Blue Angels

Blue Angels

The first day and the first sketch of The Sketchbook Project 2011 which is run by Art House Co-op, Brooklyn New York. A grand thank you to Carol King of Carol King: Painting, Drawing, Complaining who turned me on to this. This is going to be a lot of fun. And in the end my sketchbook is going on a tour and will be shown in several cities to be viewed by people. Is it possible to have more fun than this? Please don’t answer this, it was a rhetorical question.

I chose a theme “A day in the life”, my official bar-coded Moleskine sketchbook has arrived. And just as I began to panic about what my first sketch was going to be, the Chicago Air Show arrived and solved my problem. Here I have for you the Chicago darlings, our homeboys, US Navy fliers – the Blue Angels. Today, as every second weekend of August, they were doing a show on their FA18 Hornets, performing loops and dives over the Lake, flying at a “safe” 2 feet distance from each other after the unfortunate touch incident they had last year.

I also wanted to comment on the Moleskine Cahier sketchbook, the official sketchbook of the Sketchbook Project. The paper in the book is so thin that you can read a newspaper through it. While it is has a lovely buttery finish, the thinness rules out pretty much any wet media. Watercolor is out of the question, which is very disappointing. In fact a fellow artist, also a participant, tested a number of media on this paper and published results in her blog for our benefit – Moleskine Cahier test. I am going to have to get really creative with this paper.

Watercolor pencils (dry), Moleskine Cahier sketchbook

Carol King: Painting, Drawing, Complaining

6 Comments

  1. CarolKing August 14, 2010

    Hey Alex. Great drawing of the Blue Angels. I love them!!! Thanks for the link to them, the shout-out and the link to the makin’ art blog. I wonder if I should take it apart and put watercolor paper in?

    I did think the paper was thin, but never realized HOW THIN it was until you said you could read newspaper through it. I checked and you can. Bummer!

    • Alex Zonis August 15, 2010

      I am thinking about replacing the pages with watercolor paper as well. I read several artists-participants have done it or are thinking of doing it. I also found one sketchbook on the Art Co-op site where the artist painted several sketches on watercolor paper, then cut and pasted images into the book. I also found another artist who did the same with oil canvas paper. I think I may go this route myself because I am not sure I want to bother rebinding. For now I may continue with dry media, I wanted to try Conte crayons for a while, perhaps now is the time. I can’t wait to see your sketches, hope you will post them on your blog.

  2. lesliepaints August 15, 2010

    Great first entry in your moleskin, Alex! This will be fun to watch you all take part in the making!

    • Alex Zonis August 16, 2010

      Thank you for your support, Leslie!

  3. Artswebshow August 17, 2010

    It sounds like a fantastic idea.
    I really like the sense of movement you captured in this sketch

    • Alex Zonis August 18, 2010

      Hi Richard! Thank you for your kind words! You know the Sketchbook Project 2011 is still open, you can participate if you like the idea. Just click on the Art Co-op link in the post and it will take you there. I (and 12 thousand other participants :D) think it is a tremendous fun.

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