Sketch with Christina Wald in Tuscany in 2025!

 

RESERVE YOUR SPOT BY OCTOBER 15TH

Join Christina Wald in Tuscany!

May 2025, immerse yourself in a 11-day/10-night art adventure!

• Explore Val d'Orcia's rich history & beauty

• Savor local food, wine, and transport on us!

• $4500 single, $4200 double, or $3800 for non-sketching partners

Includes:

• 10 nights accommodations

• 10 breakfasts, most lunches & dinners

More info here: https://www.lisastatkus.com/christina-walds-a-sketching-obsession-in-tuscany-workshop-info/

Register here: https://www.lisastatkus.com/product/christina-walds-sketching-obsession-in-tuscany-2025/

Sketch Outing to Music Hall

Jeb Brack, Christina Wald, Sarah Rocheleau, Amy Bogard, Vanessa Sorensen, Margot Madison, Darcy Vorhees

A group of us (Jeb Brack, Christina Wald, Sarah Rocheleau, Amy Bogard, Vanessa Sorensen, Margot Madison, Darcy Vorhees Van Horn) went sketching at Music Hall March 7th.

I have wanted to sketch Music Hall again for a while and we were filmed as park of a segment they are doing on me for Arts Bridge on CET.

Here are some of the sketches!

The sketchbooks! Photo by Amy Bogard

Sketch by Jeb Brack

Sketch by Sarah Rocheleau

Sketch by Vanessa Sorensen

Sketch by Christina Wald

Our next outing is to the Cincinnati Zoo on March 23rd at 9am before the next illustrators lunch at Dumesh. Hope to see you there!

Sketching at Taft Ale House

Vanessa Sorensen's sketch

Vanessa Sorensen and I took a quick break from deadlines last Friday to get out and sketch. I had my eye on Taft's Ale House to sketch the exterior but was just as happy to sketch inside, drink beer and eat smoked chicken wings.

The Ale House is a gorgeous renovated church. They also have this great logo.

It is an homage to Ohio President William Howard Taft getting stuck in the bathtub. There is even a delightful children's book about it by Caldecott winner Mac Barnett called President Taft is Stuck in the Bath that seems to have a place here even though it has nothing to do with the Ale House.

Blast!" said Taft. "This could be bad."

I never did add color to my sketch. I have been in a deadline vortex.

Christina Wald's sketch

Here is Vanessa's write-up: http://nessydesigns.blogspot.com/2015/06/taft-ale-house-sketch.html

Great new C. F. Payne Sketchbook available!

Interior spread of C. F. Payne's new book

C. F. says: "Well, the sketchbook is now officially available through Createspace. About 45 pages is sketches from loose marker preliminaries to tight ready to roll sketches. sketches for Time, Rolling Stone, Readers Digest, MAD and more. Politicians, rockers, writers and critters. A rip-off at $12.00."

http://amzn.com/1511776617

Preview of the Mummy Exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum Center

Christina Wald and Amy Bogard

Amy Bogard and I recently had the opportunity to preview the new Mummy exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum Center.

We brought our sketchbooks along (well yes, they are always with us actually) There was a lot to choose from and we have sketched at the Museum Center a couple times before.  The exhibit focuses on mummification around the world and the science of decomposition in addition to the expected Egyptian mummies.

Some aspects of the exhibit are very moving. It is amazing how quickly we return to the decayed leaf litter when we die. Everything goes back to the dust it arose from ( Carl Sagan said "we are all star stuff" which is a much prettier way to say that.)

There are also cadavers used for scientific study in the show. We have a couple medical illustrators who come to the illustrators lunch occasionally and one recently brought pictures of a cadaver arm she drew from for a project. They made me think of her and the tradition of Leonardo Da Vinci. Although oddly we did not sketch that part of the show.

The creepiest part of the exhibit are the shrunken heads; definitely examples of the darker circumstances of death.

Anyway, here are some of the exhibits we did sketch from...

Sketch by Amy Bogard

This was in the shrunken head room.

Perhaps the creepiest photo of the day of Christina Wald sketching

Final shrunken head sketch by Christina Wald

  Here are some sketches Amy did of natural mummification of a child found in Peru.

Pages from Amy Bogard's aketchbook

Amy Bogard's final sketch

The main Egyptian Mummy room by Chrisitna Wald

We sketched a lot there but added color when we got home. It was too dark in the exhibit to paint. It is an amazing place to sketch though. The act of studying and drawing makes the experience stick with you.

Sketch by Christina Wald

Check out Amy Bogard's post here: http://www.amybogard.com/2014/11/24/on-liminality/

Amy also does an amazing sketch journal workshop in Taos, New Mexico every June. It is amazing! I hope to go again some year...

http://www.amybogard.com/taos-new-mexico/

We are looking for more indoor places to sketch for the winter. Ideas? 

Thanks to WCPO Insider for the free tickets for this post c/o (courtesy of WCPO Insider).

Offf Cincinnati and Icon 8

I am totally bummed that I missed the fact that Yuko Shimizu (One of my favorite illustrators) was in Cincinnati Thursday to speak at OFF Cincinnati.

Did anyone go that can give us a report? I have been so swamped since getting back from Icon 8 (The Illustration Conference) in Portland which I will write about as soon as I get a break in the action.

Until I get things together, here are some links to the sketches I did in Portland and at the conference:

http://christinawaldsketches.tumblr.com/post/92776838795/here-is-the-rest-of-my-portland-sketchbook

http://christinawaldsketches.tumblr.com/post/92018691160/first-set-of-sketches-from-my-trip-to-portland-or

Sketch I did from the back watching Jennifer Daniel discuss infographics

Morning Sketching at Krohn Conservatory

Vanessa Sorensen's Sketch

Amy Bogard, Vanessa Sorensen and I all went to Krohn Conservatory Friday Morning to check out the butterfly exhibit and sketch.

It was a rainy day out so sketching in the rainforest was just perfect! There are a bunch of caged tropical birds in that area too so we could not resist drawing them (or the koi).

Vine Video: https://vine.co/v/MXTjEgX1JdO

Some of Amy Bogard's sketches

Christina Wald's Sketches

Sketch Outing to Newport Aquarium

Spider Tortoise by Linda Bittner

Linda, Julie, Christina, Amy

Linda and Julie Bittner, Amy Bogard and I went to Newport Aquarium March 28th to sketch and check out the new turtle exhibit.

The new enclosure is really cool!

We are going on another sketch outing this week. Drop a line if you want to join us!

Bravo, the new Galapagos turtle by Amy Bogard

Amy sketching

Pancake tortoise by Linda Bittner

Bravo in his ideal home setting by Julie Bittner

Bravo in the new turtle environment by Christina Wald

The super cool crabs by Christina Wald

Sketching at the Zoo

Sketch by Amy Bogard

As I mentioned in a previous post, some of us have been sketching before or after our weekly scheduled Illustrators Lunch. This was the current week's effort. Amy Bogard and I went to the zoo. We actually got a lot of sketching in even though it felt like it may storm at any second.

Sketch by Christina Wald

I even got a vine video: https://vine.co/v/b92etaJFUxL

Not sure where next week, but if you want to go along, drop me an email!

Sketch by Christina Wald

Illustrators Sketch Group

Sketch by Christina Wald

Sketch by Christina Wald

Some of us have started sketching on location after some of the weekly lunches. If anyone is interested in joining us, drop an email for the weekly details if we go (weather permitting). This will probably be more of a warm weatherr thing. But we may go to some indoor locations.

Location vine videos:

https://vine.co/v/b2tmDp671YY

https://vine.co/v/bEh9AdXbpEW

Sketch by Christina Wald

'In the Spirit of the Year of the Dragon'

Here are some sketches for you guys. Christina had mentioned if anyone else had been so inspired by this year's patron beastie. I guess I have been because my sketchbooke has been quickly filling with writhing tails and gnashing teeth and gouts of searing flames (not to mention maidens in distress :P). Enjoy! Smaug, the King of dragons, is a disgarded cover concept for 'The Hobbit'. The other Smaug is an element included in the final cover layout I chose. The other image is just a sketch.

Sketches from Dr. Sketchy

Hi guys- here are some sketches I did at the Dr. Sketchy session at the Leaping Lizard Gallery in Covington, thought it would be lovely to post them here... I hope others share some too! I barely saw anyone else's work when I was there.

Just got a Drawing Tablet for home

I've used them at work for years, but finally couldn't deal with a mouse anymore at home. This makes sketches look oily pastely for sure. Just a quick first one, but we'll see if I make the transition to mostly digital like Ryan. I don't know what to do with the boxes upon boxes of editorial illustrations in my closets anyway. Later!
Gabe

Noise Music Night at the Art Damage Lodge

When Christina calls for art, I deliver. This is the first drawing in my new Moleskine, done live at the Art Damage Lodge. Jonathan, the first musician, jams screwdrivers and hammers under the strings and beats the sound out of the instrument and into you.