MN State Fair Sketch-out

sleeping pig - full spread about 7x14 inches

on Rives lightweight in cream,

sketched with Sharpie pen,

Grumbacher watercolor added

Last Saturday I was at the Minnesota State Fair with a group of about eleven people from the MCBA Visual Journal Collective for a sketch-out. We had a lovely day drawing amongst the thousands of visitors to the fair. We met as a group at one and four so we could chat about our adventures drawing at such a large public event as well as to share our work with one another.

My first sketch - trying to catch the

crowds and booths along a street

brown Pitt pen

I began my day drawing just using a brown (sepia) Pitt pen. I was trying to draw fast and catch a sense of the crowds, buildings, and booths that line the streets of the fair. I have to say that was challenging and I moved on to drawing the livestock in the barns instead.

The cow barn- brown Pitt pen

The animals are always enjoyable to draw at the fair and I got a handful of drawings in before the first meeting was scheduled. After we met as a group, I inadvertently switched pens. I had been using a sepia Pitt pen and I grabbed my black Sharpie pen instead - no big deal just something I noticed later when I looked at my sketches from the day.

After the break, I also switched it up and decided to try my hand at adding paint to my sketches on site. If I am going to add color I very often add it at home after the fact, but so many sketchers had beautifully painted pages from that morning I decided to try and paint too. That is the great thing about seeing someone else's work, it can push you to try something new.

Little sheep - Sharpie pen,

Grumbacher watercolor,

my favorite from the day.

The sheep was my first attempt at adding color on the spot. I was happy it worked out to paint as I sketched in the barn using my travel set and a Niji brush, so I continued to add color to the remainder of my pages. (The pig at the top of the post came after the sheep.)

After the pig and sheep, I took a sketching break and walked across the fair to see the fine art building and other sights. After walking back and arriving at our meeting place for the afternoon, I sat and sketched while talking to Marty Harris, a fellow sketcher at the fair. I was sketching a group of five boys that all had on green shirts but they got up before I finished the whole group - I got two and they were the last sketch I did that day.

I feel like I had a great day, I pushed myself to try something new and got to get out and spend the day drawing. What could be better?

Two boys - my last sketch of the day

done while talking with another sketcher and

waiting for the rest of the group.

Sharpie pen, Grumbacher watercolor