An Amazing 2011 and A Promising 2012

The Summer Solstice Scrawl Crawl was a wonderful event with 35 participants, from seven countries. The blog is full of amazing creations and is a treasure-trove of inspiration. Please take a peek and share this blog with others, we would love to hear from you in the 'comments'.

Please join in on the fun next year and scrawl with us!

Tioka and Kirsten

CO to AZ Scrawl Crawl or The Edge of the World

Summer greetings from hot and dusty Phoenix, AZ, USA. I spent the Solstice driving from Cortez, Co back home to Phoenix. I've done this drive many, many times. I know the best snacks to pack (Chex Mix and Animal Crackers), the cleanest bathrooms (NOT the Conoco in Ridgeway, CO) and where you can find a nice patch of grass for the dogs (NOT Kayenta, AZ). Despite numerous sojourns across this desert, the expansive beauty, desolation and anesthetizing boredom of the five hour drive across the Indian reservations in northeast Arizona, once again left me contemplating life, death and how one survives without Starbucks. Racing as fast as the law and our V-4 engine allowed, I spaced out the window and was struck by the clean edge of the horizon. It seemed that with a swift jerk of the wheel one could careen off the edge of the world. I could easily imagine how humans might have believed that the earth was flat. Also on this particular drive, while I tried hard to focus on the long day of light and shadows, my attention kept being distracted by, of all things, the moon. It was the sun's companion and ours for a good part of the day, a reminder that night would indeed come again.

Norwich Scrawls by Lisa

Hello from Norwich! John has already given a wonderful description of our day, so I won't add much other than to say what an inspiring and productive time we had. And here are my doodles from the day.

Sketchy scrawlcrawl from Paris

Hi all,
I'm Lynsey from SCBWI New York in Paris for the summer. I've loved seeing everyone's unique location choices and what came out of the solstice prompts. There was so much inspiration! I met up with the Paris group at Cafe Lola in the am and spent the day sketching on location.

Afterwards, Gudrun and I attempted to conquer Notre Dame in a misty, grey fog.

We obviously needed chocolat chaud to warm us back up and sat at Le Pain Quotidien sipping, people watching and sketching- here's the lavendar building across the way.

Next, we hit up Hotel De Ville only to find construction and hay piles, so I drew the lovely lamps.

We ended the day drinking and dining- so overall a perfect summer solstice. :)

                

Madrid, Sally and her sleepy friend

ATTENTION: CLIK THE PICTURES TO SEE THEM BETTER.

First my earliest effort, shortly(ish) after dawn.

Then, out on the street, a beautiful sunny morning. It's going to be hot.

I had a number of things to do today that I could't avoid, so I've sketched them in (to borrow Bridget's pun). First, a medical check up. In spite of this sounding like a boring waste fo time, I often use the wait as a life drawing opportunity and come away exhilarated.

Then off to my expo, where I need to be on duty. It's in a shopping mall; no background for the images, which are watercolours and could use some calm. Everything is shiny and twinkly, which I couldn't get into the drawing.

And from there to Sol, the very centre of Madrid, (and of Spain; it's the 0 km spot) and recently the neuralgic centre of the 15 M or "Spanish Revolution" movement, the writing on the wall for our political parties.

35º here, a meeting place that could have been better chosen perhaps. A quick sketch and off to shadier places.
After luch I had an Association of Professional Illustrators of Madrid General Assembly to go to...where there's always so much to talk about, and it was really hot...

And to end the day, a meeting on the Segovia Bridge over the Manzanares river.
Too tired to draw, but the photos show the setting.

And the photo-taker, Malena, wrote about our need of "una buena siesta".

Stoned in Carnac

Sue and Dana spent the day

in the druid village of Ménec in Carnac.

But first, a little warm up.

Sue pigged her food first so had some time to do some sketches.

We arrive at the site and finally Dana gets to work.

A few photos of the day:

Puddle, or possibly a sacred spring.

The stones are behind you, Dana!

"Go fetch, Maisie!"

A passing French critic remarked, "Minimalistique!"

That's a compliment, right?

Sue's making progress! She should be an illustrator!

Dana's getting into her stride now.

Sue suggests getting a coffee.

Good idea!

Coffee for us and a cat for Maisie.

End to a perfect day.

Hello to everyone from Sue Porter and Dana Carey!

PS: Here's a picture of a seal for Kirsten.

Thanks for all you did to make this happen.

We had a lovely time. xoxo

Amsterdam Oost - from dawn to dusk.

Hello fellow scbwites -

I love seeing the postings from various countries and gatherings. Unfortunately I was unable to Crawl around as I was busy Scrawling for an assignment. I will post a picture here of the view from my home office - a gray start to the day. Note the two plump pigeons huddled on the smokestack. I think they express the weather most eloquently - though to be fair, it did brighten up later in the day.

I would dearly love to share what I was working on with you, but I have been sworn to secrecy. Yes, the life of an illustrator is just as clandestine as as super-spy like James Bond, only I don't have a license to kill. I think they only give those to Newbery and Caldecott recipients. ;-D

Thanks for sharing, everyone. Proost!

Rachelle

Stuttgart Final Crawl Spot

My husband, Dave, and doggies joined us for dinner at Amadeus. It was a balmy evening, perfect for sitting outside. The weather had turned out fabulously (the umbrella had worked!) and I had a wonderful time cruising all over Stuttgart with my two creative-cohorts. I was thinking to myself that doing this quarterly (for the equinoxes and both solstices) could be quite fun.  I hope everyone had a wonderful summer solstice and a great time scrawl crawling! Over the next couple days I look forward to touring through everyone's postings.

Kirsten Carlson

Illustrator Coordinator

SCBWI-Germany

On Location in Paris

I wasn't able to post anything during the Scrawl Crawl, but I'll post now. For me, the Scrawl Crawl was a return to reportage drawing, something I have become quite rusty at while working my 9 to 5, and writing. Lynsey and I wandered from Cafe Lola to Notre Dame, where we drew in the mist. Then after meeting Tioka and others at the Tea Corner, we parked in a sidewalk cafe with a hot chocolate (?!) and worked on our people. We finished the day wandering through the Fete de la Musique and having a lovely meal in the 6th with SCBWI writers Angela and Aimee.

Stuttgart Heron Man

My favorite captured moment of the day.

Stuttgart Afternoon Walk-About

The Wall of cubed-metal in the Wagenhalle

This funeral wreath caught my eye,
it had served it's purpose and was now in the recycling area

I actually thought the umbrella was coming out, by mid-afternoon a rough-looking gang of clouds gathered overhead. We were on a quest to find the Wagenhalle cafe as our next spot. It was partly successful. We found the Wagenalle--an old abandoned warehouse where train cars used to be stored that was turned into a makeshift artist community. We found signs of artsy-activity: a bonfire "dish" big enuf to hold a smart car, a group rehearsing some dance-moves behind one of the big sliding doors, a wall of spare auto metal, crushed up into cubes and stacked several meters high, flyers advertising a concert from the weekend. I talked with a fellow watering bushy-bamboo (they're everywhere!) and he told us the cafe was extinct. wahh. It was still a cool place to check out, but we decided to move on and stroll through a cemetery on the way back to the U-bahn.

On the way to the river

Underwater

Underwater illustrations by Greek illustrator, Effie Lada



a wonderful summer solstice

For me, here in Israel, the summer solstice was a wonderful day, i woke up with a happy song in my heart and i sang all day long!

Stuttgart Midday in the Sun...Clouds..no Wait. Sun.

The umbrella was working, by noon the sun was making repeat appearances. I met up with some friends at the Modern Art Museum outdoor cafe (The Cube). At lunchtime I chose to draw instead of eat (note to self: try & do both or you will poop out suddenly in mid-afternoon, without a snack shack in sight and have zilcho-energy for scrawling). There were so many people out and I decided to draw hair super-fast. I was excited to see the fella in the lower left corner a second time...I saw him in the train station and was mesmerized by his mustache.

Stuttgart Beginnings

Left the house a bit late and then had to turn around because I forgot some important stuff. But walked from home to the station and saw a bit of town I hadn't see before. Have umbrella along so I know it won't rain on us.

Just before midnight...

I just wanted the longest day to be even longer.
Still, we're an hour behind the rest of Europe here in London so just time before it ends, to post my own good night and thank you to you Tioka, Kirsten and all!  

So great to watch and let subjects come to you.   I loved Kirsten's zen quote about that.  And Angela's poems and the drawings from Greece...I hope to see something of what others did in Norwich and Britanny and all - tomorrow maybe?

Meanwhile  around 3 pm the sun came out as Anne-Marie and I looked over the Thames to St Paul's Cathedral (half concealed by riverside offices)  alongside the Millenium bridge.   Just a quick sketch as we were running late.  No time to give a glimpse of people along the bridge which would have been a nice counterpoint to Tioka's Paris photo...

We hurried past Shakespeare's Globe, the Cutty Sark and the Clink  (so much to draw and not just the monuments! )  to join Heather Kilgour at Southwark Cathedral.  Inside the oldest cathedral church in London,  a free piano recital had just started.    What luck!  Almost an hour drawing to Beethoven, Chopin and Brahms...I love sketching to music - there's a particular intensity when you know you aren't the only one hoping your eye, brain and fingers get it right...I dropped a few apostles out of the altar screen carvings but you get the gist.  

I used my Iphone to snap photos of these drawings...And now it's dark, it won't take a readable photo of my last drawing of the Barbican.   More tomorrow perhaps?

But I'm curious to see others work before that!

Bridget

Norwich, land of Scribblers

Here's my initial report of the day in Norwich, where despite a few grey clouds it was largely sunny and we were blessed by the warmest temperature in the UK. Altogether a very impressive nine people turned up for the event, three current SCBWI members, two former (but soon to rejoin I hope), and four new faces. I've asked other members to sign up to the blog and post their work, here, for the moment, is my contribution.

10a.m. turnout: Maureen Nisbet, Lisa Smith, Joyce Taylor and Elaine Mitchell

Five of us started at 10.00am in Norwich's Tombland area, nestled between the old medieval town and the cathedral, and spread out to explore the historical heart of the city. Being an ordinary working day these quiet streets were fairly devoid of people, so it was a sedate and relaxing morning where most of us focused on details of the ancient buildings and the river.

I hadn't had chance to "warm up" before the event, so my first drawings were quite fussy.

Tombland Alley

It was an interesting but tough challenge to render these beautiful structures, it was not easy to do them full justice in a quick sketch. I jokingly said its probably easier for artists to draw ugly things, because you can make an ugly thing attractive simply by turning it into a picture, but to do justice to something that is already beautiful can be extremely difficult.

Back of cottages, Elm Hill.

River Wensum from Elm Hill looking towards the Art School

Lunch was in the top garden of the Briton's Arms Restaurant, an ancient thatch-roofed icon of old Norwich, where we were joined by three more people. I tried to think of sketching but just had chance for one quick scribble.

newcomer Kat Erwin

The Writers about to hit the Cathedral. Most attendees describe themselves as writers, though many are multi-talented artists too. we were joined at lunchtime by Paeony Lewis and new writers Cathy Fiddy and Kat Erwin. Illustrator Matt Robertson joined us shortly afterwards.

In the afternoon we descended on Norwich Cathedral. For me I found the cathedral very inspiring and somewhat easier to find subject matter, as there were more people around, more visual narratives. The contrast of shadows, ornament and texture was fascinating.

Aged Tour Guide near the West Door

Screen leading onto the South Trancept

The Cloisters

Tomb of John Pelham

Another Tour Guide and fascinated visitor

We all assembled at the end in the Cathedral Refectory to compare notes and show our work, before ending at 4.45pm.  Many thanks to Tioka and Kirsten for encouraging us all to get out and get scribbling, it was a great day and really made us think about our work, ideas and environment.

The results of our labours