San Jose Sketches

I recently went to San Jose, CA, to attend a one-day Edward Tufte seminar. One of my flights was very long so I read a lot, watched Elf one and a half times, and made this sketch, which is way more detailed than I usually have time for on a flight. I enjoyed using my new Expeditionary Art Palette.

Seriously, the flight was so long I had time to sketch this, too! 
When I arrived I went out to find lunch, and spent the time it took me to eat that sandwich listening to an old man tell me about the original such-and-such drives that he worked on. I imagine that is a very San Jose experience. He also gave me advice about becoming a "chair person," which involves finding others to help you but also something he called "abracadabra."
Then I went back to my hotel and took a nap because I deserved it!

That night had the pleasure of meeting up with three San Jose sketchers for dinner - Suma CM, Suhita Shirodkar, and Uma Kelkar. Having friends to sketch with almost anywhere you travel is a definite bonus of being a part of Urban Sketchers.
We talked about sketching people. Suhita is a natural at it, but I'm not always comfortable with it. After participating in several years of One Week 100 People, I feel much more comfortable sketching strangers but when it comes to sketching people I know, I chicken out fearing that I won't sketch them as cute as they are in real life. (Yes, everyone I know is cute.) They all said to just do it anyway and perhaps I'll get more comfortable with it if I do it more. Solid advice!

Morning sketches. Those coffee cups *rolls eyes*.
I spent the day in Edward Tufte's seminar Presenting Data and Information. It was great! He talked a lot about the importance of presenting data in an ethical way and about analytical thinking. He showed amazing examples of representing data visually - about showing it with more than words and arranging it to be easily and well understood. He also had good tips about making presentations, with an emphasis on your story or content, but also your credibility. Plus we got all of his books as part of registration, so it was definitely worth it.

After another nap (I love naps), I walked around downtown San Jose a bit and ate dinner at Original Joe's. I had a great seat at the end of the counter and could see all of the cooking action.