My next pop-up show: Atherton Arts Foundation September 15, 2017

I’m honored to be one of eleven local artists exhibiting for one night only for the Atherton Arts Foundation Fall Reception on Friday, September 15, 2017, at Jennings Pavilion, Holbrook-Palmer Park, 150 Watkins Ave, Atherton, California.

In celebration of the show’s theme, “Through Artists’ Eyes: Land, Sea and Sky”, I will be showing a collection of my plein air watercolor sketches, all created on location in outdoor settings during my travels to Yosemite, Gettysburg, Vermont, Idaho, and out my front door in Half Moon Bay, California. I will also have copies of my Badass Women Portraits book, prints and cards available for purchase.

I hope you will join me!

Atherton Arts Foundation Fall Reception featuring 11 local artists

My Gettysburg 2017 sketchbook

I’ve had a whirlwind summer of travel, and now I have a few weeks to catch up and review what I created!

My return trip to Gettysburg this year was delightful and busy! I was a visiting teacher at Adams County Arts Council, where I had the joy of teaching a weeklong Sketchbook Journaling summer camp for youth, ages 10 to 13, as well as an adult creativity workshop entitled, “Hope for the Late-Blooming Creative”. I also did an Instagram takeover of Destination Gettysburg for the week, posting three photos a day on their account. On top of that, with the generous support of Lynda Taylor, Monica E. Oss, and J. Jay Mackie of Gettysburg, I was able to transform the lobby of an old bank building into a pop-up exhibition space for one evening. All in one week! This left me few large swaths of time to sketch on the battlefield, but instead compelled me to capture smaller moments around town when I could.

Here are the results.

First some airport sketches: I was astonished that this father was carrying two backpacks (one in front, one in back), and three suitcases through the SFO airport. His partner carried one child in a front pack and a toddler walking next to her. They were not smiling.

Brief layover in Chicago, drawing some faces from memory…

Noticed that the Susquehanna River through Harrisburg was brown with high water, reminding me of some of the swollen rivers I had seen in Southeast Asia.

Then my first meal of the day, with rain pouring outside, at Food 101 in Gettysburg. Delicious! I got caught up in all the ceiling tiles and never got around to sketching my food.

Morning sketch of the Evergreen Cemetery gate on Baltimore Pike in Gettysburg:

Sketch from the back patio of Ragged Edge Coffee House:

And a quick sketch of my food from Ragged Edge:

Quick 10-minute pen and ink sketch (colored in later) of the flowers in the back garden of my airbnb:

My afternoon sketch of the Pennsylvania Monument on the Gettysburg battlefield — almost three hours in the sun doing this one!

I find a shady spot to capture the Gettysburg Hotel, and happen to sit in front of this Ford Model A:

And a report on the magic unfolding, as it always does for me, in Gettysburg:

I am driving around, chasing the sunset, when I catch this view of the Eisenhower Farm, and I pull my car over to sketch from the side of the road.

Wandering around the Soldier’s National Cemetery before 100 Nights of Taps, I notice the bronzed words of the Gettysburg address at the base of this statue.

I take some rubbings in my sketchbook, and I look forward to using them in a future piece:

My students receive a surprise invitation to visit the attic of the Seminary Ridge Museum and sketch the views from there. I manage to snag a 10-minute quick sketch in between taking photos of them.

Every morning as I walked out the back door of my airbnb to go the half-block to Adams County Arts Council, I saw this view of the Thaddeus Stevens log cabin on Middle Street. One morning I finally took out my stool and sketched it.

More food notes and sketches.

At the end of my trip to Gettysburg, I had one afternoon to spend in Harrisburg before leaving on an early morning train to Vermont. It was a gorgeous day, so I luxuriated in a sketch walk around the capitol building and riverfront, followed by dinner at Cork & Fork.

Harrisburg State Capitol Building, with a lime green dome (!):

Study of a historic mansion’s roofline on Front Street:

Wanted to find a way to quickly record some of the architecture and the presence of the river on this walk, so I attempted an illustrated map:

At dinner, I sat outside and could not help being inundated with the loud conversation of the table behind me. I embraced it as a illustration opportunity and created this collage of phrases overheard:

The food was excellent, and I had to create this mini tribute to Cork & Fork Harrisburg:

Visit my Facebook page for photos of my students at work, and stay tuned for stories and images of my time in Vermont!

Thoughts on the power of our stories

death-valley-sketchbook-1

If you’ve followed me on Instagram (@drlisachu), you’ve seen pages from my daily illustrated journal practice called “Before 10am”, which I’ve kept since July 2016…that’s over 150 consecutive days so far! I have kept a written journal for many years of my life, but only recently, in 2013, did I start playing with blank pages of a sketchbook, permitting not only words and sentences to appear on the page, but also colors, lines, shapes, scribbles, collage, and other experimental images. This liberating practice has led me and followed me through the daily routine of home life, to wilderness adventures in several national parks, and everything in between. This one new habit has changed my life by deepening my observations of the world around me, and slowing me down each day to reflect on what I have experienced. It has also given me an object to share with others, and a way of connecting with people around the world via social media.

I just returned from a road trip to Death Valley National Park, where I celebrated my birthday. While there, I learned that “Timbisha” is the Shoshone name for their home (which we call “Death Valley”). The word “Timbisha” refers to the sacred red color of the rocks in the area, and symbolizes the future, or the way forward. As Park Ranger Alexandra, a geographer who led a brief program in one of the colorful canyons in Death Valley, shared various theories on the formation of the canyons, she also said that many of the Shoshone stories of this place are stories she is not allowed to tell. Continue reading

Yes! Installation Day for “Gettysburg in 2016” at Half Moon Bay Library

Here’s to stretching beyond our comfort zones.

This morning I installed the pieces of my exhibit at Half Moon Bay Library for my “Gettysburg in 2016” show. This involved several firsts for me.

  1. I have never worked on this large a scale (36 inches by 72 inches) before.
  2. I have never used fabric and yarn in my work before.
  3. I have never hung a fabric work from the ceiling before.
  4. I have never exhibited pages from my sketchbook on a wall before.
  5. I have never tried making giclee prints of my sketchbook pages and mounting them on panels for wall hanging.
  6. I have never tried an interactive art piece using fabric before.

I am making this list mostly to remind myself to celebrate today. Everything looks beautiful! I finished installing in about three hours. I managed to use a ten-foot ladder safely. Continue reading

Yosemite Series: Day Ten

Day 10: Starting Out Early In The Morning

Thursday. I am well aware that I have only this and one more morning in which to get out early enough to sketch and paint before the baking sun begins to saturate the Valley. I’m on my bike by eight o’clock. Sara Midda’s South of France sketchbook pops into my head, with her delicate vignettes depicting details, colors, and memories of every season of the year in southern France. I decide to make vignettes of the smallest details I can find this morning on my bike ride. I’ve been trying to stare at massive granite walls and follow the contours with my eyes and hands. Now I’m going to notice the minutiae. Continue reading