It’s hard to believe just 5 days ago Chris and I were each standing at one of the holiest sites in history, the Western Wall in Jerusalem, otherwise known as the “Wailing Wall”. At times tens of thousands of people gather here from all over the world to pray.

Although separated by a partition respectfully dividing men and women, we came back together afterwards and shared that we both experienced something truly indescribable, a moment sure to be treasured for a lifetime. Here is a drawing done as soon as I returned to our hotel in an attempt to capture the essence in time. Standing now in gratitude, Michele

In a quest for sanity I have decided to rip down everything around me and rebuild. It is a long process and I am not quite sure if I just started the ripping or the rebuilding, but progress is being made. And I am eating my greens. Or Tim’s. But he has too much.

Storyboards for Project: Omphalos.

This is one of my favorite drawings I’ve made this year. Its of a lonely New England musician sitting by himself under a tree playing the recorder and dreaming of adventure. I am intrigued by the idea of adventurers dreaming of home, and those at home dreaming of adventure, and have made a number of drawings around this idea.

Whew! Just got back from a month of traveling and finally unpacked my suitcase. Spent some time in Barcelona, then traveled to Paris with the Dalvero Academy and finally wound up my travels by going to Portland as a presenter at the Urban Sketchers Symposium! This drawing was made at the Farmer’s Market in Portland, which is by the way a lovely city. The Symposium was fantastic, you can read my post about it on my blog if you’d like. And Paris with the Dalvero group? Magic!! The work everyone did was amazing, especially the reportage that was done at the Tour de France. Some photos and drawings are floating around on Facebook, you could check the Dalvero Academy page if you’re interested. And Barcelona was simply beautiful – love all that Gaudi and modernist architecture. Neil and I met some terrific artists there and we drew together at the same academy Miro attended, hope some of it rubbed off on me! (You can read about that in Lapin’s post here.)

So I’ve called this post bountiful harvest – harvests of all kinds that reportage drawing and illustration has brought me. My old friends and dearest Studio 1482 family, the wonderful group of young illustrators and artists who study with Margaret and I at the Dalvero Academy, the new friends and drawing enthusiasts from around the world that I just met in Europe and at the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Portland. Not to mention the joy I get every day from doing what I love, drawing. What a bountiful harvest indeed!

posted by Veronica

A somewhat odd situation:  an unhappy, angry woman encountering a self-satisfied, smug individual at the Italian Pavilion in Epcot.  There were no words exchanged, just an overwhelming, radiating air of hostility and entitlement growing and undulating between the two. By the end of it I wasn’t sure who was the hostile one and who was the entitled one!  And did it really matter after all!

Voila!

So there you have it!

I know, that’s French, not Italian.

Margaret

I recently went to draw at the Plaza Hotel in NYC. Very beautiful area with rich history, beautiful structures and some of the best people watching. I saw a ridiculously long line for the “Sex and the City” Tour Bus. Very funny. Maybe I’ll post the drawing of that another day. This time, I’ll share a drawing I made of a few tourists resting by the fountain. I know it’s easy to get jaded about tourists in Manhattan. The way they walk so slow and look up all the time. Really, that used to make me NUTS during those years I had to walk through Times Square twice a day for my commute to work! I always had to remind myself that they are alright. They love this great city enough to make the trek. And that’s all that matters. This ones for them. -Despina

From the Bronx zoo.  - Greg Betza

..I once read that Pythagoras is credited with having discovered the physical relationship between mass and sound, (otherwise known as music), and that this relationship (expressible as ratios) is essentially what led to Galileo’s revolutionary discoveries in physics.

One might say this same physical relationship occurs in a drawing – more of this and less of that.

Above is a piece from my Music of the Seven Spheres series. For a peak at some of the thumbnails for the rest of the group, feel free to visit my blog. Have a great Tuesday!

Art by Michele

They are mine now, but I know where they came from and I know what he sacrificed to get them to me. Here is to the week and all the plans we can muster for August.

Eddie Peña