“Not all those who wander are lost… some are just chasing ideas.”
That line speaks to the heart of my creative journey. For me, wandering isn’t aimless — it’s intentional curiosity. It’s the way I explore the world, ideas, and art forms that spark something new inside me. Whether I’m behind the camera, sketching with ink, experimenting with code-generated art, or just letting a thought lead me down a rabbit hole — I’m no longer chasing perfection. I’m chasing possibilities.
Chasing Creativity is my way of sharing that process with you. It’s a regular peek into what I’m exploring, making, and learning — not because I have all the answers, but because I love the questions. After decades in the tech world, I’ve come to see that the most meaningful work often begins with a simple spark of curiosity. I’ll still create in-depth posts on a single topic, but this series (monthly) is intentionally more ad-hoc aimed at following those sparks and wherever they lead.
In this post, I’ll focus on recent drawing experiences covering urban sketching, bookmark creation and ending with a few of my recent portraits.
Ink and wash experiments at Washington Courthouse
Urban sketching is all about capturing a place as it is — in real time, right there on location — usually with ink and watercolor. It’s not about perfection; it’s about presence. That’s part of what I love about it: the way loose, expressive watercolor contrasts with the structure of ink lines.
Ironically though, I don’t often sketch on-site. I usually snap a photo and draw later at home — maybe it’s the photographer in me, or maybe I just don’t have the patience to sit still on a sidewalk with a pen in my hand.
This sketch began with a photo I took of the Fayette County Courthouse in Washington Court House, Ohio (yep — that name’s a bit confusing). I was actually just there to pick up my car, but the building’s architecture and dramatic angle caught my eye. I dropped the image into my iPhone’s “sketch subjects” folder — where most of my future drawing ideas live — and eventually turned it into an ink sketch.
I used my fountain pen with Platinum Carbon Ink — my go-to for urban sketching. It flows beautifully, lays down deep blacks, and most importantly, it’s waterproof — perfect for layering watercolor without smearing the lines.
I was debating whether to add color to this one as I liked the ink only sketch even though its a bit busy. However, since I’m able to digitize these images, I chose to go forward with watercolor to complete the “urban sketch” (next image).
It’s ok, but wasn’t super excited and received a few comments online suggesting I consider an Ian Fennelly approach to it. Ian is a well known urban sketcher and is known for his vibrant and whimsical colors and perspective. Since I’d already colored it traditionally, my only option was to start over or bring into Procreate to digitially paint the original scanned ink image. Procreate is a drawing/painting app that I use on my iPad from which you can start from a blank page or import an image like I did here.
The next image is doing just that with a pretty basic and quick watercolor treatment. The colors are much more vibrant and it was much quicker than the traditional method.
Since I was already in Procreate, I hid the color layer and then distorted the original drawing into a unique perspective and added very bright watercolor paint and splashes. While definitely not Ian’s work, I do like the result.
Ink and wash butterfly bookmark
This project started as an idea for a mother’s day gift. I’ve created a few laminated bookmarks in the past based on my doodles, but haven’t yet created one with any actual purpose. In this case, my wife likes books and butterflies, so a custom created butterfly bookmark would be perfect!
In this case, I used a napkin of butterflies as inspiration for some early sketches as seen below.
From there, I just started creating random, overlapping butterflies using my ink filled fountain pen.
Then added several layers of watercolor and a few splashes here and there. It also seemed to look better with an ink border.
Here’s the final product after laminating.
Urban sketching in Lebanon, Ohio
Earlier, I mentioned that I don’t typically sketch on location, mainly because I don’t have the patience. Well, in this case, I had some time because I needed to drink my coffee from Lot No. 1 Coffee in Lebanon, Ohio (great coffee shop btw).
I carry a small sketchbook in the car at all times. It’s easier to carry and because its small, it doesn’t take long to fill the page. The first image is one page from that sketchbook and two quick 5 minute ink sketches. I did add grey marker to each for a bit of extra dimension.
Here’s another example showing the initial ink sketch and subsequent finished product based on the yoga studio in the first image. The ink sketch took about 20 minutes and it took about 10 minutes to add the color when I returned home.
Charcoal Portraits
Ok, while I love sketching, photography and being outdoors, I’m beginning to realize portrait drawing is my most favorite artistic outlet. I’ve been drawing portraits off and on since I was a teenager but since I’ve retired from my IT job, I’ve gotten much more into it. I think it’s the combination of the challenge to create a proper likeness and the quiet focus (mindfulness) n.eeded to complete one. I also just enjoy looking at other peoples portraits, especially those that are more creative (see my Portrait Art board on Pinterest).
The 3 portrait drawings I share here are all done in either charcoal or graphite and show how the quality varies with the medium and time spent.
The first drawing was meant to be a quick 5 minute study and turned into a 15 minute completed sketch. This one is done with vine charcoal which is not the easiest to use. While it encourages loose and fast drawing, it is not very precise and extremely messy.
This next drawing is actually two 45 minute portraits of characters from the Last of Us Season 2. The series is great and based on one of my favorite video games of all time. Ellie is on the left and Dina on the right. I started both using a Staedtler mechanical pencil (2 different leads) and completed with varying hardness graphite pencils.
This final image represents the most time I’ve spent on a portrait drawing (non digital) in many years. This one took about 2 hours using nothing but graphite pencils of varying hardnesses. This one is based on one of my senior portrait photographs from several years ago (click to see the reference image).
While it’s clearly not perfect, it is still leaning towards the realism side and my goal is to move away from this and get much more artistic and creative.
Final thoughts
As I mentioned up top, I started Chasing Creativity to give myself space to explore — without having to deep-dive into one topic each week. It’s a way to document my creative wanderings, spark future ideas, and share moments from the process in real time.
If you found something that sparked your interest — whether it’s a new idea or just a breather from your day — I’d love to hear about it. Drop a comment or shoot me an email at info@cmartcreations.com. Your feedback helps me shape where this series goes and how often I post.
Thanks again for joining me. Let’s keep chasing what lights us up.
4 thoughts on “Chasing Creativity with Chris – Ep. 1”
Inspirational work, Chris! I especially like how you’ve taken retirement as an opportunity to immerse yourself into your passion in new ways.
Thanks Steve! I’m definitely trying to immerse in all the things I didn’t have as much time for and now it’s great to be my own boss.
Damn, Chris! I had no idea you were so passionate about art and had such a creative streak! Perhaps it was those painful “Racer” years that drove you to seek a creative outlet 😀. Truly awesome work.
Hey Venkat! Yes, I’ve always had this latent/hidden passion and had to retire in order to bring it back to life.