Asparagus and Other German things! (a sketchbook journal)

Hey, folks! 

Hello from Germany where we are currently celebrating SPARGELZEIT!

(here's a little drawing of white asparagus and hollandaise sauce.)

Wait, you're not familiar with Spargelzeit?!

It's that wonderful time of the year when Germans celebrate asparagus, more specifically, white asparagus. Also, did you know that green asparagus and white asparagus are actually THE SAME PLANT!? Somehow, I only recently learned that The white variety is grown by not allowing the plant to receive direct sunlight. If you already knew this, then A) you are probably German, or B) you're an agricultural genius; congratulations!  

We flew here almost immediately after this year's Getting Paid to Draw wrap party. I am still collecting some thoughts and putting together a list of highlights from this year's course. It's a LOT to try and write out, but I'll just say I feel incredibly motivated and thankful for the phenomenal students and guests we had this year. Complete write-up coming soon!

In the meantime, here are some travel drawings from my sketchbook.

DRAWING GERMANY FOR OVER A DECADE.

I’ve been visiting this area of Germany for roughly 15 years to visit my wife’s friends (who have become my friends) and my wife’s family (who have become my family) and to eat this country’s snacks (which have become my snacks). In that time, the things that I’ve noticed and made notes of in my sketchbook have changed. I guess, eventually, I’ll go through and collect all of these drawings into one long entry and we can compare and contrast, but for now here are a few notes from our trip so far.

Our very first stop was at the bakery in Frankfurt when we landed so we could grab a Laugenecke. It’s like a combination of a pretzel and a croissant (sort of) and our family eats one every day when we’re here. We then rode the train north to Hannover where we made our SECOND food stop, this time for a bratwurst.

Another daily item in our family is this Bavarian cheese spread made out of old gouda: Obazda.

I took a day trip to Beverungen where I attended the Orange Blossom Special, a very small music festival put on by Glitterhouse Records who put out the early Nirvana albums in the European market. 

It rained almost the entire day, but I still had fun catching up with friends Tomas and Frank. They are the hosts of the Hameln radio show, Rekorder. I've known Tomas for years, and I met Frank exactly one year ago when they interviewed me and asked me to play a few songs on their show. I borrowed an imperfect guitar from my mother-in-law and played for the two of them in the living room of an old house in between questions. 

Together we stood in a festival tent while it poured down rain and listened to piano versions of old punk songs.

I had wild mushrooms and noodles as a snack.

The next day, we attended a British festival where we saw these two dogs "driving" a small jeep.

(they were driving on the wrong side of the road!)

We've been eating a lot of Greek food here, which is ironic since we'll be in Greece in two weeks for our sketchbook retreat. (It sold out quickly, but I'll announce next year's location very soon!)

Our son was transferring Greek phrases from a napkin at a restaurant and practicing for our trip. 

(it's liquor) 

We also took a day trip to this small amusement park. 

and we took a tour of the gardens in Hannover.

 AN ILLUSTRATION CONFERENCE IN BUXTEHUDE! 

This past weekend, I gave a presentation about keeping a sketchbook at Bunte Hunte, an illustration conference in Buxtehude, just south of Hamburg.

I was invited by Patrick Wirbeliet, one of the organizers and the author of Kiste, a graphic novel series my son loves. Everything about the weekend was perfect. My kids explored the beautiful, small town while Katrin and I saw presentations and had long conversations about illustration with the guests and attendees. 

I was blown away by speakers at this conference! Check out this line-up!

• Ingela Arrhenius!!
• Jan Kruse!! (One of my favorite German illustrators!)
• Chris Haughton!!
• Marloes De Vries!!
  see the full lineup here.

I have so many things to say about the weekend, but they'll have to wait. The dinner bell is ringing and tonight we are having asparagus soup.