I did some sketching today in Old Town Alexandria. A couple of people stopped to talk to me while I was working - one had done a sketch of Prince Street from the other direction. There was a jazz festival going on a block away, down by the waterfront, which I could hear from my sketching stool. I enjoy sketching to live music.
On the way back to my car, I passed a saxophone player on King Street.
The Old Fairfax County Courthouse, in Old Town Fairfax. Originally built in 1799 (but expanded many times after that), it was the site of a few Civil War skirmishes. I rode past it many times in the bus on the way to high school.
I met up with some friends from college in Fredericksburg for lunch, and afterwards we walked around the old town area for a little while. There are some nice toy stores, bookstores, a tea shop, and more antique shops than I can count. I sat outside and sketched at the corner of Caroline St and George St, while the rest of the group browsed the antiques.
I spent the weekend at Lost River Retreat Center, in the mountains of West Virginia, with some good friends. I've been going to this place for many years, and it hasn't changed much - which is a good thing. I've sketched here several times before, but this time I focused more on the people around me.
Some sketches from previous visits: 2008, 2009, and 2012.
On Saturday I went to see the The
Bitter Liberals in Purcellville. I had heard about the band because
their fiddle and mandolin player, Gary McGraw, is also the CTO of the
company I work for, Cigital. I'd seen
them once before when they joined Gary's other band, Where's Aubrey, on stage at
the Barns of
Rose Hill. It was a pretty good show - they are all accomplished
musicians, and their songs told some good stories.
While the stage was well-lit, it was pretty dark in the audience, so I could barely see my sketchbook. I added the wash later when the lights came back on.
I went to hear my father sing with the Arts Chorale of Winchester perform at St. James Catholic Church, outside Charles Town WV. The program was titled "Mass Appeal", and featured music from a number of masses from different time periods, from J.S. Bach to John Rutter. The chorale was up on a balcony in the rear of the church, and since the church pews faced forward it made for an interesting experience because we could hear them, but not see them. But I did do a sketch of the balcony over my shoulder.
For the 39th World Wide Sketchcrawl, the D.C. group met at the Tidal Basin, and the cherry trees were actually blooming this week. I had fun sketching the Jefferson Memorial, the FDR memorial, and a man fishing near the MLK Memorial.
After lunch we headed over the the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden:
