Travel Sketches 2

Continuing with my travel sketches from last month, most of which were drawn during weekends, when I could be a tourist. My class-mate and me went to the "Boogie In The Bayou" festival, in Campbell, CA. Arts and crafts everywhere. A marching band, and other acts providing entertainment. We listened to a Blues & Cajun music band, and I had time to sketch some folks surrounding us. This man's hair (on the left) stood out from the crowd. The place had an extremely varied cross-section from all walks of life.

This older lady on the right was enjoying the music, wearing her  flowery hat, while her other elder friends were dancing away next to the stage. I was very surprised at how active the older folks were everywhere we went. I think there's something in the Californian air or water. Lots of cyclists of all ages, and healthy looking people. You could tell a lot of folks kept up with their fitness activities.

I had a little time to sketch from imagination, the next day, as we started on our way to San Francisco. This little sketch on the right was done on the "metro" on our way to the city before I realized I get dizzy trying to draw in a moving train. This seemed strange to me, since I was able to do a bit more drawing the day before, as I was riding shotgun in the car, before I felt I should stop. The image below was a mixed view of objects seen on the highway.

 

Here's a little write-up from a "workshop" on hieroglyphics. A 20-25 minute talk on what they meant, and how they were used. This took place at the Rosicrucian Egyptian museum in San Jose. I mostly took photos there, but I brought a hieroglyphic "alphabet" of sorts to my daughter, and she proceeded to get every one's name down in those pictographs. Great stuff to keep to youngsters busy and interested.

On weekdays, there wasn't much time for drawing. I did try to incorporate some of it in my notes, but nothing worthwhile was drawn, since my attention was actually intensely focus on my subjects. This was the kind of class you couldn't miss a beat in. There were a couple of lulls during sessions, but not enough to get in the right mood to draw. To the left is my one and only attempt at drawing one of the instructors, and I can't even remember who it was because my brain was going nuts keeping up with the subject.

There was one weekend when I had to go into the lab to catch up on  exercises. We were covering material so fast that I fell behind on some labs. That day I spent in the company of my computers, servers, other data center equipment, and good old "Squirt". A small stuffed version of that "Finding Nemo" character I brought over with me. My daughter made sure I took some things, in addition to her framed photo, so I could have her by my side, but this little guy has been keeping me company for the last couple of years when I go to work.

Well, this should cover today's post. I didn't think I'd have enough sketches for more than two posts, but there we have it. There will be a Part 3 to this series. Theme-wise, I still don't think I sketched enough. Lets face it, I had 4 weeks to sketch in. But in reality, after the intensive training I took, I was too tired to draw, much less be inspired, when I got back from class. I really enjoyed the material, in my geeky techie nerdiness, so it was fun, but I still feel guilty of not drawing the beautiful scenes I walked by while on my short-lived tourist excursions.

I'll post the rest tomorrow. Hope you liked these, so far. Thanks for dropping by, and have a great art time!