiny house make you feel? How does that big Home Depot building make you feel, right? When we can connect feelings with built reality, that's where there's a really, really deep connection that happens. Getting deep tonight. Be your humble self. Thank you, Gigi. You too. Um, you rock. No, Jennifer, you rock. Um, that yellow pops everything. Yeah, did you notice that? So when I put this frame here— Linda, that's so funny you said that. Where is it? Well, where's my yellow? Let me take it out. I love that you said that because here, when I put this frame here, I was loving how this kind of came down and connected to the— we call it the grassy area, right? I like it better off-center. Yeah, so this neon yellow really pops. I'm glad you said that, that's so funny. Um, The lodge is almost 100 years old. Wow, almost as old as me. That's incredible. No, I am not, I am not almost 100. But speaking of 100, can you believe one of the best known and loved American celebrities just turned 100? Was it today? Is today his birthday? Dick Van Dyke. Is that amazing? 100 years old. Wow. All right, I'm talking a lot. Um, you guys, this has been a lot of fun. I think I'm gonna wrap— get wrap here. Um, throw some yellow down here as I'm winding up. You can kind of see what this does. Uh, Linda says, we are— we are stewards of these buildings for a short time. It is good to leave them in good shape for the next generation. That is awesome. I love that. I'm gonna have to quote you on that one. I, I am, I'm addicted to coloring here. I, if I had my paintbrush and stuff here, I would actually throw down some of this color. Reflex Rose. All right guys, let me know if you have any last final questions or thoughts as I wind down for the day. Um, I appreciate you all so, so much. Thank you for allowing me to come into your living room and your bedroom— into your bedroom, your kitchen, wherever you're watching me. Um, I appreciate it. Even if you're multitasking, if you're doing your laundry, it's all good. I just hope I was able to bring a few minutes of joy, maybe a little bit of inspo, a little bit of creative inspo, a little bit of chill vibe to your, uh, to your day. And hopefully I didn't put you to sleep, and if I did, that's okay too. However I can serve, it's all good. I'm just looking at my bin over here. Uh, let's see. All right, now, all right, there we go. Yeah, he— oh, yesterday was his birthday. Okay, I knew it was recently. He looks amazing. 100 years old. Holy chihuahua, God bless him, right? If you have not seen this video of Um, Dick Van Dyke, Coldplay. Look up Coldplay. They wrote a song. I'm sorry, I've got his lead name. Chris from Coldplay wrote a song for Dick Van Dyke. He performed it for Dick Van Dyke, with Dick Van Dyke. Go YouTube, you'll find it. It is the most incredible. I'm gonna cry. And they won an award. It is the most heart-touching, incredible video I have ever seen. Music video as far as pulling your heartstrings. Please check it out. It's Coldplay. Just put Coldplay, Dick Van Dyke. You'll find it. Seriously, guys, I'm getting tears in my eyes. It was— it's incredible. Wow, it's a touching video. Please watch it. Do yourself a favor. And, uh, it's— it's here. I'm— it's just tears of joy right now. Yeah, on that note, you guys are awesome. I appreciate y'all so, so much. Thank you for watching the Inkspired Life. I'll be back again this week. Linda, my goal is to have your sketch done of the church and in the mailbox on Tuesday. Um, that's my goal because I know you need it by a certain deadline. Deadline. Appreciate all— Gigi, it was great seeing you in the house. Jennifer, Positive vibes and peace your way. As always, thank you for your address, and I'm gonna work on a sketch for you. That'd be amazing. I appreciate that, Linda. You're awesome. You're an original Inkling. I appreciate you, and thank you for inspiring the church sketch that we'll be doing. I might— I'll probably livestream the, um, or at least video the final sketch for you. Who else was in the house? Chip was in the house. Always great seeing you as well. Thank you guys. Until we meet again, um, oh my God, sketch boldly, live creatively, and inspire endlessly. Go check out that Coldplay video, you'll love it. Good night, guys.

Thank you.