Relighting the Dancing Pig

I really like that the Steven’s Meat Products neon sign is one of San Jose’s most recognizable landmarks: where other cities have stuffy neoclassical buildings, we have a sign with a dancing pig that the residents of San Jose have worked so hard to save. I was at History Park last week where the sign is temporarily housed and was lit up in a ceremony attended by hundreds of people. Best of all, there were so many artists whose work revolves around San Jose’s history and signs. I sketched some of them, of course.

Here are @brush.house and @sumner_signs.

Ben of Brush House lettered this “SKETCH” sign for me. I can see it from where I sit at my computer and it reminds me to get off the internet and sketch 🙂

I was so pleased to finally meet Cassie, the author of the book, Secret San Jose. Here she is with her new book, San Jose Scavenger.

I did a super quick sketch of the hot dog stand (selling Stevens Dogs, of course).

And then I ran off to sketch the relighting of the pig sign. I got there a little before dark to start on the sketch as the crowd gathered around the sign.

And then I finished up just as it got dark and the sign was lit up.

I love sketching like this: on location, in the thick of the action, with no second shot at capturing a moment. For all that is difficult about it, there’s also so much it brings to a piece: There’s never the time to overdo a sketch or get too tight and fidgety. And what appears on the page is a first response, never an over-analyzed, carefully designed piece.