Month: November 2012

Categories
Drawing Oil Painting Painting People People at Work photoshop Portrait Series

Brown Delivers…in the Dark (portrait in oil with steps in the process)

UPS Delivers at Night, Oil on Canvas, 20×16

(Update: This painting won second place for Portrait of the Year on Making a Mark in 2012.)

One night last winter two UPS guys arrived in the dark to deliver a dozen boxes of the flooring materials for my studio. I had started a series of paintings of people at work (still in progress) and asked if I could take their photo to use for a painting. They agreed and were great models!

A couple of months ago he called, asking about the painting, inspiring me to finally finish it. There were some magic moments along the way (see process photos below), such as the one where I did a quick first pass on his hand and then stepped back and said “Wow! That works and I’m not touching it again.”

Since I took the photos at night without flash outside lit only by the fluorescent lights from inside the studio, the photo was dark and the colors were, well, mostly brown. But the UPS slogan is right, BROWN really does deliver! Who knew there were so many shades of brown? I must have mixed a hundred different browns.

Below are photos showing the process of drawing and painting this portrait.

Continue reading “Brown Delivers…in the Dark (portrait in oil with steps in the process)”
Categories
Drawing Faces People Sketchbook Pages

The Voice: Top Ten Finalists Sketched

The Voice: Sylvia, Terry & Melanie, drawn in ink from TV on pause, 5x8"
The Voice: Sylvia Yacoub, Terry McDermott & Melanie Martinez, drawn from TV, in Moleskine watercolor notebook, 5×8″

Faced with a Tuesday night at home instead of out with the Urban Sketchers (nobody could go) I turned on the TV. Boring. But wait, those performers on The Voice (a singing competition show) are all so interesting looking. Why not sketch them?

The Voice: Cody, Bryan & Amanda
The Voice: Cody Balew, Bryan Keith & Amanda Brown

Each of the performers has been crafted into a carefully defined “package,” with extensive costuming to further exaggerate their type. If you click the images to make them bigger you can read my snarky comments. Some of the finalists are incredibly talented with beautiful voices (e.g. Amanda Brown is fantastic).

The Voice: Nicholas, Trevin & Cassadee
The Voice: Nicholas David, Trevin Hunte & Cassadee Pope

It amazed me how different each of their features were, especially noses. As I was drawing, using a Lamy Safari fountain pen with the nib upside down to get a finer ink line, I was getting nervous because they were turning out well and I wanted to do all 10 in a row with no do-overs.

The Voice: Casadee (again) and Dez
The Voice: Casadee (again) and Dez

I finally did mess up the last one, Dez (above, his mouth got too inky and it’s not a good likeness). I could have redone him but he doesn’t interest me much (I think he’s supposed to be the “teen idol”) and I was tired. He was on his own page but I let him hang out with his neighbor across the spread here so I don’t end the post with the one funky drawing.

It took about 2 1/2 hours for the project: to find a spot in the program to pause and then to draw each of them. It was really fun! It’s amazing how much more you see when you’re really looking, even when drawing from TV.

Categories
Animals Bay Area Parks Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Sketchbook Pages

Happy Turkey (Vulture) Day; One More Thing to Be Thankful For

Turkey Vulture drawn from taxidermy specimen, ink & watercolor, 5x8"
Turkey Vulture drawn in ink from taxidermy specimen, ink & watercolor, 5×8″

So here it was the day before Thanksgiving and I wanted to draw a turkey. I called around trying to find a live one to sketch but failed. Then I tried to find a taxidermy turkey. No luck. The ranger at the Tilden Nature Center said they did have a collection of taxidermy birds including owl, songbirds, turkey vulture…but no turkey.

Wait! Turkey Vulture! It’s a bird, it’s named Turkey so why not? I called back to confirm they had it in stock (they rent it out: $10 for two weeks) and then drove up to Tilden Park.

Turkey Vulture: It's Value, ink & watercolor 5x16"
Turkey Vulture: It’s Value, drawn from specimen with notes from display case, ink & watercolor 5×16″

Here are a few interesting things about Turkey Vultures:

  • Turkey vultures (nicknamed “buzzard”) have a 5-6 foot wing span; “there is no more graceful bird in flight” but they have weak legs so walk awkwardly
  • In order to fly they need a run into the wind to lift off and can fly 60 miles per hour
  • Vultures are the “garbage collector of the bird world” and eat everything from dead mouse to moose.
  • If they are in danger and can’t run, they vomit their foul-smelling meal at their enemy.
  • Be thankful for them: “Without vultures, much of the world would be cluttered with the bodies of dead decaying animals.”

I’m Thankful For…

Along with turkey vultures, here are some things I’m grateful for:

  • YOU, my dear blog visitor and reader,
  • my much-loved friends and family, and
  • the freedom, security, comfort, and good health that allow me to live this wonderful creative life.

I know none of the above is guaranteed or permanent so I try to be grateful every day, not just Thanksgiving. What are you thankful for?

Categories
Ink and watercolor wash Landscape Outdoors/Landscape Painting Places Plein Air Sketchbook Pages

View from the Marsh: 3 Attempts

View from Pt. Isabel Bridge #1, ink & watercolor, 6x8"
View from Pt. Isabel Bridge #1, ink & watercolor, 6×8″

Very near my home is Pt. Isabel Regional Shoreline, with the world’s largest and most beautiful dog park. It is situated on the San Francisco Bay directly in line with the Golden Gate Bridge. There are views of San Francisco, wetland marshes and the East Bay hills looking east. I love dogs and don’t have one so I often go down there to walk the trails and enjoy other people’s dogs.

In the sketch above, I stood on the wooden bridge over the marsh and tried to capture everything, the marsh, the freeway, the buildings behind it and the hills beyond. Too much, really, for a small 8×6 sketchbook.

View from Pt. Isabel Bridge #2, ink & watercolor, 6x8"
View from Pt. Isabel Bridge #2, ink & watercolor, 6×8″

On my next visit it was extremely windy and I almost lost my sketchbook and a brush over the top of the wooden bridge rail I was using for a table. The light wasn’t very interesting, very flat with no shadows.

View from Pt. Isabel Bridge #3, ink & watercolor, 6x8"
View from Pt. Isabel Bridge #3, ink & watercolor, 6×8″

On the third visit the tide was in and the area in the first two sketches was mostly underwater so I turned to face west with San Francisco and the bridges in the distance.

I don’t feel that I did the scene justice in any of these sketches and hesitated posting them, but will return again and keep trying until I’m happier with the result.

Categories
Building Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Places Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

The Actual Cafe and Neighborhood

Around the Corner from Actual Cafe, ink & watercolor 6x8"
Around the Corner from Actual Cafe, ink & watercolor 6×8″

When we arrived at the Actual Cafe in Oakland to sketch, the sun was just starting to set. It seemed a shame to go indoors while it was still nice out so we sketched around the corner from the cafe first. Even though it’s in a rundown neighborhood, this house had some charm, with its pillars and rounded porch roof.

Susan Ford's Sketch of Me Sketching
Susan Ford’s Sketch of Me Sketching

While I was sketching the house, Susan was sketching me sketching the house (above). She also got the house next door and the cute car as well.

Actual Cafe Espresso machine and counter, ink & watercolor, 6x8"
Actual Cafe Espresso machine and counter, ink & watercolor, 6×8″

And then we went inside. I had a delicious cappuccino (decaf these days) and sketched their snazzy Italian espresso machine. As you may have noticed, these are from September; I’m still trying to get caught up on posting sketches and paintings but I just keep making more. That’s a good thing, right?

Categories
Building Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Landscape Painting Sketchbook Pages

A Visit to St. Mary’s College Museum of Art

St. Mary's College Chapel #2, ink & watercolor, 8x6
St. Mary’s College Chapel #2, ink & watercolor, 8×6″

St. Mary’s College in Moraga had two great landscape art shows* that I attended a month or so ago. After I visited the museum I tried sketching their chapel. I had to draw quickly while fighting off wasps that were buzzing around me and kept landing on my bright yellow Lamy Safari pen.

St. Mary's College Chapel, ink & watercolor, 8x6
St. Mary’s College Chapel, ink & watercolor, 8×6″

When I started sketching the chapel in the two pictures above, what interested me were the interesting shadows but by the time I finished drawing and was ready to paint, the shadows were mostly gone. I wasn’t having a great sketching day and struggled a bit with both of these.

It’s an interesting campus, very quiet and serene with well-scrubbed, polite students, very different from other Bay Area colleges where diversity and tattoos are the norm. On the hours the bells ring out a very dirge-like sound which seemed out of place.

*The two art shows included “The Nature of Collecting, The Early 20th Century Fine Art Collection of Roger Epperson.” Epperson was a park ranger who over 30 years collected more than 300 museum-quality California landscape paintings by shopping at antique stores, flea markets, garage sales and online. The other show was “Richard Gayton: One Square Mile in California.” I especially loved seeing his sketches and annotations in his journals of the local wildlife and his experiences drawing them within the one square mile in Mt. Diablo State Park.

Categories
Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Landscape Life in general Outdoors/Landscape Painting Places Sketchbook Pages

Santa Monica Morning Beach Walks

Before for the Lifeguard Trials
Before for the Lifeguard Trials, 4×6″

The best way to start the day is an early morning walk on the beach in Santa Monica. I love the wonderful air, the sounds and scents of the sea and the damp sand on bare feet for miles. My son, his girlfriend, their dog and I drove down there to visit my mom a few weeks ago.

After the Lifeguard Trials swim, lining up at the pier
After the Lifeguard Trials swim, lining up at the pier, 4×6″

We stayed at a motel two blocks from the beach so that each morning I could get out and walk the beach. One day they were holding lifeguard trials with hundreds of people lined up on the shore, all wearing green bathing caps, ready to try out for the first round of trials. After the big swim they lined up again at the pier.

Santa Monica Morning Beach Walk #1, ink & watercolor
Santa Monica Morning Beach Walk, ink & watercolor, 4×6″

My mother grew up in a house half a block from the beach. It would still be in our family if the city hadn’t claimed eminent domain to build fancy high-rise apartments and forced my grandparents out. Their wonderful old house had a great front porch and a backyard that was mostly sand. I always loved visiting them and spending the day at the beach. My grandparents fought the city as long as they could until their house was one of the last standing. Finally they moved about a mile from the beach to the house where my mother lives now.

Although I don’t care for the stereotypical L.A. lifestyle which is all about appearances and money, I miss the southern California beaches where I grew up. Northern California beaches are beautiful but they’re just not the same: rocky, cold, windy and foggy.