Category: Life in general

Snow Park, Oakland

Ink & colored pencil in small Moleskine notebook
Click here for larger view

I drew this sitting on a wall in front of the building where I work, waiting for a ride after I witnessed something disturbing and weird this evening that changed my plans for the evening. I left work and headed to BART to get home and meet Lea to go to the California Watercolor Association meeting where Jody Mattison was going to be demonstrating painting using a grisaille technique in black and white oil painting over an acrylic underpainting in burnt umber, and then glazing in color in oils (odd for CWA which is usually all about transparent watercolors, but serendipitous for me since I wanted to learn that technique).

I saw a boy in a small group of middle-school age skateboarders being attacked by a huge security guard half a block from my building. The security guard looked and acted just like Forrest Whitaker as Idi Amin in the Last King of Scottland. The boy couldn’t have weighed 100 pounds and the enormous guard must have been 6’4″ and 280 pounds. They were fighting like kids in a school yard shoving each other and yelling. The guard shoved the boy hard who threw his skateboard at the guard, who then pushed the kid down in a raised planting bed and began choking him. He finally let the kid up with a viscious crazy laugh and the two began yelling at each other again. People on both sides of the street and driving by in cars looked stunned. The guard kept roughing up the kid, pushing him down, strong-arming him and yelling madly. Two cars pulled over and tried to intervene but the guy ignored them, and I could see people calling 911 on their phones. Occasionally the guard would talk into a radio and then go back to acting crazy and aggressive with the kid.

I started to leave and then just couldn’t. I walked over to them and said, “Excuse me sir, do you work here? This is totally inappropriate and unprofessional behavior.” He said he worked for the security firm hired by the building. The kid was saying, “Did you see him attack me? He was harassing me…” and his buddy said “I have it all on my camera!” He showed me the film on his little digital camera and it clearly showed the guard’s aggressive behavior and the kid defending himself. I asked them if they would all follow me back to the building where I knew the building security guards who staffed the front desk would be more reasonable. Surprisingly they all agreed to follow me as did several witnesses. Inside the building the guard said the police had already been called and everyone agreed to wait for them or left their names and numbers for the police.

Meanwhile I realized I’d never get home in time to meet Lea so I phoned her. She offered to bring me dinner so that we could go directly from my office to the meeting. Finally the police came, interviewed everyone separately. From what I heard while waiting, apparently these kids regularly skateboard by the building because the boy who got attacked’s mom owns the Togos Deli in the building and the guard regularly harasses them about skateboarding, even though they stay on public property, not on the building’s grounds. And the guard claimed the kids harass him. I told him that he still had no business behaving that way and I told the boys that they were asking for trouble, knowing that this guy was wacked but still tempting him by skating nearby but that still didn’t give him the right to harm them.

Finally I left everyone in the building with the police and went out in front and did this drawing of the sunset view of the park across the street with the huge herd of geese (it’s too big to call it a flock) that hang out there, Lake Merritt in the back to the left, and a tall, glorious Art Deco apartment building behind the trees. Lea arrived with a wonderful dinner for me, and drove us to the meeting for the demonstration which was terrific!

Tomorrow when I go to work I’m going to talk to the building management to tell them that guy should NOT be working there.

Life in general Oil Painting Still Life

Rainier Cherries (Oil painting)

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date July 8, 2007
15 Comments on Rainier Cherries (Oil painting)

Oil painting on RayMar panel, 8×6″
Click here to see larger

I’ve been dieting the past couple weeks, trying to take off the 10 pounds I put on over the past year and a half of blogging instead of jogging. It’s been made considerably easier by the wonderful fresh summer fruit I’ve been eating. I think the cherry season might be waning now, which makes me sad since these Rainier Cherries are more delicious than any of the junk food they replaced. I’ve lost the first five pounds and hope to be done with the diet before the succulent peaches, plums and nectarines are gone.

Oil painting is so much fun. I’m really enjoying working alla prima (with fresh paint, finishing a painting while all the paint is still wet, rather than letting it dry and painting in layers). I’m practicing this technique so that I can eventually try painting plein air with oils (but it will be a while before I’m ready for that.

Here are the steps in making this painting (if you want to see them bigger you can click on the images and and then click All Sizes:

The sketch with vine charcoal:

Blocking in the shapes and colors:

Almost done…should I have stopped here?

I had a hard time with the background, which is a white plate. It had some reflection from the cherries, highlights from the lamp pointing at it and a bit of shadow around the rim. I’m not sure if I should have stopped sooner or worked on this painting longer but since it’s about learning and practicing and moving on to try something else, I think I’m done. Any suggestions or advice very much welcomed!

Figure Drawing Gouache Life in general People Sketchbook Pages

Learning to Vacation

Ink in Moleskine sketchbook – Peaberry’s Coffee in Oakland’s Rockridge District, land of yuppies with strollers
Click here to enlarge

Today was my first official day of vacation. There’s something about a week off that makes me want to hoard every moment and then I start worrying about it ending before it’s even gotten started. It usually takes me until the very end of vacation to get into the swing of relaxing. I’m so grateful that the physical pain in my back and hip is gone. Tomorrow I’m going celebrate feeling good and being free.

Today I had a wonderful hour and a half of massage and bodywork that my sister treated me to for my birthday and then I took an hour long walk along College Avenue in the Rockridge District of Oakland/Berkeley and had a latte at Peaberry’s Coffee (above) where I listened to the guy in the foreground rant for 20 minutes to a very patient woman about how he brought dessert and cheese to a dinner party where the hosts didn’t put his dessert out and stole the cheese for themselves and never said thank you. Then I drove over to Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley and exchanged a couple CDs at Amoeba Records. I really like one I brought home today: Rodrigo Y Gabriela–sort of flamenco/rock guitars from Mexico–wonderful!

Ink in moleskine: at Berkeley’s Skateboard Park
Click here to enlarge

Yesterday I rode my bike to REI looking for a Klean Kanteen which is a lightweight stainless steel water bottle to avoid polluting the world with jillions of plastic water bottles and my body with the chemicals in plastic that are now found to be absorbed into the water and the body. They were all out. Riding home I discovered the Berkeley Skate Park (above)– like a whole bunch of concrete ski-slopes, jumps, rails, curbs and swimming pools where skaters try out their tricks (video) without endangering anyone but themselves.

Afterwards I did some figure drawing using a brushpen, adding gouache later to some of the sketches. Here’s a couple of them.

Brush pen in Aquabee sketchbook

Brushpen and goauche on hot press Arches paper

I’m also a little frustrated because I’ve finished all of my work in progress and it’s time to start some new work but I can’t seem to settle on what I want to do next. After a couple days of trying to make myself settle down and get to work in the studio I’ve realized what I really want is to just be outdoors, drawing and painting what I see, rather than working in the studio. So that’s what I’m going to do because it’s my birthday vacation and I get to do whatever I darn please, so there!

Tags Figure Drawing, Pen and Ink, People

Flower Art Life in general Painting People Plants Portrait Still Life Watercolor

Birthday flowers from my neighbors

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date June 20, 2007
12 Comments on Birthday flowers from my neighbors

Watercolor painted quickly and directly on Arches hot press watercolor paper without preliminary drawing and then when dry, Pentel brush pen to draw/paint the lines. 7.5″ x 11″
Click here for enlarged view

My wonderful next-door neighbors brought this potted azalea for me as a birthday gift yesterday, along with a nice card and a hug from each child. I have the sweetest neighbors. Not long after I first moved in I fell in love with their kids and after photographing them at baby Alex’s baptism painted these portraits of Alex, Yessica and Erick which they have hanging in their living room. We help each other with all sorts of things and they often bring me delicious home cooked Mexican food (including delicious barbequed salmon with cactus relish).

Then my sons took me out to good Thai food last night. It was wonderful being with them and realizing more than ever what great young men they’ve become. It made my day, even though I looked like a gimpy old lady with my limping and had to sit on my fleece jacket because the sciatica makes it hurt to sit without extra padding. But the combination of their good company, the good wishes of people who’ve written or called to wish me speedy recovery and happy birthday, the yummy Thai food, some nice pain meds and a Singha beer made for a perfectly happy birthday! And I am getting a little better each day.

Tags Ink, Pen and Ink, People

Gouache Life in general Painting Still Life

Papaya in Gouache

Gouache on Arches hot press watercolor paper, 10×7.5″
Click here to enlarge, then click again

I meant to paint in oils this afternoon and I meant to go to bed early tonight and I meant to get some good exercise in today. Oops.

Instead I spent the afternoon with the president of my neighborhood association touring the former private elementary school around the corner from my house that is on the verge of being leased to a new charter high school. I’m feeling very much the Nimby-ite (Not In My Back Yard) because the school will almost literally be in my backyard — on the next block. While the school’s focus is supposed to be all about community service and group hugs, my experience with the nicest of teenagers (including my own who weren’t always all that nice) is that high school students are noisy, drive like fools, and have lots of trash that rarely ends up in the trash can.

By the time I got home I had to cook dinner and then clean up the huge mess from chopping tons of different veges for a stir fry. When I finished it was 9:00 and I was about to head to bed for a nice early night when I saw this lovely half papaya I bought today calling out to be painted.

“OK, you have one hour” I told myself and then to bed!” Two hours later and here I am uploading the picture. I still have to do my back stretches. But at least I’m happy I painted today because tomorrow it’s back to the office.

Cartoon art Digital art Dreams Life in general People Sketchbook Pages

Still Dreaming…

Dreamt I was at the movies with my blind husband (don’t have one) and another blind man and they were showing off by walking from side to side on the stage being tricky and funny.

Dreamt I created a company called “Subsidiary” that makes devices to make shoulders more comfortable while sleeping.

Dreamt Cody was a kid again and a funny old grandpa was in the kitchen showing him how to eat cereal from those little fold-open cereal boxes.

Dreamt my mom wanted to come live with me but I remembered I had a husband I had to ask first. Then I remembered I wasn’t married anymore but had a roommate (a former friend I don’t see anymore). I asked if she minded and she said she’d inherited a fortune and was going to be buying houses for 13 friends and I wasn’t one of them. Mom was sorting through papers in an envelope marked “Dec 06” that she’d found in her piles of junk stacked around her on her bed.

These are all drawn in ink in my sketchbook, then scanned and colored in Painter.

Tags Painter Digital Art, Pen and Ink, People

Drawing Every Day Matters Life in general Sketchbook Pages

COOL: EDM 28 & 77 (Appliance & Something Cool)

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date May 7, 2007
10 Comments on COOL: EDM 28 & 77 (Appliance & Something Cool)

Lamy Safari pen, Noodlers Ink, Aquabee 6×9 sketchbook
To enlarge, click image, select “All Sizes”
(EDM = Everyday Matters art group)

We’re having a record breaking heat wave this week. My neighborhood used to be foggy and cool 90% of the time, being directly in line with the Golden Gate Bridge and a few blocks from the San Francisco Bay. The past month has been uncharacteristically sunny and warm and this week the temperature is in the high 80s to 90. I spent last night tossing and turning like a roterissie chickens roasting on a spit. I lay there muttering over and over, “Tomorrow I’m buying an air conditioner!” I called Home Depot when they opened at 7:00 a.m. and they said they had a good supply of portable air conditioners, having just put them on display.

When I arrived at 8:30 a.m. they were nearly sold out and I got the last name-brand one, a Sharp portable air conditioner. I LOVE IT! It rolls on casters and is nice and quiet. I put it in the studio today because I was working from home half the day and planned to paint the rest of the day. It was really easy to hook up (you just plug it in, attach the hose to a plastic sliding thingy that goes in the window). And then blissful cool…..ahhh.

Making an effort to be more comfortable, or to just make life more satisfying has become a focus for me since it really hit me how finite my life is. Little things like a comfortable bed or desk, pleasant temperature, cutting the stupid itchy tags off the back of clothes…can make such a difference. Why suffer?

(P.S…I know…ACs aren’t good for global warming…but I promise to only use it when it gets ridiculously hot….)

Tags Pen and Ink

Cartoon art Life in general People Sketchbook Pages

More Dream Sketches

These are all sketched in ink in my morning dream journal in ink and then colored in Photoshop. They can be seen larger by clicking image and selecting “All Sizes.”

Dreamt I was hanging out with Michael and a lovey-dovey hippie woman who was handing out crocheted flowers and I realized I was wearing ugly sweats.

Dreamt I was in the hospital and all I wanted was someone to bring my my toothbrush.

Dreamt I was painting and someone told me I should take out insurance on my paintings in case of fire.

1. Dreamt my mom was visiting and Marcy planned a hike but invited her friends and the hike was too hard for my old mom.

2. Really bad icky dream about people stealing from homeless bums.

Dreamt my mom called to tell me she heard on TV that if you go to a “Big 3” (?) college you make more money the rest of your life. She often reports random information (usually about celebrities) that she hears on the TVs that are contantly on in every room of her house.

1. Dreamt I was visiting my bubby (Jewish grandma) only she was Mexican and named Rosita and illiterate so I was reading a letter to her from a friend in Mexico. I was trying to translate it into Spanish but she told me to just read it in English.

2. Marcy and I were going to LA to visit our mother and I was packing and telling myself to pack light for once but I realized none of my pants fit and we had to hurry and leave and Marcy was still sleeping.
——–
Hmmm, seems like my dreams are reminding me that it’s been too long since I’ve visited my mother and that I need to buy a plane ticket and go see her soon.

Tags Painter Digital Art, Pen and Ink, People, Photoshop painting

Colored pencil art Drawing Dreams Life in general Sketchbook Pages

Dream drawings

4/14/07 In bed in a hotel where the roof was leaking through the chandelier and in the closet so the hotel staff came in and hung a blue tarp over the chandelier.
————————-
Today’s post are the little drawings I do each morning upon awakening of my dreams the night before. These are all from the past week. I draw them in what I call my AM/PM notebook (a square Handbook Journal Co. notebook that I write/draw in each AM & PM) using a Liquid Expresso pen. I bought three of these notebooks and a bunch of these pens and don’t much like them but for morning scribbling they’re fine. The ink dissolves if it gets wet which I forgot when I colored these tonight with water-soluable colored pencil and then couldn’t wet them without the ink running.

4/15/07 Marcy and I were in Santa Cruz jogging along a path by the beach. She got ahead of me and I kept calling, “Wait up!” but she got ahead of me and disappeared and I was all alone.

4/16/07 (The night before the Virginia Tech shootings) Dreamt a gunman came into my office and at gunpoint demanded I type some names into the database. People kept coming into my office and I mouthed “Call 911” so they did but the police were idiots and the gunman got away.

4/18/07 I thought a bad guy had broken into the house but it turned out to be the boyfriend of a Swedish roommate (don’t have one) and the jingling noise I heard was his ID tags on a chain around his neck. When I went in the bathroom the sink was full of little cubes of his shaving cream which I threw in the trash and then discovered it wasn’t the trash but was my roommates clean laundry which I’d now messed up.

4/19/07 (a super busy dreaming night!)

1. At a Japanese restaurant with a pool running through it that the waitresses walked back and forth in to serve food with their skirts pinned up in their waistbands.

2. Giving a talk in a high school class about why students shouldn’t smoke marijuana before school.

3. Riding my bike side-saddle carrying a boy from the class who was a friend of my son.

4. A bunch of Brian’s friends in an old car pull up in my driveway to spend the day hanging out in their car while I’m cleaning house.

5 . (below) I’m trying to get home and wander into a Siddha Yoga retreat center where they’ve just locked all the doors and they won’t let me leave while they’re doing their chanting.

6. (below) I’m still trying to get home and walk through a little boutique but the only way out is to climb up a shelf and go through an opening in it but my feet are too big to fit on the shelf/steps.

7. (below) Still trying to get home…there’s two high chain-link fences I have to get over. I literally fly over the first one and lose momentum and have to climb over the second one.

4/20/07
1. I meet a cute guy at a Catholic church where I’m sketching in a back pew.

1B (above #2) I invite the guy home for dinner but then he turns up his nose at my spaghetti made from a jar and complains about the cat hair on my table cloth.

2. Cody has a funny robot thingee that makes me laugh hysterically. Then he’s selling my supplies of toilet paper and other stuff from Costco that I keep on a shelf in the garage to a friend of his. I spent a lot of time laughing in my sleep last night.

If you’re still here reading this (amazing enough in itself!) I’d love to know:
(1) whether you find the dream explanations of interest or if I should just post the drawings (or neither); and
(2) whether my dream explanations feel like “TMI” … too much information…too revealing or personal, even though I leave out WAY more than I share here.

Tags Pen and Ink

Flower Art Life in general Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Jana’s Emergency Clinic and Hotline

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date April 13, 2007
11 Comments on Jana’s Emergency Clinic and Hotline

Ink and watercolor in 6×9 Aquabee sketchbook and ink in my AM/PM journal
To enlarge, click image, select All Sizes

Since my studio time got thwarted by emergencies this afternoon (read about it below), I just took a few minutes to do this watercolor using the little sketch on the right as a reference (a branch of the tree outside my bedroom window that I did this morning in my AM/PM journal). I was really surprised as I drew the flowers how many different shapes there were since at first glance all I saw was a bunch of little round flowers.

I’d planned to have the whole afternoon and evening in the studio but right after lunch, Brian, the young man who lives across the street, came over and asked me to call an ambulance for him, that he was having trouble breathing, felt dizzy and faint, had a headache, and that something was wrong with his vision. At the same time, I got a call from work with technical problems that urgently needed my help.

The good news is that I went through this a week ago with Brian. I had called 911 for him, knowing that strong young men don’t knock on the doors of total strangers asking for that kind of help unless they really need it. My living room was soon filled with half a dozen incredibly handsome and hunky firemen and emergency medical techs while their fire engine and ambulance waited outside. They checked him out and took him to the hospital where he was told he was having an anxiety/panic attack, they gave him a pill that put him to sleep. When he woke up he was OK and was sent home.

I know people who have panic attacks and I get stress-related migraines and I was sure that’s what was happening with him, so I knew what to do. Instead of calling an ambulance I sat him down, gave him a brown paper bag to breathe into (to reverse the effects of hyperventilating–dizziness, faintness and the sensation of not being able to breathe). While he sat on my couch doing that I sorted out the problems at my office by conference call.

Then I asked Brian (who I’d only met last week) what had been going on in his life (other than being a job-hunting African-American male in the U.S. which is stressful enough). He said that a year ago he’d had a good job, was writing and performing music with his girlfriend and was happy. Then they were in a horrible car accident in which he’d had a head injury, fractured a vertebrae, had a collapsed lung and had been in a body cast for 3 months. Right after he got out of the hospital his best friend was shot 17 times and killed. He and his girlfriend drifted apart and he misses her.

At this point work called me again and so did his mother. Switching back and forth on the two lines, I solved the work computer problem and explained to his mom what was going on. She said she didn’t know why he was stressing right now, since everything seemed fine. I told her how he’d never dealt with all the trauma he’d experienced and listed the traumas. She said, “That’s true…AND we had a house fire and lost everything–that’s why we moved to this house in September.” While we were sitting there a bill collector called him on his phone, and I’m sure that’s getting to him too.

I explained to him what I know about depression, anxiety, stress, migraines, medication, grieving, the importance of counseling, etc. and then I gave him the phone numbers for the local free clinic with volunteer doctors and peer counselors and also the number of the Suicide Prevention Hotline where he can call anytime to talk to someone when he’s in that panic attack condition. I hope he will use those numbers. I’m glad to have been able to help him but I can’t be doing this regularly!

He’s such a bright and sweet young man who’s been through so much! I know if he just had help working through everything he’s gone through and a chance to cry and grieve his losses he’d be able to get on with his life. It’s such a crime that there’s no public healthcare in the U.S. If you know of any good (free) counselors who would be interested in helping him in the East Bay area, please let me know.

Tags Pen and Ink