A to Z SKETCHBOOK

S is for Skateboarder.

My first sketch and watercolor in more than a year.

 I always have trouble finding things to sketch. Well, maybe not always, but a lot of the time I just can't think of anything I want to sketch. 

I was watching Youtube one day and came across Teoh's Parka Blogs video (I have subscribed to his channel for years. You really should check it out if you are interested in getting better at sketching.)

U is for Underpass

So he posted this series of videos where he would sketch the alphabet (A to Z) or rather, things that start with each letter of the alphabet. I was just getting back into sketching after taking a couple of years off so I thought "What a great Idea. That will help me focus and give me a goal all at the same time.

Y is for Yellow Cab

So, I grabbed an empty Stillman and Birn A5 Beta Series sketchbook and started looking up things that start with an A. Then B, C, D, etc. I'll let you know it's harder than you think. I tried to find things that were unusual or things the grandkids would like and possible even learn something from.  

Speaking of grandkids, they really got into it and gave me plenty of suggestions on what to draw for each letter. 

So the next time you can't think of anything to sketch give the A to Z sketchbook a try. It's fun and challenging.

Here's a few more along with a few random, fun sketches.

#urbansketching #sketchbook

#azsketchbook

STILL GOING ... JUST IN A NEW DIRECTIONS ... AGAIN!

 Hello and aloha,

Oh how times have changed. Ten years ago I was basking in the sweet life of living in Hawaii. Today, the country, the world, is practically in lockdown with the COVID-19 virus. Life has surely been altered beyond what anyone could have imagined 10 years ago. 

So, this is just a quick check in to say that things may not go according to plan and yes, things were certainly different 10 years ago, both personally and in society. Keep hanging in there. Get that positive attitude back and keep aiming for your goal whatever that may be. 

Take care and stay safe out there.

I'M A RUNNER ... OH, AND I HAVE LUPUS!

THE GOOD NEWS: After taking the winter off I got out there and ran a little today. IN OTHER NEWS: I just found out I have LUPUS. What in the world is lupus?

HERE’S THE STORY: Went to a dermatologist thinking I had skin cancer (I've already had one bout with it a few years ago.) He tells me I don’t have skin cancer. I have discoid lupus (basically means I'm allergic to daylight). OK, I can deal with living A VAMPIRE’S LIFE. I can make that work.

Then they wanted to take a blood sample just to rule out systemic lupus (the bad lupus ...) He told me if I'm a runner there's no way I could have systemic lupus because YOU DON'T RUN with lupus. So they draw blood. I wait a week or so then they call.

NURSE: “We got your blood test back and the doctor wants you to see a rheumatologist …”

ME: “Did they find something in my blood work?”

NURSE: “Yes, it showed positive for ANA. (ANA? I had to look it up: It stands for antinuclear antibodies … I know, it sounds cool, right? Like I’m turning into a superhero or something … but it isn’t and I’m not.) “The rheumatologists’ office will be calling you in the next two weeks.”

ME: oh, OK. Thank …thank you. (I was kind of in shock. I have never even heard of lupus before a couple weeks ago and the derm doc kept telling me I didn’t have “THE BAD KIND.” But I guess now I do.

I still haven’t looked it up too much to see exactly what it is. I’m kind of a hypochondriac so if I read the symptoms I’ll probably start imagining I have them.

I don't know yet how much of an impact this will have on my day-to-day life since I love the sun and love being outdoors. Only time will tell.

ANYHOW … the good news is … I RAN TODAY! I’M A RUNNER!!!!

The good news is I finally have a legitimate excuss to wear full-brim hats, which I've always wanted to do.

#lupus #runningwithlupus #wtfislupus

#ONEWEEK100HANDS ............ WHAT?

I've always have had trouble sketching hands, especially sketching them quickly for urban sketching.

Even coming up with a "mitten" shape that could resemble a hand loosely is hard for me.

So I decided to take a cue from #oneweek100people challenge and maybe start my own #oneweek100hands challenge, or more likely just combine it with the 100 people challenge and include hands in each sketch. Either way, that would be 20 hands a day for 5 days.

Wow, this sketch took me about an hour to do and I was just sketching from photos.  I can't imagine sketching 20 hands a day from real life but I figure if I can accomplish it hands may start to be a little easier to sketch.

So pass the word if you also have trouble sketching hands. #oneweek100hands.

Take care and see you out there.

URBAN SKETCHING AND REPORTAGE

I've been doing a lot more sketching of subjects I could easily take a photo of. 
I’m practicing so maybe I can start sketching to illustrate some of the stories at work. I'm trying to get a portfolio of reportage sketches together to show the editors and see if it's something they might be interested in.

We’ll see how it goes. i still have a lot of work to do to get there first though.

Here’s a quick sketch of an apple stand I did last fall.

I also need to work on speed. You need to be able to sketch pretty fast to keep up with live events.

TOOLS USED TO SKETCH THIS:
iPad Pro 12.9 inch, Apple Pencil and the app Procreate. Thanks for stopping by. Please comment below if you have any questions or comments.

ONE TALL TREE

While walking during my lunch break last week I came across this tree that must have been close to 100 feet tall. It just seemed to stand out among the other trees and towering over its nearest neighbors so I just had to sketch it.

I thought it would be fun to draw this with a light and loose touch and try to capture the airiness of the branches.

for this sketch I used an iPad Pro 12.9 inch and Apple Pencil using the Procreate app.

Thanks for stopping by.

VW VAN ROAD TRIP SKETCH

Here's a sketch from one of my day dreams ... Taking a road trip in an older VW van and driving through some of the canyon lands of Utah.

I have a timelapse video on YOuTube that shows how I sketched this if you'r like to watch. You can find it here: VW VAN ROAD TRIP

TOOLS I USED TO SKETCH THIS

For this sketch I usedan iPad Pro 12.9 inch and an Apple Pencil. Because we live in such a small space I find that having just a tablet and one pencil is a lot easier than using numerous sketchbooks, pens and pencils and a variety of watercolors, although I still have all of that and do use them occasionally.

Take care and please subscribe to my YouTube channel. It’s free. thanks for stopping by.  

A TRIATHLON POEM ...

I wrote this poem 9 years ago next month. It's inspired by the poem in "10 Things I Hate About You"

You o triathlon, 

builder of egos and breaker of hearts ... 

I hate it when you raise me up 

I hate it more when you tear me down. 

I hate it when you promise me glory 

Then throw me to the ground.

I hate your 5 a.m. wake up calls 

and swimming in the dark.

I hate your freezing cold olympic pools, 

and ocean swims with sharks. 

I hate it when it's time to ride 

and ride and ride some more. 

How your gale-force wind is always there,
that ain’t no Kona lore. 

I hate the way you make me run 

I hate it, but it’s cool. 

I hate the way you challenge me 

Like I'm back in school. 

I hate the fact we cannot draft 

Bike refs make sure of that. 

I hate those cards of yellow and red 

and that whole penalty tent format. 

I hate it when you make me laugh, 

even worse when you make me cry. 

But love that you made me an Ironman 

then branded me till I die.

I hate it when you’re not around 

after Kona’s race in the fall. 

But mostly I hate the way I don’t hate you, 

not in swimming or biking 

not in running 

not even at all. 

*Inspired from “10 Things I Hate About You”

THE COMEBACK TRAIL: HALF MARATHON TRAINING IN 10 WEEKS

I undertook a self-imposed challenge this summer — to go from zero running to being able to run a half marathon (13.1 miles) in 10 weeks.

That has to be the most painful thing I've done in a while. Nearly every step of running hurt all summer long.

A thumbnail from an episode of Zero To Half Marathon video series on YouTube.

While I have run on and off (maybe a couple of miles on the tready every couple of months) I was basically starting from scratch. The first day I ran 1 mile with a lot of pain. By the end of the first week I ran/walked three miles. I have to tell you, 13 miles seemed impossible from where I was.

But I kept at it running 2-3 days a week and increasing my long run day by a mile every week.

By Sunday of week 10 I ran 13.2 miles in 2 hours and 23 minutes. Slow and too much walking but I made it.

There's a half marathon race on Sept. 23 that I may run but my main goal was/is to just get in shape and run long runs when I feel like it.

I also recorded my "Zero to Half Marathon" challenge in a series of YouTube videos on our YouTube channel. You can find them here: Zero to Half Marathon

Here a few more of the thumbnails (cover images) from the series on YouTube:

The first week of training video.

Video of Week 2

the final week's video

As a follow up on the challenge to go from zero running to half marathon distance in 10 weeks,  which ended on Labor Day, after hitting 13 miles I backed off on my training  a little. For me hitting 13 miles in 10 weeks was really a struggle and I did not want to get injured so for now I'm limiting my long runs to 10 miles and trying to increase my over all weekly mileage, which has been less than 20 a week all summer.

Thanks for stopping by and maybe I'll see you on the road. Take care and be safe.

URBAN SKETCHING ... RIGHT OUTSIDE YOUR DOOR

What do you do when you don't have time to go out on location to do urban sketching? My time is very limited and I often don't have time to go on-location to sketch. To solve that time-crunch I started sketching my home, my yard, my street and my neighborhood.

Our rig. I often sketch in and around our place.

Most of us think our home environment is too boring to sketch because we see it every day. But sometimes that thinking can causes us not to sketch at all just because we don't have time to go anywhere. And as you know, even sketching a familiar, "boring" scene is better than not sketching at all. Right?

Before we moved into our fifth wheel RV trailer, I probably sketched our living room of our house at least 10 times from all different angles. And I sketched the view from our front window at least a half dozen times. I've sketched the outside of our house, our backyard, the twins and NJ quite often.

 I also sketch my desk, and the view from my desk at work at least once a week because I spend 8 hours a day sitting there and when the sketching bug bites, it's the only thing I have to sketch.

Plus, even though your home surroundings may be familiar to you, they may not be familiar to those you share your sketches with.

The view and sketch from our front yard in the RV park.

When I was a photojournalist I often photographed my neighborhood and neighbors and they loved seeing our tiny, familiar neighborhood in the newspaper.

Click here: URBAN SKETCHING FROM MY RV to watch a video of sketching from my RV.

Recently, I only had an hour to sketch and no time to go anywhere, I decided to sketch right outside the door of our RV, and even though it's only shrubs and a parking lot, it gave me something to sketch and a chance to use watercolors, which I haven't had much of a chance to use in a while.

You can find the video of me sketching this scene on our YouTube channel at:
Adventure Road Travel Sketchers


ABOUT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL:
Our channel is evolving as our lives are evolving.

Our channel started out while we lived in Hawaii  and I was competing in Ironman triathlons. That's why the first few videos are about running and Ironman competition.

Since we have moved back to the mainland I became interested in sketching and RVing (we live full-time in an fifth wheel trailer) so I switched it up to producing sketching videos, sketchbook tours, reviews, and how to sketch videos as well as life in an RV with a deaf and disabled daughter in a wheelchair, twin 4-year-olds and a 6-year-old grandsons.

Our Youtube channel.

Our lives can be very busy, very hectic and very squished at times.

Please join us as we adjust to a tiny living space and begin our next adventure down the road of life. Thank you so much.

HELP SUPPORT THIS BLOG AND OUR CHANNEL FOR FREE: We are part of the Amazon Affiliate program which means if you click on one of the links and purchase anything I get a small commission paid by amazon and costs you nothing more. It's a way for you to help support my channel for free.

Below are a few Amazon links for some of the art supplies I use.

Platinum Desk Fountain Pen: http://amzn.to/2CVwbIc

Platinum carbon ink bottle ink black 60cc: http://amzn.to/2D1xFCA

Stillman & Birn Beta Series A5 sketchbook: http://amzn.to/2CLMTer

M. Graham watercolor tubes: http://amzn.to/2ByAnRB

Da Vinci Kolinsky red sable travel brushes No. 10, 6 & 4 round
(This is a great deal for real red sable. Three brush set): http://amzn.to/2BCb55r

Sakura Pigma Micron pens: http://amzn.to/2CMkipa

Lamy Safari fountain pen extra fine nib: http://amzn.to/2k7PQOV

Pentel Aquash water brush: http://amzn.to/2kEqrLV

My palette: Prima Marketing Watercolor Confections: The Classics (I took out the Prima paints and replaced them with half pans of M. Grahams tube paints): http://amzn.to/2k60ghO

GoPro Hero 2:  http://amzn.to/2m1LQzC

GoPro Sessions 5: https://amzn.to/2Kv3jQ4

FROM ZERO TO HALF MARATHON IN 10 WEEKS

Distance running: I've done it, on and off, my whole life. From marathons to Ironman World Championship where you swim 2.4 miles, Bike 112 miles then, after all that, You run a marathon (26.2 miles) all in the same day.

So, let me just put it out there for everyone to read: In the next 10 weeks (basically over the summer) I'm going to go from zero running to 13.1 miles (a half marathon) distance. AND within another 4 weeks after that I'll be able to race at that distance.

The past two years is the longest break I've had from running since 2006 when we moved to the Big Island.

Yeah, it's a lofty goal for someone in their late 50s who hasn't run much for the past couple of years.

In the past 9 years I've competed in two Ironman World Championship triathlons and several half Ironmans and numerous other triathlons, marathons and other distance running events. but for the past two years I've reverted back to a couch potato.

Now I want to change that and get back into Ironman shape. Well, at least marathon shape.

All I can do is either succeed or fail. And you can follow along, either on this blog or on my YouTube channel, to see which I do and to hold me accountable for training and sticking with it. I will need your support, encouragement and advice along the way so please subscribe to either or better yet, both, and comment on each of my training videos. I'm lazy and can't do this on my own.

You can watch a video on our YouTube channel where I talk about this 10-week challenge of getting off the couch and running a half marathon here: https://youtu.be/2paSWjyCDuA

ABOUT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL: Adventure Road Travel Sketchers
you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/user/rdubinhawaii

Our channel is evolving as our lives are evolving.

Our channel started out while we lived in Hawaii and I was competing in Ironman triathlons. That's why the first few videos are about running and Ironman competition. Since we have moved back to the mainland and I became interested in sketching I switched it up to producing sketching videos, sketchbook tours, reviews, and how to sketch videos.

Recently our lives have taken a new direction. We moved out of our three bedroom house with a double car garage and moved into a 264-square-foot fifth wheel RV. We plan to begin traveling the country as soon as possible and sketch the places and people we visit and meet along the way. We plan on sticking to the rural areas as much as possible -- the roots of America.

We also plan on interviewing some of the people we meet and discover what makes their town and neighborhoods special to them.

We will be producing content about sketching, RV life, which includes repairs, coping with small spaces and the pros and cons of full-time RV living. Our daughter, Rebecca is disabled and is wheelchair bound so we will also be talking about how we manage all the work arounds in a world made for people who walk, including how accessible places are for disabled people.

I've changed the name of this channel (for now) to Adventure Road Travel Sketchers (ARTS for short) and my wife Karen, daughter Rebecca, 4-year-old twin grandsons Leo and Desmond and our 6-year-old grandson NJ, will be contributing content as well.

Thanks and please subscribe (it's absolutely free) and it would mean the world to us.