Category: Life in general

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Ink and watercolor wash Life in general People Sketchbook Pages

Waiting in Line for Avatar

Waiting in Line for Avatar, Ink & watercolor
Waiting in Line for Avatar, Ink & watercolor

I think we picked the craziest day to go see Avatar at a shopping center theater: the day after Christmas when shoppers were out in force, filled with pent-up shopping frenzy after a whole day of closed stores.

I purchased  tickets online the day before and we left two hours early for the theater which was a good thing because we got stuck in an Emeryville traffic/parking nightmare for about 45 minutes.

Only two cars at a time were making it through each light change to turn left into the street leading to the parking lot at Emeryville’s Bay Street 16 AMC Theater. After sitting through at least 10 light changes we finally made it into the next line-up-and-wait scenario on the narrow road leading to the garage. Then when we’d finally crawled our way close to the garage entry we saw a sign saying “Garage Full” blocking the entry to the garage. The only option was for cars to exit back on to main the street we’d just come from.

I decided to just move the sign and the rubbery barriers and go in anyway, since we could see people leaving the garage and we knew they were letting people in at the other end of the shopping complex.  Jessica was smart enough to run over and try out the ticketing button to see if it would raise the arm and allow entrance. Of course they’d programmed it so that it wouldn’t.

So back out into the awful traffic we went. A few blocks away we saw parking spaces by an old boarded up restaurant, parked, and speed-walked through the outdoor shopping center to the theater since it was starting to rain. I picked up our tickets from the ticketing machine and we entered the theater. We were still an hour early and only the 10th people in line. We were warm, dry and comfortable and I got to sketch some of my fellow waiters-in-line.

Our seats were great and the 3-D glasses were comfortable and worked well, even over my glasses. The Imax theater filled completely, even down in the front rows where you’d be looking up at the screen the whole time.

And the movie was fantastic—so beautiful and transporting. I still feel like I am in the incredible world Cameron created for Avatar. I had objections to a couple bits in the movie but overall, it is truly a masterpiece of filmmaking, a gorgeous work of art and imagination, and a feat of technological brilliance as well.

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

Quickie Dinner at Whole Foods, Oakland

Dinner at Whole Foods, Ink & watercolor, 8x5"
Dinner at Whole Foods, Ink & watercolor, 8x5"

Last night I needed to grab a quickie dinner between work and a 7:00 meeting so I stopped at the nearby Oakland Whole Foods. I looked over the salad bar,  passed up the make your own trail munch bar (?!) and the soul food bar with pulled pork, black-eyed peas and greens, seriously considered the Indian and Chinese bars but settled on some pretty, steamed organic veges and some Mexican items.

The dining area was hopping with activity, filled with a perfect sampling of Oakland’s demographics, with people of all ages, races, preferences, and functionality. I ate quickly so I’d have a few minutes to sketch the view from my table. Then I ran out of time and had to leave, so I added watercolor at home.

And now I’m on vacation! Yay

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Art business Drawing Flower Art Glass Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Painting Sketchbook Pages Still Life Technology

Teensy Bouquet of Tiny Winter Flowers

Tiny Bouquet, ink and watercolor, 9x6"

I was surprised to find a variety of colorful teensy flowers growing along the sidewalks on my walk this afternoon in the cool misty weather. It felt so great to be out walking without the icy cold and then pouring rain of the past week and the bright colors were a great bonus.

I felt a little sheepish about picking flowers that didn’t belong to me, but the they were so tiny and since I only took a sprig or two a few inches in length I didn’t think anyone would mind. Some might even have been volunteers (aka weeds?).

When I got home I stuck them in this little glass container some pricey French yogurt had come in (that I bought for the container). Then I got back to working on my website. When I’d finished it was bedtime but I knew these flowers probably wouldn’t last until tomorrow. And I really needed a little fun so I put on a CD and so enjoyed drawing them and painting them.

If you’d like to take a look at my rebuilt website, I’d love your feedback. Although it’s now cleaner and easier to update, I’m disappointed in a couple of features that really bug me. I’ll either get over my perfectionism or sometime later I’ll rebuild it again.

The problem with technology is that by the time you’ve researched the best gizmo, bought it and learned to use it, it’s already obsolete. Aren’t you glad that not everything in life is like that?

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Art business Life in general Photos

Still Working on my Website

Nearby Hiking Trail
Hiking Trail above El Cerrito Recycling Center

I wish I was out walking and sketching again on this trail near my house instead of working on rebuilding my website all weekend. I was determined to finish tonight but I still have a few more hours of work and it’s time for bed.

I spent several hours this morning looking at the Squarespace web hosting platform and it’s so much more customizable and comprehensive (and complex) than the system I’ve been working with on Network Solutions. I came so close to chucking everything and starting over on Squarespace. But with only the last 10 percent left to do I decided to just finish even though it won’t be perfect.

At the same time I’ve been adding pictures and descriptions to my website, I’ve been entering the same data in an artist’s database called eArtist. It’s a fantastic program and works beautifully. You can track everything about each artwork, which then links to any exhibitions, sales, collectors, print editions and more. It’s easy and quick to use and the proprietor provides excellent support. I only wish I’d started doing that a long time ago.

I really appreciate those of you who said you’d be willing to look over my website when it’s ready and give me feedback. I’ll be in touch very soon (I hope!)

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Flower Art Gardening Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Painting Plants Sketchbook Pages

Geranium Getting Going (Except it’s a Camellia)

Camelia Buds, ink & watercolor
Camelia Buds, ink & watercolor

In a momentary memory lapse I wrote “Geranium Getting Going” in large letters in my sketchbook under this image. Then I thought, “Wait a minute, aren’t geraniums those red, ruffled, bitter smelling flowers often found in window boxes or untended and leggy in sad little gardens that someone has given up?”

And then it came back to me, DUH! This is a Camellia, not a Geranium. From a Camellia bush that I planted and that lives right outside my studio door and always blooms in the winter. It’s full of buds now and soon will be blooming madly.

I’ll just blame the memory lapse on the 4 hours of sleep I got last night as a result of working into the wee hours rebuilding my website, which is nearly done. I’m a bit disappointed that after all my work I’m finding some design issues that may be limitations of the platform I chose after much research last summer. I’m even tempted to start over on the system I would have chosen if I knew then what I know now. But this service comp’d me several years of hosting for free (because of all their system screw ups when I first started the build last summer) and I’ve already done so much work that starting over, when I’d rather be painting anyway, seems pointless.

If you would be willing to visit the new site and “beta-test” it a bit before I make it my official webs site, I’d love to have a few extra eyes on it. Just leave me a note if you’re willing to go there and click around a bit. It helps to know whether it looks ok on various computers and monitors or if there are any problems I’ve missed. Thanks!

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

Sketchcrawl at Shattuck Plaza Hotel

Shattuck Plaza Hotel details, ink & watercolor
Shattuck Plaza Hotel, ink & watercolor

(Updated) We met at the newly remodeled Shattuck Plaza Hotel in Berkeley to sketch on Tuesday night. The lobby of the historic building has been transformed from an old-fashioned residential hotel with good”bones” to something entirely different.  The walls are covered in a variety of black and white patterned wall paper from florals to paisley to stripes that seems to vibrate. The floors are a patchwork of checkerboard marble in between sections of rug the designer describes as “red and mauve 1960s flower-power pattern”. There are two huge crystal chandeliers, a red one that was newly created and the other, an original, that is 100-years old.

I was going to try drawing all of the different patterns on the walls, floors and furniture, but couldn’t stand looking at them, as reminded me of watching the patterns behind my eyelids during my migraine of only a few days prior. So I sketched a few of the lamps, sconces and furniture I could see from where I sat. Then we headed out into the cold for our next stop.

Monks at Peets Coffee, ink & watercolor
Monks at Peets Coffee, ink & watercolor

We went to Peets Coffee across the street and relaxed to the classical music while we sketched people. The monk knew we were drawing him and when they were leaving, came over and asked to see our sketches. I told him he had a beautiful smile.

He looked a bit embarrassed by my comment, but said thank you, and told us he doesn’t usually get out much, that he was here visiting  with his grandmother and brother after living the past ten years in Thailand.  He seemed so genuinely happy and at peace and made me want to return to my long-neglected Zen meditation practice

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Drawing Gardening Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Plants Sketchbook Pages

Rubber Tree: The gift that keeps on giving

Rubber Tree
Rubber Tree

I just needed to sketch something, anything, yesterday, and this rubber tree plant outside my studio window was glowing in the sun. My son Robin gave it to me as a housewarming gift 10 years ago when I bought my combo home/studio (a duplex; one unit is my house, one is my studio).

I wanted a rubber tree because of that catchy old song about an ant who believes he can move a rubber tree plant ; buying my own house was a dream about as big as that little ant’s and I did it. (Sinatra sings the song below, but be warned, you won’t be able to get it out of your head after you listen.)

The plant got too big for the living room so I cut half off half and stuck that in the ground. I took the other half to my office. The plant in my downtown Oakland office is sorely abused but just keeps on growing anyway.

I spent most of the day yesterday working on rebuilding my website which seemed like a very indoor thing to be doing on such a sunny day. But after sketching outdoors for half an hour I realized how deceptive that sunshine was: it was cold out there! And then I was happy to be indoors.

Yesterday I signed up for Bookbinding I on January 9-10 at the San Francisco Center for the Book. Maybe when I can bind my own sketchbooks I’ll be able to make one that fits on my scanner and doesn’t leave a big blurry section in the middle. While I love the Fabriano Venezia sketchbooks I’ve been using the past 6 months or so, they’re just half an inch too big to fit.

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Art theory Drawing Gouache Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Painting Places Sketchbook Pages

Sketchcrawl at Pastime Hardware

Toilet seat display, ink & watercolor
Toilet seat display, ink & watercolor

Who knew it could be fun to sketch at the hardware store? There were laughs (see end of post) and artistic discoveries galore at our Tuesday night sketchcrawl, now forced to go indoors for the winter.  When I first arrived I started to ask  one of the  helpful employees that Pastime Hardware is famous for, about the part I needed for my toilet. Before he could show me where to find it, my phone rang with the ringtone I made from the Cake song “Never There” (click below to hear the ringtone).
An employee who was standing nearby said, “Hey! That’s Cake.” and then began whistling it. Throughout the evening I could hear him whistling the tune from all around the large store, which gratefully, is one of the few stores in existence that does not play annoying music 24/7 over the loudspeakers.

I had no idea how many differently shaped toilet seats there are. I discovered that looking at the negative shapes between the seats helped me to better find the shape of each seat. Then, looking more deeply and trying not to generalize, I discoverd the piles of boxed and/or wrapped toilet seats on the shelves behind the display. And then I noticed and added the pegboard behind that. I fell in love with the pretty color I mixed from cerulean blue and yellow ochre for the pegboard. This, to me, is the joy of sketching in a nutshell: seeing more and more deeply and the fun of making lines and dots and shapes and playing with color.

Next I faced the opposite direction and drew and painted these large metal watering cans up on a tall shelf.

Watering Cans version 1, ink and watercolor
Watering Cans version 1, ink and watercolor

When I got home I glued a bit of my receipt (from the toilet flapper I bought) to the edge of the page in my sketchbook (above). Tonight I thought the page might look better with a dark background so I added some ink, didn’t like that, and then painted with gouache over the ink to get more what I had in mind. (The receipt is still there, I just didn’t scan that part below).

Watering cans, ink, watercolor, gouache
Watering cans, ink, watercolor, gouache

The last sketch I did was of Cathy sketching a row of hand trucks in the room filled with bins of nails. I messed up her face but fixed the FAIL by pasting another piece of receipt over her head.

Last Sketch of Cathy Sketching
Last Sketch of Cathy Sketching

I would have liked to sketch more but it was nearly time for the store to close. It had been a lot of fun, and I enjoyed the comments and questions of passing employees and the few customers shopping on a very quiet Tuesday night. Cathy said that when she was sketching outside the employee break room she overheard employees talking about us and saying, “There’s a lady out there painting… TOILET SEATS!”

At 8:45 a man announced over the loudspeakers:

“Good evening customers…and… ART STUDENTS [giggle]. The store will be closing in 15 minutes so please bring your purchases to the [giggle giggle] cashier …[giggle]…”

…and then laughter ensued throughout the store, employees, customers and us artists alike! It was a slow night at Pastime, with twice the employees as customers, so I’d like to think they enjoyed our company as much as we enjoyed theirs.

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Animals Gouache Illustration Life in general Sketchbook Pages

What is This Bug I’m Fighting?

Not Swine Flu, Ink & gouache
Not Swine Flu, Ink & gouache

It’s not the swine flu, not so bad.

Not Bird Flu, ink and gouache
Not Bird Flu, ink and gouache

Definitely not the Bird Flu.

Just an ordinary bug, ink and gouache
Just an ordinary bug, ink and gouache

It’s not a cold, a fever, a pill bug or a lady bug, and probably not something from getting a flu shot on Wednesday. It’s just a sleepy, coughing, red-eyed, sneezey, sniffly little bug.

And it looks like I’m winning! I hope so. Tomorrow is a plein air painting day at a winery in Sonoma, the last of the season with my primary plein air group, and I’d really like to go.

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Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Plants Sketchbook Pages

The End of Daylight (Savings Time)

Japanese Maple leaves, ink & watercolor
Japanese Maple leaves, ink & watercolor

I celebrate this day each year as a sacred holiday because of the precious gift of an extra hour.  I wait until Sunday to change my clock. Then I pick an hour and spend it consciously, savoring every one of those 60 minutes by doing something especially satisfying.

And then at the end of the hour, if it was a good one, I set the clock back, feeling grateful. If the hour didn’t live up to my expectations, I just pick another hour and try again.

What are you going to do with your shiny new hour?

I wanted to sketch fall colors in honor of halloween and the end of daylight savings even though it’s warm enough here that my roses and hibiscus are still blooming and the grass is green from recent rains. This is a branch from the Japanese maple tree near my front door. It was a gift from my-coworkers in honor of my father’s death, who passed away 9 years ago today.

Update: Instead of picking an hour, I ended up doing it differently: Sunday afternoon I decided I would take a walk and if I timed it right, I could be home before I left. But I’d been having so much fun playing with taking that hour again and again that I didn’t change it on Sunday. I didn’t change it on Monday either, just hung out in the studio still relishing the possibilities. But Tuesday I had to work (from home) and realized I didn’t want another hour of WORK and since I needed to be at the restaurant to sketch at 6:30 I finally changed my clocks. Instead of one free hour though, I probably experienced at least a couple dozen over those three days. Goofy but fun!