Category: Drawing

Worldwide Sketchcrawl 31: San Francisco

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date April 19, 2011
7 Comments on Worldwide Sketchcrawl 31: San Francisco

View from Dolores Park, ink & watercolor

Saturday was the 31st Worldwide Sketchcrawl and I joined the San Francisco group to explore the Mission District and sketch. I tagged along with my friend Pete Scully who had mapped out a route that included stops at two famous S.F. comic book stores.

Sketcher at morning meetup at Dolores Cafe — Sketcher at a.m. meetup at Dolores Cafe

While waiting for the crawl to begin everyone sat and stood around drawing everyone else. See Pete’s sketch of me seriously sketching here.

Later, while Pete climbed up a set of stairs to draw a Victorian house, I sketched him sketching and then picked up some lunch at a cafe up the street.

Since I was sketching with Pete, of course we had to stop and draw a fire hydrant (see Pete’s fire hydrant series here). I was amused by the similarity of shapes in the tower atop Mission Dolores and the fire plug.

Mission Mariachis hanging out — Mission Mariachis standing around

I don’t know what these guys were waiting for but they never did play.

The theater is defunct, the sign peeling and is dwarfed by neighboring Giant Value big box store. I bet the theater was beautiful when it was new.

Below, some BART people on the very bumpy ride to SF. I’m finding that as much as I love my fountain pen for its smooth flowing, I have less control, especially when drawing on transit or when standing.

Tags Art, Drawing, Ink and watercolor wash, Pen and Ink, People, San Francisco, Sketchbook Pages, sketchcrawl

Animals Drawing Ink and watercolor wash People Sketchbook Pages

Scottish Festival at Ardenwood, Part 2

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date April 18, 2011
1 Comment on Scottish Festival at Ardenwood, Part 2

Warrior in full leather (and kilt), ink & watercolor

Moving on from the bagpipers in the last post to some of the other characters I met at the Scottish Festival. Except for the kilt, this guy could have been in Mad Max. I asked him about his metal cup since nearly every person in character either was carrying one or had one clipped to their belts. I asked whether drinking was an important part of the culture. He said no, that when you were served beverages you were expected to have your own goblet or mug, they weren’t provided.

This old gent with the long white hair and beard was one of the most authentic-looking characters.

She behaved quite regally but seemed to be a kind sovereign.

She was hanging out and helping to serve in the beer garden. I added extra length to her skirt using Photoshop cloning after my sister pointed out she looked to be standing in a hole or missing feet because her skirt wasn’t long enough.

A tent was set up to demonstrate how the lords and ladies traveled in style, with full silver settings, rugs, bedding and furniture. They could only travel (to visit other lords and ladies) very short distances each day in their wagons because of the weight and all the setting up required for their servants to create a home away from home each day.

Romans waiting by a small fire truck for a parade to begin

Along with Scots there were Romans, Vikings and even a couple of pirates.

Tags Animals, Art, Birds, Drawing, Ink and watercolor wash, Pen and Ink, People, people sketches, Scottish games, Sketchbook Pages

Bay Area Parks Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Painting People Places Sketchbook Pages

Bagpipes and Badger Bags: Scottish Tartan Festival at Ardenwood

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date April 15, 2011
5 Comments on Bagpipes and Badger Bags: Scottish Tartan Festival at Ardenwood

Macintosh Pipe Band Drummer, ink & watercolor — Macintosh Pipe Band Woman, ink & watercolor in small WC Moleskine

When the Scottish Tartan Festival came to Ardenwood Historic Farm in Fremont, Cathy and I arrived at the start of the festivities to sketch. We were greeted by a royal retinue of people in full costume. They stayed in character all day, acting out scenes from Scottish history. Along with the re-enactors there was a bagpipe band, booths for clans, beer, food, craft vendors, demonstrations of kilt wrapping, and pole-tossing competitions.

Macintosh Pipe Band, ink & watercolor in small WC Moleskine — Macintosh Pipe Band Woman, ink & watercolor in small WC Moleskine

I’d filled my last handmade sketchbook and didn’t have time to bind another so I was using a small watercolor Moleskine and my fountain pen. I wasn’t used to such a small page and it was a bit of a struggle with a too thick line on a very small page.

Sporran: Furry man purses worn with kilts (two sketchbook pages assembled in Photoshop)

All of the men in kilts were wearing frontal fanny packs made of fur or leather called “Sporran” (roll those r’s). I had to take a photo (pasted into sketchbook above) of one gentleman’s sporran made from an actual badger! People were very friendly and happy to explain things to us and didn’t mind us sketching them.

I was fascinated by the bagpipes and drew them repeatedly until I understood what I was seeing. They looked like brown corduroy vacuum bags with a bunch of pipes sticking out of them. The bags are lined with leather or Goretex but used to be made from sheep or goat stomachs.

Bag piper contestant — Bag pipe contestant

There were judging stations set up around the park where young pipers performed and judges carefully rated their performances. This guy (above) left before I’d finished drawing him but I like the sketch anyway. Most of the pipe band members appeared to be of retirement age. I asked one when he started playing bagpipes (glad my kids never wanted to learn bagpipe!). He said that he started in his 50s and most of the band had started playing as adults too.

There were some lovely young dancers performing on the stage while the pipe band played but I was so intent on drawing the pipers I nearly missed seeing the dancers.

I thought it was interesting that ALL of the bagpipers wore earplugs.

Next time I’ll post my sketches of the people in period costumes.

Tags Ardenwood Historic Farm, Art, bagpipe, Bay Area Parks, Drawing, Fremont, Ink and watercolor wash, Pen and Ink, People, Scottish games, Sketchbook Pages

Berkeley Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Interiors Painting People Places Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Picante Sketches with Strange Lights

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date April 3, 2011
10 Comments on Picante Sketches with Strange Lights

Picante Cocina Mexicana's Mask Lights, Ink & watercolor

Last week the Urban Sketchers Flickr group had lighting as their theme so our Urban Sketchers group focused on lighting too. When I walked into Picante the first thing I noticed was the way the wall sconces shined up at wonderfully bizarre masks all around the room.

Along with the great masks, the ceiling is festooned with row after row of vibrantly colored hanging Mexican cut-paper art work.

Several different diners and children stopped at our table to complement our sketches. The children were particularly enthusiastic. And (as usual) everyone told us they can’t draw. And as usual we told them that anyone can draw if they just practice and that it doesn’t have to be good, just fun.

Tags Art, Berkeley, Drawing, Ink and watercolor wash, Pen and Ink, People, Sketchbook Pages

Drawing Flower Art Gardening Ink and watercolor wash Outdoors/Landscape Painting Plants Sketchbook Pages

A Bit of Spring Before Thunder and Lightening

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date March 18, 2011
6 Comments on A Bit of Spring Before Thunder and Lightening

Tonight it is thundering and lightening and pouring down buckets of rain. But there was a warm sunny day last week when I was able get out in the garden and sketch a bit. Callas are so graceful and such lovely volunteers, popping up all on their own wherever they please.

Just after my friend Barbara finished writing her book about growing fruit trees and delivered the manuscript to the publisher, she also delivered to me a baby fig tree that she couldn’t find a space for her in garden.

I was so excited to see that my new baby tree made it through the worst of the winter and was no longer just a stick. It now has actual leaves sprouting from the tip. In case you can’t tell from my sketchy drawing, those are random rocks and bricks I placed around the baby tree as a warning to the gardeners so they wouldn’t mow over it.

Tags Art, Drawing, Flower Art, Ink and watercolor wash, Pen and Ink, Sketchbook Pages

Berkeley Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Interiors Painting People Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

St. Patrick’s Day Decor at Spengers

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date March 17, 2011
4 Comments on St. Patrick’s Day Decor at Spengers

Spengers was decorated with green shamrocks when our Urban Sketchers group met there on a Tuesday before St. Patrick’s Day. Other than all the green, it was business as usual. I love the way cellphones keep people engaged and posing like this guy at the bar, even when drinking.

Spengers has a huge collection of ship models and other sea-themed objects on every wall, ceiling and in every corner. I drew this standing in front of the display case, trying to stay out of the waiters’ path. And as usual I incorrectly labeled the sketch “Brennan’s” — a nearby bar and restaurant that I always get mixed up with Spengers.

Tags Art, Bar sketch, Berkeley, Drawing, Ink and watercolor wash, Pen and Ink, People, Ship Model sketch, Sketchbook Pages, Spengers Restaurant

Animals Digital art Drawing Gouache Sketchbook Pages

Herding Elephants? Rallying Rats?

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date March 13, 2011
11 Comments on Herding Elephants? Rallying Rats?

I drew this elephant to illustrate an interesting blog post for my job last week. The post is about change and uses the analogy of an elephant and a rider. The “Rider” is our rational, analytical side and the “Elephant” is our emotional side and the author explains why you have to work with both to make a change.

Elephant, ink drawing painted in Photoshop

I drew the elephant in my sketchbook, scanned the line drawing and painted it in Photoshop. That’s the one I used for that post. Later I painted the line drawing at top with gouache in my sketchbook. Which do you like better?

I did this illustration for the same article, but it got rejected, theoretically because two pictures were too many for the one post, but I suspect it was because rats are a little too creepy, even though it is the acronym of a group that was highlighted in the post (RATS: Reading Apprenticeship Teachers and Supporters).

RA Rats, ink drawing recomposed & painted in Photoshop — Rats Rally the Herd, ink drawing recomposed, painted in Photoshop

I used the same line drawing for the final illustration above, but cloned/altered some of the rats and painted and sketched more in Photoshop. This is the one I proposed for the post and got rejected. I didn’t mind, it was fun to do.

Tags Animals, Elephant, Illustration, Pen and Ink, Photoshop painting, Rat, Rats

Drawing Food sketch Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Painting People Places Sketchbook Pages

Sketchbook Ate My Sandwich

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date March 7, 2011
10 Comments on Sketchbook Ate My Sandwich

My favorite two sketches the night we met to sketch at Fat Apples Restaurant in El Cerrito were the two “pots” on the left hand page above. The guy was the first thing I drew, the coffee pot the last. I wasn’t in great shape, having had little sleep the night before. I just couldn’t get into the drawing zone, turn off the inner critic or relax into seeing, drawing, and enjoying the adventure.

Underneath the watercolor apple above are lots of messed up lines and the word “Grrrr” written all over the things that frustrated me. The waitress on the right kept returning to her spot and standing in exactly the same position each time and the counter beside her was even more stationary but I just couldn’t draw it.

When I added m ore watercolor at home to the BLT (left page above) I must have closed the book too soon because the pages glued themselves together. When I tried to separate the pages, part of my sandwich stuck to the other side. Not only did that ruin the sandwich but also a small ink drawing I’d liked on the other page.

I’d repainted the sandwich because when we showed our sketches at the end of the evening and I said it was my dinner, one of the sketchers innocently asked “what was it?” And she was right — it was so loosely drawn and painted that it wasn’t recognizable as a sandwich.

Tags Art, Drawing, El Cerrito, El Cerrito, Fat Apples, Food sketch, Ink and watercolor wash, Pen and Ink, People, Sketchbook Pages

Drawing Outdoors/Landscape Places Richmond Annex Sketchbook Pages

Huntington Park Playground

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date March 5, 2011
7 Comments on Huntington Park Playground

Huntington Park, ink & Pitt Artist brush pens

Another drawing opportunity while the girls play in the park. They got bored and ready to leave at just the moment I finished the sketch. I added a little color with Pitt Artist brush pens when I got home. That’s quite a fancy light fixture at this nice little park in Richmond Annex.

I have so many other pictures to post but all have stories that need writing, and after a day of unsuccessfully trying to re-paint a painting for the third time, any words I might share at the moment aren’t really fit for print!

Tags Art, Drawing, Ink, Pen and Ink, Richmond Annex, Sketchbook Pages

Berkeley Drawing Food sketch Ink and watercolor wash Interiors Painting Places Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Sketching at Saul’s Deli

Saul's Deli & their famous pickles, ink & watercolor

We always enjoy a visit to Saul’s Deli in Berkeley for sketching and dinner. I got my usual grilled trout dinner but was too hungry to draw it before eating. One of the owners of Sauls, Karen Adelman does the wonderful quirky drawings on their menus and website and always makes us feel welcome to come and sketch there.

More Saul’s sketches from my pals Micaela, Sonia and Cathy on our Urban Sketchers site.

Tags Art, Berkeley, Drawing, Food sketch, Ink and watercolor wash, Pen and Ink, Sketchbook Pages