The Chip Bag

I've been using my 3DS as my primary game console for the past year or so. I've picked up some new games and revisited old ones that I haven't in a while, and it's been great! I don't feel compelled to buy the latest shiny new game on Switch, and I like having minigames that aren't covered in ads like most mobile games are. (The amount of Picross I've completed is a sign that I need help super cool and impressive.)

I like the DS because I can play it comfortably in bed or on the couch underneath a warm blanket, and it's portable. It can be thrown in my pocket or bag somewhat carelessly, and I can play it on the bus. The Switch isn't portable in the same way for two reasons. First, I have too much fear to play the Switch anywhere outside of the house or a similarly safe indoor environment. Second, I have a really hard time reading or parsing basically any Switch game except Animal Crossing because everything on the screen is so small. I almost always have to play the Switch docked, which means no submerging my entire being under blankets or playing on the bus.

I also feel really tired whenever I think about playing a Switch game these days. It feels like a commitment. It feels like I'm going to clock in at a job.

Earlier this month, the Rush Fifty-Something tour rolled through Denver and I was in attendance (along with my dad). I will never financially recover from this.

Attentive readers will know that I really like Rush. I'd even go as far as to say it's my favorite band, and I'm really bad at picking favorite anythings. Unfortunately for me, I didn't fully appreciate them until after the R40 tour in 2015, so I figured I had missed the boat for seeing them live forever (not the most devastating thing because most of the artists I like are dead or inactive anyway). But I was pleasantly surprised to be proven wrong, so there I was!

I got two free Daniel Smith dot cards (36 dots total) from a friend in Urban Sketchers Boulder. I like the idea of Dan Smith paints, but I don't have the inventory space or budget to buy all the colors I like. The dot cards give me the opportunity to have fun with weird colors without going bankrupt! I thought about different ways to make the dots portable before settling on the extremely low-tech option of cutting the dots up and taping them into a mint tin. (As we know, I do love me a mint tin)

Daniel Smith carries a lot of interesting colors, especially in the way of earth tones. I've been married to the same set of primaries-plus-green for a while, so I decided to try branching out a little by putting together a fall palette.

September was a busy month for sketch meetups. I went to both Boulder meets in addition to the Fort Collins one since they didn't overlap this time! I keep telling myself I'm going to discuss each of these outings in separate posts and never do, so I'm throwing them into one post so I can stop being so behind. The overarching theme was cool buildings.

The first meetup of the Urban Sketchers Fort Collins chapter was in August. I was surprised there wasn't one already when I started looking for groups last year. I would have done it myself, but me starting a recurring social group??? In this economy??

This group has a different energy from the Boulder one because some people have been bringing their kids! Which is awesome! More kids should go on art outings. Also, I brought my dog and everyone was a big fan.

Of course our first meeting was in Old Town Square. I've drawn in the square many times already, so I split off to walk up the street and find a building I haven't worked with yet. I picked one that I've thought a lot about drawing without actually getting around to it... the architecture is neat and there's a horse in the window. I tried using watercolor crayon to add some brick texture and am happy with how it turned out!