Chilly Sketching Day in Ueno –– But the Weather Managed to Hold Up for Us / 曇天の上野スケッチ会

Throughout last year, we never had rain for our monthly meet-ups. In June, it was pouring the day before the meet-up. But the sky cleared up next day (and it was quite hot as well). In September, even though the forecast said it was going to rain, it was sunny throughout the day. Then we concluded I (the only member who joined all the monthly meet-ups) am a hare on’na (a woman blessed with good weather) and bring the sun. This month though, the sun was finally not with us. We had February’s meet-up on the 16th in Ueno. In the morning, it was raining and it looked like it would continue all day.

昨年の月例スケッチ会はいつもお天気に恵まれ、直前まで雨予報の日でさえ太陽が出て暖かい一日になるということばかりでした。月例スケッチ会に全回参加したのはわたしだけ。次第にわたしが晴れ女なのではないかという冗談がまことしやかに囁かれるようになりました。ところが、今月の上野でのスケッチ会はついに太陽が味方してくれず。朝からしとしと雨が降り、一日中続きそうな様子でした。

They were waiting under umbrellas, but...

But, as I arrived at Grand Fountain in Ueno Park, the meeting place, it literally stopped raining. We were like, “wow!” I was surprised myself since it was just a joke that I’m a hare on’na.

いよいよ晴れ女も伝説も終わりかーなんて戯言を言いながら集合場所の上野公園大噴水前に到着したところ、なんと雨がやみました。いやいや、さすがに自分でもただの冗談だと思っていたので驚きです。。。



Then we spread and started sketching individually as usual. Some of us including me went to check out Ueno Zoo. Due to the bad weather and fear about COVID-19, there were much fewer people in the zoo. So, we saw the pandas without lining up for them.

そんなわけで、雨が止んだので屋内には移動せず、各自好きな場所へ散らばって描くことに。わたし含む何人かは上野動物園に行きました。悪天とコロナウイルスへの心配から人が少なく、パンダを待ち時間ゼロで見ることができました。

Photo by Nia

Ri Ri was having a sound sleep, but suddenly woke up and started eating. He kept eating, eating, and eating…

最初は爆睡していたリーリー、突如目覚めて笹を食べ始めました。なかなかの食べっぷり。



The zoo offered much to sketch. For example, Kumi-san drew different birds.

動物園には描くものがいっぱい。久美さんはこの日一日いろんな鳥をスケッチ。

Nia made a great zoo journal.

ニアはいろんな動物を見て回り、数時間で充実したジャーナルが出来上がっていました。

The monkey mountain attracted me. The monkeys were snuggling in pairs or groups of three. Some of them were grooming each other and other looked like they were melting and merging into one. That was such a lovely scene…

ニアと見に行った猿山。2匹、3匹単位で身を寄せ合って暖をとり、毛づくろいする猿たちが心地よさそうで、ほっこりした気持ちに。。。

Photo by Naoko-san

Naoko-san’s drawings of the monkeys are so adorable! I want stickers of them.

なおこさんの描いた猿がかわいすぎました。ステッカーかLINEのスタンプにしたい。（Instagramから切り出したので、あまりきれいじゃない写真ですみません。）

This time we made some changes in the format of meet-up and only had one session from noon to 3:30 instead of having two (morning & afternoon) sessions in a day. So, after I sketched in the zoo and had lunch, there was only 20 minutes left. Then I quickly drew the food trucks at the fountain square of Ueno Park. It was drizzling for a bit (and stopped soon later).

今回はこれまでとスケッチ会のスケジュールを変え、午前午後の2部制をやめて12時～3時半までの1部制にしました。わたしは動物園で軽くスケッチした後お昼をだらだらと食べていたので、それから上野公園に戻ると、残りはあと20分。噴水広場のフードトラックをぱぱーっとスケッチしました。

The raindrops gave quite nice an effect to Shin-san’s sketch. Noice!

この時間だけ雨がぱらついていました。雨粒がいいかんじのエフェクトを与えているシンさんのスケッチ。雨も味方につけている。。。

That day, we weren’t bothered by rain except for these few raindrops till the end of the sketching. Well, am I really blessed with weather?

結局この日はこの細雨以外大きく降られることなくスケッチ会を終えました。晴れ女伝説はまだ継続するようです。。。



Throw down and group photo.

スローダウンと集合写真

This time we were a smaller group (12 or 13 in total?) than usual, but our results were all different and interesting. Here are some other sketches.

今回はいつもに比べると参加者12～13人程度と少なめでしたが、スケッチはいつもながらにそれぞれ個性があり、おもしろい。いくつかシェアします。



Casey-san

Hanaoka-san

Hau-kun

This is crazy! It wowed us. この圧巻の景色！すごい。。。

Photos of us by Naoko-san

After the general outing, some of us had an extra sketch session at a food hall. Sometimes you can draw better in a teatime sketching like this because you are relaxed and have loosened up in a good way.

全体のスケッチ会終了後、いつも通り何名かでお茶をしながらまたスケッチしました。こういう場のほうがリラックスできて、案外うまく描けたりするものです。

(Not mine, just in case. It’s Shin-san’s)



Here’s my quick report on the Ueno sketching. As I mentioned above, we changed the format of meet-up this time. For last month’s meet-up in Daikanyama, we had a lot more people than expected and difficulty leading the big group. There we learned we need to be more conscious about how big we are now and better organize sketch events. That’s why we made changes. We hope to have fun and safe time sketching together. But now we have another big issue, COVID-19... I’ve heard a few sketchers from overseas are visiting Japan in March and April. As for meet-ups for a few months ahead, we are going to make an announcement later. But the situation is changing day by day. Please stay informed and take care. Thanks for reading!

ということで、とっても簡単にですが、上野での2月スケッチ会レポートです。先月の代官山での回は想像以上にたくさんの人が来て、多少の混乱が生じました。グループがどんどん拡大していくのに伴い、よりスムーズなイベント運営が求められています。そこで今回スケジュールや集合の仕方を見直し、いくつか変更を行いました。今年も皆さんと楽しく安全にスケッチしたいと思っています。ただ、今また別の問題、コロナウイルスが出てきてしまいました。。。これに伴う今後のスケッチ会の方針は別途アナウンスしようと思っていますが、日々状況が変わっていますので、皆さんどうぞお気をつけて。