Would You Please Stand Still!

Posted: September 25, 2016 | Author: Sebastian | Filed under: USkO | Tags: Aloha Festivals, Floral Parade, Parade | 5 Comments

Yesterday’s sketch outing to the Floral Parade in Waikīkī was a whole lot of fun, despite the heat (a lady walked along the parade route selling popsicles — they were very popular). A big crowd lined the street: some people walked up from the beach to have a look, whereas others had planned ahead and secured a good spot to set up their lawn chairs and a small tent. And enthusiasm was not lacking. Now and then, people would break into applause and cheer.

Drawing the actual procession was tricky. Although marching bands stopped briefly at the intersection in front of me, most of the parade passed by very quickly. My strategy was to draw the environment beforehand and then fill in the floats when they arrived, but even then I was not quick enough. Here is one of my more successful attempts:

Need to rethink my approach to sketching moving targets. I came across Veronica Lawlor’s “reportage” drawings… she has sketched a parade or two as well. Her work is incredible!

Aloha Festivals’ Floral Parade

Posted: September 24, 2016 | Author: Sebastian | Filed under: USkO | Tags: Aloha Festivals, Floral Parade, Parade | Leave a comment

Traffic and parking were tough.
The sky was blue.
The parade was great — tho’ moved too fast!

Check out the sketches!

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Let’s Try Again!

Posted: September 8, 2016 | Author: Sebastian | Filed under: USkO | Tags: event announcement | Leave a comment

: 09/24/2016

Weekend Events Taken by Storm

Posted: September 1, 2016 | Author: Sebastian | Filed under: USkO | Tags: event announcement | Leave a comment

Due to events being rescheduled or placed on standby because of the storm, we are cancelling our weekend outings to the Aloha Festivals’ Opening Ceremony in Waikīkī and the Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar Festival in Kailua. However, please check out our September 24 event at the Aloha Festivals’ 70th Annual Floral Parade!

Be safe and, if you find the time, consider sketching your generator and food provisions. :)

Planning Ahead?

Posted: August 28, 2016 | Author: Sebastian | Filed under: USkO | Tags: event announcement | Leave a comment

Are you planning ahead this fall? We are. Make sure to check out our upcoming events!

: September 3

: September 4

: 09/24/2016

: 10/01/2016

Chicken Sketchings

Posted: August 21, 2016 | Author: Sebastian | Filed under: USkO | Tags: Hanauma Bay | Leave a comment

Although its parking lot is often filled to capacity already in the morning, Hanauma Bay made up for logistical challenges with glorious views and a cool breeze. A ridiculously fluffy chicken (depicted in some of our first sketches) brightened our day further. So cute!

Avoiding the busy beach area allowed us to take in the scenery from a high vantage point and added vendors and their concession stands to the already long list of potential sketch targets. Our show-and-tell session revolved around the roaming chickens, the intriguingly braided trunks of the kiawe trees shading the picnic area, and the different approaches taken in our attempts to sketch the main attraction: the impossibly blue and turquoise and grey waters of Hanauma Bay.

Join us on September 3 or 4 for more sketching. Or come on both days!

Also, do not forget to check out the day’s sketches on Flickr – and upload yours!

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Next Event!

Posted: July 24, 2016 | Author: Sebastian | Filed under: USkO | Tags: event announcement, Hanauma Bay | Leave a comment

: 08/20/2016

Tugged and Tied

Posted: July 23, 2016 | Author: Sebastian | Filed under: USkO | Tags: Honolulu Harbor | Leave a comment

Honolulu Harbor was active this morning. Tugboats waltzed barges around, speakers blared on a recently docked cruise ship, and numerous small vessels zipped by. From our vantage point, we could see it all… including curtains of rain missing us by just a couple of city blocks.

Show-and-tell exposed us to the usual variety of styles, techniques, and sketch sizes (this week’s extreme being a smartphone!). Special themes touched upon today: speed sketching (those barges move fast… or do we sketch slowly?) and details versus sweeping strokes. Other than that, we were grateful to Darby for holding off for the duration of our event.

As always, feedback is very welcome: if you have suggestions for future locations, or ideas regarding the format of our events, please let us know!

Also, do not forget to check out the day’s sketches on Flickr – and upload yours!

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Mo‘olelo o Moanalua

Posted: July 17, 2016 | Author: Sebastian | Filed under: USkO | Tags: hula, Prince Lot Hula Festival | Leave a comment

The Prince Lot Hula Festival is one of our favorite events in the islands. Having missed it for several years in a row, we were excited to return this weekend to see Hālau Hula from the islands in the idyllic setting of Moanalua Gardens. The atmosphere was as wonderful as we remembered it (and so were the poi mochi). Both ancient and modern hula (hula kahiko and hula ‘auana) were performed beautifully, complemented by a concert of the Royal Hawaiian Band at noon. To us, this event embodies much of what we love about Hawai‘i: the history, mele and hula, people who care. Oh, and we managed to do a little sketching too!

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