Trip to Romania Part 4: Maramureș and the Painted Cemetery

Beautiful wooden chapel next to the tallest wooden church in Europe.

Me sketching quickly

Sketch of one of the chapels in Maramureș next to the church with that is tallest wooden building in Europe. I loved the little chapel next to it and drew there. The gorgeous arched gateway was a good place to sketch from.

Ioana took this picture of me entering the monastery complex. The chapel is hidden behind the trees, the tallest wooden church is on the left.

Chapel detail

The architecture is very different from Brasov and the Moldovan areas.
We were very close to the Ukraine here. This was also the town with the Merry Cemetery called Săpânța.

Taken from my balcony overlooking the cemetery

We stayed at a wonderful pension here called Anuta. (Basically what they call a bed and breakfast there). The owners were super friendly and even invited us to try their homemade brandy! 

The location was next to the Merry Cemetery. It was hard to convince my husband that was a selling point when he saw this picture I snapped from my bedroom.

When we first entered the town, we stopped by a woman's house where she showed us socks and blankets she had woven. The folk craft in Romania are high art. Gorgeous stuff!

She had Ioana take my picture at the loom.

I have several posts after this including castles, more painted church details and I cannot believe I skipped posting about Sighișoara!!!

The Merry Cemetery in the daytime...

Greetings from Săpânța!

Trip to Romania Part 2: The Carpathian Mountains and Piatra Neamt

Sketch of the Museum of History and Archaeology in the city of Piatra Neamt.

More from the Romania trip!

Piatra Neamt: We loved this city so much, we stayed for 2 nights at the Grand Hotel Ceahlau and took a lot of time to sketch. They have the cutest gondola up to the top of the mountain.

Recently restored fortress that was much more vertical than the sketch suggests in order to defend from the Turks.

Sketch of the Carpathian mountains before a hike on September 7th.

Picture on location from the porch at our little pension. I sketched during breakfast.

Just call me Indiana Wald! Hiking over a safe but rickety looking bridge in the Carpathians

I was sad not to see any brown bears in the mountains. We did see their scat though…

Trip to Romania: Part I

Red line shows our itinerary...

I just got back from a 2 week trip to Romania with my friend Ioana who is working on a plant field guide to the country. So much fun touring the country and seeing castles, churches, villages and fortresses.

It was a whirlwind! We were on the road a lot so we could see as much as possible. But, in the short time, it was just tastes of different regions. 

We first went to Romania in 1998 to be in George and Ioana's wedding. The country has done a 180 since then and is growing in leaps and bounds. Unfortunately, the guys could not join us this visit.

We did not get to revisit the seaside town of Constanta or the Dacian ruins, but next time...

Our first stop was Brasov and OF COURSE Castle Bran in Transylvania. We did not see Bran last time since I had to pick one castle to visit and that was Peles. So this time, we made sure to cover it.

Brasov is an amazing town. I hope to go back and sketch more! We only got a little taste of the city.

The Brasov town square

While I sketched this, they were giving a free opera concert. It seemed to cover a lot of the greatest hits and was a bit of a sampler platter of songs.

A peacock is a good image in Brasov. It is a proud and beautiful city.

Did you think I would not sketch it?

Queen Marie's Chapel we thought... Gorgeous with all the moss...

Me, walking up to the castle...

If you are curious and want to know more, watch this amazing series about Romania called Wild Carpathia. They go to a lot of the places Ioana and I went to and talks about how they are trying to conserve the largest areas of virgin forest in Europe.

http://youtu.be/jvDIpOPlWJ8

Sketch Workshop in Chicago

I am finally posting all of my sketches from Chicago. I have been buried since my return in work. (I have some amazing projects on my plate at the moment.)

But, it was wonderful to have a weekend devoted to just sketching and hanging out with wonderful friends.

You can see photos from the seminar here: http://chicagosketchseminar2014.wordpress.com/
and some of the Cincinnati group's photos and sketches here: http://cincyillustrators.blogspot.com/2014/06/urban-sketching-seminar-in-chicago.html

See Vanessa's sketches here: http://nessydesigns.blogspot.com/2014/06/urban-sketchers-chicago-2014.html

and her incredible photos here: http://nessydesigns.blogspot.com/2014/06/chiacgo-urban-sketchers-trip-photos.html

My favorite sketch from the weekend. This is the Holy Name Cathedral where Roger Ebert's funeral was held

Another church on the church architecture tour

Porsche at what the locals called 'Viagra Triangle' which is a good description

Big statue next to the hotel

A bit of sketching between bites of Garrett popcorn

Detail of the facade

Part of the Newberry Library

Sketching Chickens and Swans

Mabel has a spa day

I have a backlog of sketches. I did the above sketch at Amy's house in Amberly Village in my new, beautiful sketchbook made by Vanessa and the other at Miami Whitewater during the long Memorial Day weekend.

I am heading to Chicago this weekend for an urban sketching workshop. Expect many posts soon!

The swan paddle boats at Miami Whitewater. I so want to ride one!

Wishing for Spring

I did this sketch a couple days ago. It looks like it will have the opposite effect of bringing on spring weather...

Various Sketches

Little Valentine's Day Sketch

Year of the Horse!

New Ultimate Sinister Character

A lot going on, a couple items from the sketchbook...

A Night of Sketching at Modern Makers + The Cincinnati Ballet presents Dance/Draw

I went with my friend Amy to sketch last night at the Modern Makers + The Cincinnati Ballet presents Dance/Draw. We sketched performers from the Cincinnati Ballet.


We mostly did gestures but I did the top sketch when I got home after I looked at my photos.

It was a great event. Lots of wonderful music, drawing and dancing. People of all ages were there. It was cram packed with people!

Gestures

More Gestures

My favorite gesture...

One of the dance demonstrations

Christina and Amy Sketching

Sketching Visit to Raptor Inc.

My name is Earl... The initial owners of this bird though she was a he.

My friend Kelly and I have been talking about going to Raptor, Inc where she volunteers for a long time. I have been so busy that it was very difficult to coordinate.

Finally, we were able to get together a couple weeks ago.

It is a wonderful facility. I really enjoyed taking in all the birds there. Sylvester, the Great Horned Owl and Earl, the Turkey Vulture were my particular favorites.

I did some quick ink studies there (it was a little too cold for me to paint outside) and did some watercolor/acrylic sketches later.

Some quick ink studies

Sylvester, silent and watchful...

Sketching Cars, Cats and Findley Market

Miffy is always a star!

I have been super-swamped all week. Finally I had a break in the action to sketch.

I was inspired to do this sketch after seeing Simon Tofield (of Simon's Cat fame) speak at Joseph Beth Booksellers.

Also, I did this car sketch as a study for my next Ultimate Sinister comic. It is a little late for the time period by 30 years, but I love the design.

Finally, I got out in the field to sketch yesterday with my friend Amy. We went to a good indoor location at Findley Market.

Fortunately, I am not cooking a Thanksgiving dinner this year and was free to observe the frantic purchasing of comestibles.

We we comfortable seated in the eating area next to the taco stand.

Vine video: https://vine.co/v/hF3jmVhPrQF

Photo by Amy Bogard of me sketching

Sketch at the Cincinnati Observatory

I sketched the Cincinnati Observatory after lunch yesterday… Great buildings… It reminded me of the paintings I had to do of the old Harvard Observatory for the Annie Jump Cannon book I illustrated.

I hope to go inside and sketch sometime.