Shops in Bangalore

I am always fascinated by the color, variety and diversity of the shops in India.  Every street I visit, every corner I turn, there is something interesting to see.  I make it a point to take tonnes of pics when I visit any place, and India is no exception.

This time around, I also took my sketchbook and pencils so I could make quick sketches of the things I saw.  Unfortunately, the streets are not very conducive to drawing on the spot (too much dust, traffic, pollution, etc).  So, I had to resort to watching everything and sketching from memory.  This is one such sketch of a street in Bangalore. 

Mysore Railway Station

A quick sketch of the Mysore Railway Station.  This is an imaginary sketch of what would have been in the station based on my observations.  The station was bustling with activity, and there were food stalls, vendors of all sorts and waiting passengers all over the station.

We always made a point to take a Tonga from the Mysore station to our home, but this time around, there were no Tongas to be found.  I later learned that they had been decommissioned and the only location where they were allowed was the Mysore Palace.  Too sad to see the iconic Tongas disappear from Mysore station.

Big Ben

A quick sketch of the London Parliament House and the Big Ben.  This was the view from the balcony of our room.  Of course, there is a lot more details that are not captured in this sketch.

I loved the view from our location (Marriott County Hall).  This hotel is in an ideal location for tourists since it is centrally located and one can walk to most of the tourist spots.  

Falling Water

Here is a quick study of Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water. 

DC inspiration - Jefferson Memorial

A quick study of the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, DC.  This was done in pen and ink, and minimal shading with graphite pencil (4B).  What started out as a freehand quick study got a little bit more detailed, but I completed it in a short time (under an hour total).

Washington, DC is a great place with lots of history, arts and architecture.  Every street in downtown has a gem to offer: from great architecture to statues.  I have started making some sketches based on what I saw in DC during the trip this summer.  This is the first in the series.

Antelope Canyon

We finally made it to the Antelope Canyon in Arizona.  It is also known as the Slot Canyon.  I have seen so many pics of this beautiful canyon and had dreamed of visiting it all these years.  Finally made it. 

This canyon is nestled deep in the Navajo county near Page, Az, and it is not easy to find on any map or tour guide.  You cannot just drive to it and hike through the canyon. Only a few tour companies (Native American owned) are permitted to take visitors into these canyons. 

The canyon is carved by wind and water movement through thousands of years and is a sight to behold.  The walls are red sandstone and the sand at the bottom of the canyon is also red.  The canyons look breathtaking at any time of the day, but the most photographed time is around noon when the sun rays shine through the slots.  The first picture above shows the sun rays streaming through the slots around mid day. 

The tour was very enjoyable.  The journey starts in Page, Az and winds down with a drive on the desert sand finally ending up at the entrance of the canyon.  I had not carried my tripod during this visit and I regretted it as soon as I saw the amount of light in the canyon.  Long exposures at very small apertures will yield the best pictures that can be blown up to poster sizes.  Since I didn't have a tripod, I had to dial up my ISO to 800.  All my shots were handheld and most of them came out pretty good. 

Whenever wind blows at the top of the canyon, fine sand would fall on our heads and that posed a dilemma.  Do you protect your expensive camera gear and stick it in the bag, or sacrifice your gear to get fantastic pictures that you can enjoy for a lifetime?  I chose the latter.  After the trip, my lens started creaking and there was sand on the camera dials and even in the view finder.  I cleaned it as much as I could, but I am using this as an excuse to get myself another new camera! 

Antelope canyon is a must see natural wonder in the US.  Another place we wanted to visit was the Wave.  Unfortunately, only 20 people are allowed to view it everyday.  It is hidden in the Paria Canyon in Arizona.  You need permits to access it.  As soon as I learned this fact, I called the Bureau of Land Management and was told that all permits until Sept 2012 were already sold out!  Dang.  We have to plan another trip for the Wave, and this, I feel, is a blessing in disguise, because I wanted another reason to visit the Antelope Canyon with my tripod!

Looking forward to my next visit.

Hugo Cabret - 3

Here is another installment of the Hugo Cabret book sketches.  I tried this one with only two 9B pencils.  It was a lot of fun trying to get all the different textures and shades with just two fat pencils.

Hugo Cabret - 2

Here is the second drawing from the series of drawings I am copying from "The invention of Hugo Cabret".

This is an interesting sketch which combines both portraiture as well as architecture. I didn't pay a lot of attention to the architecture since the cross-hatching technique was more pronounced in the facial features than in the walls.

The drawing in the book is much darker that this rendition. I used one 6B graphite pencil for the whole drawing. I am sure the original was done with a few 9B pencils, without which it is hard to get such dark shades.

Hugo Cabret

We recently got the book "The invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick. It is a fantastic book with a lot of sketches. When I say, a lot, every other page is a sketch. What I liked about the sketches was the style. Most of the sketches uses a cross hatching technique to render the shades of gray. This piqued my interest and I took it as an interesting challenge to learn this technique.

This is the first of a series of sketches I plan on copying from this book. This is a quick sketch that took less than a half hour to complete.