Category: Drawing

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Drawing Flower Art Ink and watercolor wash Painting Sketchbook Pages Still Life

Keeping Up with the Roses

Second Rose, Just Picked, ink & watercolor
Second Rose, Just Picked, ink & watercolor

My rose bushes have started their first big bloom of the year (with no help from me) and despite a crazy week, I’ve tried to do a little sketching of the first two that were ready to cut. This is the second rose that bloomed, just picked (above) and a day after its peak (below), which I missed sketching yesterday because I just needed to sit in front of the TV last night and veg out. Oh well.

Second Rose, Opened, ink & watercolor
Second Rose, Opened, ink & watercolor

The roses above have a lovely fruit punch scent, which is why I bought the bush originally.

Here is the first rose of the season (below) from a different bush. I struggled with the sketch and the whole time was annoyed by the scent, trying to figure out what it reminded me of.

First Rose, ink & watercolor
First Rose, ink & watercolor

I finally figured it out: an old brand of women’s deodorant that smelled kind of gross after it was worn for awhile. I’m overly sensitive to some smells and I’m guessing I might be allergic to them; that they smell differently to me than how they smell to others.

My sister used to wear a perfume called Anais Anais that I thought smelled exactly like damp, moldy dog kibble. There are trees that when in bloom smell (to me) exactly like barf and give me an instant headache if I breathe when I walk by them. Could it just be me? Or do companies really make perfumes that smell like kibble and people plant trees that smelly pukey?

And back to the roses…doing these quickie sketches has stirred up the creative juices to do some “real” watercolor rose paintings, taking more time and care with the drawing and painting to accurately capture the interesting variations in color, shapes and patterns of the petals.

Categories
Berkeley Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Outdoors/Landscape Places Sketchbook Pages

Sketching Shattuck & Vine, Berkeley

Vine Street Produce Store Roof, ink & watercolor
Vine Street Produce Center Roof, ink & watercolor

The best part of sketching tonight was running into beautiful Martha, who promises to rejoin our Tuesday night sketchcrawls again in a month or so. By then it will be light and warm enough to sketch all evening in comfort. The sun was setting and it got cold while I sketched the roof of the Produce Center above. I could see a crowd lining up for pizza at the Cheeseboard Collective where a jazz band was playing. I could hear the music but wasn’t close enough to smell the pizza, just the scent from all the local dogs who’d visited the bush behind the concrete bench where I sat in front of Bank of the West.

Vege Food Restaurant, Vine St., ink & watercolor
Vegi Food Restaurant, Vine St., ink & watercolor

I wouldn’t have thought to sketch this old vegetarian Chinese restaurant (above) until Cathy suggested it as a subject. I’d never noticed the interesting second story before. It was fun to draw quickly (Cathy was nearly done with her sketch when I started) and loosely (using my Lamy Safari while wearing fuzzy gloves for warmth which kept smearing the ink and caused the pen to keep slipping).

Continental Mark V, ink & watercolor
Continental Mark V, ink & watercolor

It was nearly dark when I started the sketch above, but I couldn’t resist this wonderful old car from the time when big was better. I wish I’d drawn it across the centerfold instead of fitting it on one page because I see I’ve compressed the width, especially the front which was just as long as the back. But I feel pretty pleased, considering I drew a car (not a subject I’m “good” at), in the dark, with a fountain pen held in thick fuzzy-gloved fingers.

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Animals Art supplies Book review Bookbinding Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Painting Sketchbook Pages

A Frog and a Journal Named Froggie

Frog, ink and watercolor
Frog, ink and watercolor

I was listening to Ruth Reichl‘s book “Not Becoming My Mother and Other Things She Taught Me Along the Way” while I sketched on a rainy Sunday, feeling a bit mopey. That book was the perfect antidote to mopeyness.

After her mother’s death, Reichl finds her mother’s journals and discovers the story of  how her quirky mother tried to make sure her daughter wouldn’t suffer the unfulfilled life she’d had, restricted by the roles available to women of her generation.

The book is full of humor, love and amazing stories. I’m grateful that my public library has great audio books available to download for free. It ends with this great quote:

…and the most important thing I learned is that you are the only one who can make yourself happy. It is never too late to find out how to do it.” ~Ruth Reichl

I drew the frog above (from a photo on my monitor) to practice before I drew the frog on the cover of my journal (below) which I’ve named Froggie:

Froggie Journal, india ink on book cloth
Froggie Journal, India & gold gel ink

The Legion Multimedia Aquarelle paper the book is bound with is holding up even better than I expected. It’s nice and smooth for writing and drawing with ink from various pens, and accepts watercolor beautifully and even allows for lifting off and repainting and other kinds of abuse.

I love spending time with my journal which is like a dear friend, a place to come for solace when I need to write and sort things out, a library for recording visual and emotional discoveries, ideas, thoughts, and experiments.

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Drawing Faces Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Painting People Photos Self Portrait Sketchbook Pages

Sketching Myself Out of a Bad Place

Back to Real Me, ink and watercolor
Back to Real Me (if a bit squinty), ink and watercolor

Yesterday I was having a hard time with some issues and by the evening was full of negativity. I watched a little TV and tried to think of a way fix my rotten mood. Nothing sounded good until I had the idea to play dress up, take some photos and sketch myself as someone else, someone not in a bad mood.

Even though it was 9:00 at night, I put on a ton of makeup (which I rarely ever wear) including teal eye liner, blue eye shadow, maroon lipstick and as much blush as possible. I tied a turquoise bandana around my messy hair, put a pretty blouse over my ratty t-shirt and set my camera to shoot repeatedly. I posed the way I’d heard Usher on American Idol telling contestants to look through the camera as if they were connecting directly with their audience at home.

I set it to shoot again and pretended like I was on America’s Next Top Model, posing for a fancy photographer. Then I put the images up on the computer screen and sketched one from the screen and one from a mirror. Despite looking pleasant in the photos, my sketches looked as tortured and sad as I was feeling.

Tortured sketch (in mirror), Pretending sweetness (from photo)
Tortured sketch (in mirror), Pretending sweetness (from photo)

Tonight, in a better mood, I did these two, the one on the right drawn with a brush. I still wasn’t satisfied that I’d done the final self portrait to end the book.

Starting to feel better sketches (from photo)
Starting to feel better sketches (from photo)

Finally, I put my hair in a ponytail and sketched myself again in a mirror (the sketch at the top of the post) which I like and now officially ends the previous journal.

And here’s one of the photos I used for the sketches.

Pretending to be cheery
Pretending to be cheery

Last night I was pretending to be cheery and now tonight I am. Was it the pretending that changed my mood or is it the weekend?

Categories
Animals Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Landscape Outdoors/Landscape Painting Photos Places Plein Air Sketchbook Pages Walnut Creek

Borges Ranch, Walnut Creek

Borges Ranch Barn, Ink & watercolor, 7x5"
Borges Ranch Barn, Ink & watercolor, 7x5"

After waking up way too early and having loads of extra time before I needed to leave for my plain air painting session today, I somehow managed to get late anyway. When I finally got to our meeting place—Borges Ranch on the Shell Ridge Open Space in Walnut Creek—I decided to leave my easel and acrylics in the car and hike the ridge trail with my sketchbook, watercolor kit and camera.Then when I was heading back for the critique, I stopped at the barn and painted the quick sketch above.

Often when I’m plein air painting I’m jealous of all the people who are enjoying the day by hiking the hills instead of standing in one spot trying to capture all the abundant nature in two dimensions on a little piece of canvas. So this time I joined them and it was heavenly. After exploring for an hour or so I found a spot on the trail beside a large muddy pond where I sat and painted the picture below. It doesn’t make sense as a picture but when I look at it I can hear the buzzing bees (must have been a hive in a nearby tree), the birds chirping, and can feel the warm sun shining on me.

Warm sun, buzzing bees, a pond, a cyclist
Warm sun, buzzing bees, a pond, a cyclist

This was the first sketch in my new journal with the Legion Multimedia paper. It’s a dream to sketch on; the pen slides right along. The paper is nicely sized and while it won’t take the abuse that Arches cold press will, it does hold up pretty well as long as you don’t try to do more than 2 or 3 layers. This slight limitation will hopefully me keep me moving on to the next sketch instead of overworking one to death.

After the critique (and my lunch) it was mealtime for the farm animals and I couldn’t get any of their attention. This guy looked at me like I was really annoying.

Borges sheep chowing down
Borges sheep chowing down

Only the rooster seemed to have places to go and things to do.

Borges Rooster
Borges Rooster
Categories
Berkeley Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Places Plants Shop windows Sketchbook Pages

Tuesday Night Sketchcrawl on Solano

Nature map, ink and watercolor
Nature map, ink and watercolor

After having a rough day, I met Cathy in front of the Northbrae Church at the top of Solano in Berkeley to sketch. I considered staying home, feeling crummy, but knew if I went out sketching I would start feeling better. So I sat on some steps and drew a sort of map (above) of all the nature around me to get warmed up.

Next I sketched the street signs in front of my parked car (below).

Parking at Northbrae and Ferrari Foods, Ink & Watercolor
Parking and Ferrari Foods, Ink & Watercolor

Then we walked a block north to Solano and sketched the interior of Ferrari Foods (above), which was closed. One worker was inside cleaning up. When he finished and turned off the lights we walked around a bit looking for our next target, realized we were freezing and moved indoors to Cactus Taqueria.

Don't Play With the Fountain, ink and watercolor
Don't Play With the Fountain, ink and watercolor

Despite the sign on the fountain telling parents not to let their children play with the fountain, children wandering around while their parents finished dinner in the family-friendly Mexican cafeteria found it irresistable. One tot helped himself to a nice long drink of water from one of the streams while the young man sitting beside me yelled “No!” and asked around whose kid it was, dismayed to see him drinking the recycled water. Nobody responded and the kid eventually wandered back to his family, who seemed unworried.

Categories
Drawing Flower Art Ink and watercolor wash Painting Plants Quick Sketch Sketchbook Pages Still Life

Two-Minute Tuesday Night Sketching at Cathy’s, Part I

Cathy's Bonsai, ink & watercolor
Cathy's Bonsai, ink & watercolor

Tuesday night we met at Cathy’s house instead of a public place where moving every two minutes with a timer ringing would be a nuisance. We started on her deck to the sound of burbling water and birds singing and lovely sights all around and warmed up with an untimed sketch. Drawing this little bonsai on the table in front of me was just what I needed to unwind from the crazy day. The sun went down and it was nearly dark when I painted it.

Then we went inside and started the timed two-minute sketches.

Orchid, 2 minute sketch, ink & watercolor
Orchid, 2 minute ink sketch (watercolor added later)

Cathy’s Berkeley Craftsman style home is a serene oasis decorated with simplicity and a Japanese zen style. Open space and emptiness balances still-life displays of special objects, art and her wonderful collections.  She set the timer for two minutes and said “Go” and we moved through the house, our eyes and pens devouring tender new morsels around every corner every two minutes.

I added the watercolor at home later for these two sketches.

Cathy's Calla Display, ink & watercolor
6 minute sketch: Cathy's Calla Display, ink & watercolor

After each set of 6 two-minutes sketches we met back at the dining room table to look at each other’s sketches. When I saw Sonia’s calla lily and apples sketch I realized I’d missed that corner. I liked that display so much I chose to ignore the two-minute bells and spent six  minutes enjoying drawing this one.

I’ll post the rest of the sketches after I add color to them. I am soooo lucky to have such great, dedicated sketching buddies!

Categories
Bookbinding Drawing Flower Art Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Sketchbook Pages

Having a Weird Day, Broken Things

Broken faucet filter, ink & watercolor
Broken Pur faucet filter, ink & watercolor

I went to my dance class early this morning but burglars had broken into the studio in the wee hours and stolen the sound equipment and the computer. The teacher tried to switch to a Stretch/Strengthen class since it’s hard to dance without music but the police told us we had to leave.

So I came home to work, determined to get in a lunch-time walk in the sun (it’s spring at last!). But there was more weirdness. In between web-based staff meetings and conference calls I finalized a fancy email newsletter for the organization and sent it out to 2,000 people. Half an hour later I learned that an important link in the newsletter was broken. I learned more than I ever wanted to know about sub-domains and URLs, fixed the link, and sent it out again. So far no complaints. But no walk, either.

Yesterday was weird too. I was determined to finish binding two new journals that I’d started on Sunday, one for general use and one for next month’s International Fake Journal Month. While it wasn’t as hard as the first binding experience, I broke the “measure twice, cut once” rule (measuring only once and so having to cut twice, wasting good binder board and end papers), and ran into a couple of other problems.

Meanwhile outside the sun was shining, the best weather in months, and I was sad that I was spending it indoors. Finally I finished the journal binding and went outside. This little plant (don’t know what it is; got it as a gift for my birthday last year and stuck it in the garden) was flowering and looked happy so I sat on the sidewalk in front of my house and quickly sketched and painted a bit of it as the sun went down.

Front yard flowers, ink & watercolor
Front yard flowers, ink & watercolor

The water filter at the top of the post is another broken thing. It used to live on the faucet in the studio sink but it snapped off one day and I couldn’t put it back on. Procter and Gamble (who make PUR filters) sent me a bunch of adapters but none would stay on the threads of the spout. I called my local hardware store and they told me that I was probably out of luck.

They said if I tried to just replace the spout it was likely that other parts would get broken in the process. And since modern faucets mount on the sink, not in tile on the wall like mine, I would probably have to rip out the wall, and the old sink, and replumb the faucet, and buy a new faucet. And then I would be broke. So I’ll just continue carrying in fresh water from the filter in the kitchen, 40 feet away.

Categories
Berkeley Drawing Food sketch Ink and watercolor wash Interiors Painting People Places

Sketching at Bread Workshop, Berkeley

"Packing bread," ink & watercolor & collage
"Packing bread," ink & watercolor & menu snippet

The Bread Workshop is a combination café and artisan bread bakery in Berkeley. They focus on seasonal, sustainable, organic, healthy and delicious foods served in a comfortable atmosphere.  From our table we had a view of the small team of bakery workers, hustling to get hundreds of loaves of bread packaged and ready for next morning delivery to local restaurants.

Sawyer and Oven, ink & watercolor
Sawyer and Oven, ink & watercolor

We sat beside a table of young medical students (including the above guy named Sawyer) who were studying and discussing gastroenterology and what symptoms equaled which diseases—not the most appetizing dinner conversation, but interesting nevertheless.  The back of the large “Inferno” oven faced the café and was sparkly clean and  decorated with little lights beside a bulletin board.

Bread and Snacks Counter, ink & watercolor
Bread and Snacks Counter, ink & watercolor

I stood in front of the counter where you order (above) to sketch and then painted it at our table. This was really fun to draw.

Dinner at Bread Workshop, ink & watercolor
Dinner at Bread Workshop, ink & watercolor

My grilled chicken breast had been marinated in a yogurt sauce first and it was spicy and delicious, the grilled veges were fresh and tasty and they even had brown rice.

A great evening of sketching and dining!

Categories
Berkeley Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Interiors Life in general Painting People Places Sketchbook Pages

Sketching on a Stormy Night at Au Coquelet

Au Coquelet, Ink & watercolor
Au Coquelet, Ink & watercolor

It was a dark and stormy night when Cathy and I met at Au Coquelet Cafe to sketch while listening to people debate the existence of reality and/or study English in Chinese.

I started by sketching the guy in the middle with black hair and just kept on going, seeing more and more stuff to draw. At one point he walked by our table, saw what we were doing, pulled out his cellphone and took photos of our sketches of him. That was a first! But it seemed a fair trade.

A group of four (perhaps retired professors from the university) seemed to have gathered for the sole purpose of defining reality, or proving it’s existence, or both, punctuated regularly by “huh?” “what did you say?” as one of the gents was hard of hearing (but not hard of “talking” as he blathered on and on).  On our other side were Chinese college students studying English, but mostly in Chinese, with the occasional English phrase thrown in such as “I am a pretty girl” and “I am eating an apple” (which she wasn’t).

Au Coquelet is a perfect place to sketch.  It’s large, open very late, has a couple of rooms,  and counter service only so you don’t have to worry about waiters.  There’s lots of wood, bricks, brick-a-brack and plants, design left over from the hippie days.

I have fond memories of sketching there on another stormy night, New Year’s Eve 1997, when I was supposed to be in Yosemite National Park but had canceled the trip due to rain. And it was good I didn’t go: the next day Yosemite had the worst flooding in 100 years, with roads and bridges so damaged that people were stranded there for weeks without sanitary facilities or food.

So with no plans for the evening, I headed up to the café to draw people who did have plans, partygoers coming in before and after their parties. After a while, a tall, handsome artist sketching at another table came over and joined me. We sketched together and talked, and ended up dating for a few months until I decided that the tales he told were too good to be true.