Sketching my Solar Visits

This blog has been an excellent opportunity for me to express myself. Before I started it just over a year ago, I had no outlet for creative writing, photography, or start-to-finish project implementation. Wheresthesolar has filled that void tremendously. Every blog post requires a bit of luck finding the solar, photographing it, putting a unique spin in the writing, and then pitching it on social media. Even though the work may only take a few hours, the duration of a post (from inspiration to publish) can be a few weeks.

In addition, I've had to learn how to present my thoughts over multiple mediums. Before this blog, my online presence gave no indication of my interest in solar. Now, I communicate this interest through Wheresthesolar on Twitter, Youtube, Facebook, and Flickr. Each platform requires a certain amount of finessing.

Top: Auntie Celeste's oil
on canvas of Chris on the
shore
Bottom: Animation by
Aunt Eileen 

Recently, a couple of my family members suggested I start sketching some of my favorite photos. It seems to be the 'in thing'. My former boss, retired Congressman Jay Inslee (now governor of Washington) auctioned some of his sketches to donors during his 2012 gubernatorial race. My buddy, Mike Bradley (see post below) told me that the real lynch pin and draw to the Wait but Why blog are the stick figure drawings. Even President Bush has a number of portraits on display down at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in University Park, TX.

Sketching and painting runs in the family. My mom originally taught me to draw. I pencil sketched frequently in middle school and high school. It used to be one of my ways of relaxing and focused my ideas. My mom's sister Katie is an architect and urban designer at MICA in Baltimore. Their youngest sister Eileen is an animator in Los Angeles (Eileen's site). Their aunt Celeste was a prolific oil-on-canvas painter in Reno. Here is a collection of some of Celeste's work.

Solar is difficult to sketch because there are only so many ways to flatter a photo-voltaic panel. As I was looking through my solar photos on Flickr, I decided to go with the one above. It's from a visit March 2015 to the Western Presbyterian church in Foggy Bottom. I liked sketching this photo because of the vanishing point, the human element with Betsy Carter in the foreground, and the simplicity of shapes. I hope you like it!