OhHara Fishing Port Sketching Experience!!

 

for Japanese version, click HERE.

I went to OhHara Fishing Port in Chiba to sketch with friends from Yotsuya Dessin over the weekend.  It was a sketch outing event that was originally held at Setsu Mode Seminar, the school founded by legendary fashion drawing artist, Setsu Nagasawa, where many of Yotsuya Dessin members had graduated from.

 

Mr. Nagasawa was undoubtedly one of the greatest figure in fashion figure drawings however, he also taught with as much enthusiasm the importance of field sketching/landscape painting.  Now, the member of Yotsuya Dessin has decided to revive that fun and exciting event once again.  I participated as a member of Urban Sketchers Japan to witness that.

One thing that I was told about Setsu Sketch Outing was the size of the paper that they used, that they painted BIG!  I mean, they said they usually use something close to B2 size!  Considering my usual sketchbook as the size of an iPad, the B2 is almost like a decent TV monitor!  You definitely need an easel.

So I prepared myself with a nice foldable drawing board and a tripod to go with them and tried painting BIG!!  But, what do you know?!  I was totally knocked out!!  I brought my size 18 brush (my biggest one) but it felt like so small for the size of the canvas.  It was like battling against a huge goblin with a tiny Xacto knife LOL!!  I am throwing my arms around but oh my god, it was tough!!  Unusual size could make you go dizzy too, and I had trouble fitting the scene in this big sized canvas!! 

 

The bottom two are my usual sketchbook size, you can see how big the B2 size is!

Now, I was pretty much in shreds so I looked over to my friends from Yotsuya Dessin.  And what do I see?!  They are battling their battle with a huge ax and/or Japanese sword like brushes (the ones that you use for painting a wall) and doing just fine!!  Wow! I should have known better....  

Mr. Yotsuya Dessin "Mr. K", He knows what he's doing!

After that, I used one size smaller B3 size paper to draw, and this time it went OK.  But then I tried sketching in my usual sketchbook and it felt so easy, like I know the way around!!

 

This one is B3 size, still pretty big for my usual sketch size.

 

I usually use pen for the line drawing, but for this one I used PITT oil base pencil.

 

This one and the bottom three sketches are done on my usual sketchbook.

 

Local fishermen talking about a paint for their ships.  They had really strong accent.

Well, I have learned so much from this trip.  Even though we have a monthly sketch outing as USkJ group, we don't spend as much time hunting for spots to sketch as we have a time limit.  But when you are on an overnight trip like this, you could spend all day thinking, hunting for the spot you want to sketch without worrying about time.  I also learned how to deal with the size that you are not used to sketching, and how to LOOK differently using different eye muscles to see... lol

 I totally realized how I am NOT trained to see/look for the main subject that I really want to sketch, and the ability to capture an interesting composition to sketch.

When you find something you want to sketch, it seems the lines you draw energize/encourages you to make a good sketch?

And the last thing I realized was that even if the scene looked photogenic, or sketch worthy in a general sense, if you yourself can't find the scene so attractive, the sketch won't be as good as you wish it'd to be.  The line eventually dies... The very passion that drives you to sketch, is the essential part for a good result.  I thought I knew this already, but experienced it very strongly during this trip, and it was worth experiencing it again.

These are the ones that my lines somewhat bored me out and stopped drawing.

As you can see, it's just boring.  And you can feel how I was feeling too, can't you?

Now, this trip was organized this year as a "prep" project to see how it goes, so that it was announced only for the members of Yotsuya Dessin, but maybe next year, I will be able to call for all the sketch lovers out there to join the fun experience in OhHara Fishing Port!!