Category: Life in general

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Art supplies Drawing Food sketch Glass Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Sketchbook Pages Still Life

Ginger for a Tummy Ache: Sketched with Namiki Falcon

Ginger Ale and Saltines, Namiki Falcon pen, Carbon Platinum Ink, and watercolor
Ginger Ale and Saltines Namiki Falcon pen, Carbon Platinum Ink, and watercolor

Today was a bad news, good news day. It started with a migraine that eventually passed enough to work most of the day (despite the internet going down, fixing that and then a little later the electricity went out long enough to shut down the computer with several projects in progress). The migraine left behind a tummy ache. I couldn’t deal with the supermarket so went to the little health food store and bought some natural Ginger Ale, organic saltines and candied ginger (all supposed to be good for tummy aches).

Candied Ginger in an Egg Cup
Candied Ginger in an Egg Cup

The good news is that this morning my reliable but grumpy mailman delivered my new Namiki Falcon fine point fountain pen and this evening I felt well enough to fill it with ink and give it a spin. I LOVE IT! The nib floats like a dream over the page with control and flexibility and a really nice fine line. It’s the best pen I’ve ever used. UPDATE June 2011: After using the pen for a few weeks I discovered that I didn’t really like it that much and sold it. I felt I had too little control of the ink flow, which went to fast for me, even with the extra fine nib. I’ve gone back to my Lamy Safari extra fine point which I LOVE!

The other good news is that with these sketches I finally finished filling the Moleskine watercolor sketch book that I’ve so detested using during the interim between binding sketchbooks. Tomorrow I get to start using the one I bound a couple of weeks ago. Yay!

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Drawing Faces Life in general People Sketchbook Pages

Sketching People Close Up at Peet’s

Handsome Guy at Peets, Lamy Safari pen with Carbon Platinum Ink in Moleskine
Handsome Guy at Peet's; Lamy Safari pen, Carbon Platinum Ink in Med. Watercolor Moleskine

I could have reached out and touched his face. But he was so absorbed in his computer he didn’t notice me drawing him at the next table, our knees almost touching. The lady at the table on my other side was watching me and said I captured his likeness perfectly and should show him. I didn’t though, just in case he might not find it flattering. Our own ideas of our appearance often don’t match others’.

Older Guy at Peets, same tools as above
Older Guy at Peet's, same tools as above

This gentleman was sitting at the table after the guy above. I think he might have noticed me sketching but didn’t seem to mind. I think he needed the coffee as he dozed off reading his newspaper at one point. I missed on the shape of his head and just redrew it taller. And then in drawing his large ear lobes I’m afraid my shading there might have made it look like a big hole.

Some fashion victims actually do have big holes in their ear lobes that they intentionally create by inserting devices that gradually stretch them so they look like this. What a weird fad. There are many websites like this one that sell such devices. Why would anyone want to do that?

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Definitions Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Painting Sketchbook Pages Still Life

1.1.11: Going Analog* in 2011

New Years Day Still Life #1
New Years Day Still Life #1

All those 1’s in today’s date: 1 a good number for beginnings. So even though I’m still under the weather, it felt important to focus on my goals for the new year, the accomplishments of the past year, and to start the year right with a little sketching.

I grabbed some of my new best friends to pose for me: tissues, Vitamin C, Sudafed and my Neti pot with which I have a love/hate relationship. It really helps, but it’s weird (leaning over the sink you pour salty water in one nostril and it flows out the other).

New Years Still Life #2
New Years Still Life #2
New Years Still Life #3
New Years Still Life #3
New Years Still Life #4
New Years Still Life #4

I’m very grateful to have finished the year with a clear understanding of where I want to go with my art, how to get there, and a feeling that it is a reachable destination. A couple of months ago that seemed impossible but thanks to the advice and encouragement of our wonderful community of online (and in person) artists who have supported me through my questioning, frustration, and struggles I seem to have found my way.

2011 Goals
2011 Goals

I wrote in my journal about the year past (not shown), and more or less doodled my goals for the new year, appropriate since they’re all about being more playful and in the moment. Being in that doodling, right-brained place, I wrote “goles” and thought wait, that’s wrong, tried golse, wrong, is it golze? No! Oh yeah, GOALS! Sheesh! I used to be a champion speller.

I want to be a more analog* person in 2011, less digital*. I want to move my body, not my mouse; I want to draw and paint with intention, a sense of adventure, and playfulness; I will spend less time on the computer. I want to slow down and appreciate each moment instead of rushing because “there’s not enough time.”

I want to experience the feeling of abundance that comes from “enough-ness” which you get by wanting what you have and not wanting what you don’t have. And I will practice being gentle: to myself, the earth, and others.

*Analog vs. digital makes sense to me, but technically really doesn’t in this context:

Analog describes a continuous system like a clock in which the hands move continuously around the face. Such a clock is capable of indicating every possible time of day. In general, humans experience the world analogically. Vision is an analog experience because we perceive infinitely smooth gradations of shapes and colors.

In contrast, a digital clock is capable of representing only a finite number of times (every tenth of a second, for example).  Computers are digital because they consist of discrete units, a series of zeroes and ones, called bits that are either on or off. (from Webopedia).

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

Nose-pons: How to stop a runny nose

 

Nose-Pons: How to Stop a Runny Nose
Nose-Pons: How to Stop a Runny Nose

 

Yesterday, despite feeling otherwise perfectly fine, my nose turned into a broken faucet that wouldn’t stop running. I was trying to paint and it was becoming impossible to work for more than a few seconds without sneezing, wiping, or blowing my nose.

Necessity is the mother of invention: the only solution was to stop the flow. So I made little nose “tampons” by tearing a sheet of Kleenex into about thirds and then folded and rolled it into a size that would fit my nostrils and I was set. I could paint for at least 10 minutes before it was time to replace the nose-pons.

Today it’s turned into a real cold with the full range of symptoms which is sad because it’s a rare sunny day and I’d planned to paint outdoors. Instead I’ll be indoors bundled up, drinking tea and chicken soup.

Categories
Albany Life in general Oil Painting Painting Places

Santa and Christmas Sleeping Rough in the Park

Santa version 6, oil on panel, 8x6
Merry Christmas Santa (version 6), oil on panel, 8x6

People are living in the park known as the Albany Bulb again. On a walk we saw more than a dozen homemade shelters, tree houses and tents hidden away in the brush, this one (below) complete with Christmas tree.

Christmas at the Bulb
Christmas at the Albany Bulb

Although I no longer celebrate Christmas with trees and gifts myself, I always like to get out my Santa (at top of post) that was given to me by a wonderful former student who died not long after in a motorcycle crash. The funny, cheery Santa always reminds me of the value of generosity and the transitory nature of life.

I hope Santa finds the homeless families living in the park and makes their Christmas bright. It can’t be much fun camping out in the mud, pouring rain and wind we’ve been having.

And I hope all of you are having a wonderful winter holiday too!

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

End of Journal Self-Portraits

End of Journal Self-Portrait #1
End of Journal Self-Portrait #1

Some day I’ll sketch a flattering self-portrait. Some day I’ll follow the “rules” of portraiture and get features the right sizes in the right places. But not today. Today I just look and draw and see what happens.

I always save the last few pages of my journals to do a self-portrait and look back over the pages and write an index of what they contained.  I look in mirrors as little as possible, so it’s weird to spend quality time with my reflection and seeing what’s wrinkled since last time I looked.

End of Journal #2 (Ick!)
FAIL: No Likeness

When I woke up I had a curl standing straight up on top of my head which fell onto my face as the day progressed. That reminded me of this poem my grandmother used to recite to tell this curly-haired, often naughty granddaughter:

There was a little girl who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead;
When she was good, she was very, very good,
And when she was bad she was horrid.

End of Journal Self Portrait #3
End of Journal Self Portrait #3

The best part of drawing this one was using the Black Pentel Color Brush Pen (not waterproof) for my curls and sketching the puffy down vest. I have tidier eyebrows than I drew but it’s ink so there you go.

Categories
Albany Animals Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Landscape Life in general Painting Places Sketchbook Pages

Urban Nature: Swimming Rats, Smiling Cats

 

Sunday Morning Nature Sketch, ink & watercolor
Sunday Morning Nature Sketch, ink & watercolor

 

It was a rainy Sunday morning and at first glance out my window the world looked gray and bleak. Then a flock of seagulls swirled by in the clouds and I looked a little closer. A dove sat nestled on a wire, a few ants straggled along my windowsill, a bee sniffed around a flower–a rose–beautifully blooming in November! The more I looked the more I saw and sketched. My cat Fiona joined me in looking out the window so I sketched her too.

 

Swimming Rats and Ducks, Pitt Brush Pens
Swimming Rats and Ducks, Pitt Brush Pens

 

A couple of days later I drove my car to the Toyota dealer in Albany for an oil change (and free car wash). They offered a ride home but though chilly, it wasn’t raining, so I decided to walk the 3 miles instead. I stopped along the way to watch the egrets and ducks in the creek next door to the Pacific East Mall.

I was stunned to see a big rat swimming across the creek. Then another rat swam by and disappeared under the concrete bridge. I sketched (above) while I waited for another rat sighting to take a photo. And then…

SCREEEEEECH…. KABOOM! I heard tires screeching and looked up as a driver on Pierce Street tried mightily (but unsuccessfully) to swerve and avoid crashing into the car of an old Chinese man who had suddenly turned left in front of him to enter the Asian mall parking lot.

 

Swimming Rat and Duck, photo
Swimming Rat and Duck, annotated photo

Then an old Chinese woman stopped to talk to the ducks. She told me that she brings them bread every morning. I asked her about the rats and she said, “Oh yes, they live under the bridge” we were standing on; she didn’t mind them eating her bread too.

 

Categories
Berkeley Building Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Painting Places Shop windows Sketchbook Pages

Zut! Undies! Fourth Street at Night, Berkeley

Zut Restaurant, 4th Street Berkeley, Ink & watercolor
Zut Restaurant, 4th Street Berkeley, Ink & watercolor

When I saw that a restaurant named Zut! opened on Fourth Street, I remembered Zut the dog, who lived next door to me in Berkeley in the 70s. Zut and his owner Denny lived in a tiny cottage behind a two-story house owned by a man named Huckleberry that he shared with the Arkansas Sheiks‘ (Karana Drayton’s folk group whose fiddler was Laurie Lewis.)

Denny and Zut were also musical; Denny played piano and Zut sang (howled) along with him. Zut and my dog Kangaroo were good buddies and liked to wander the neighborhood together, usually ending up at Bulky Burgers on the corner, cruising for hand-outs.

So when we were sketching on 4th Street last Tuesday night, I asked the hostess about the name. She showed me their mural that included a wonderful portrait of good old Zut and told me that Denny Abrams was indeed an owner of the restaurant.

A La Folie, Undies on 4th Street, ink & watercolor
A La Folie, Undies on 4th Street, ink & watercolor

I always enjoy sketching manikins in shop windows and this one at A La Folie displaying expensive undies didn’t disappoint.

Fourth Street Holiday Lights, ink & watercolor
Fourth Street Holiday Lights, ink & watercolor

Fourth Street’s holiday lights were hung so we expected they’d also be lit but only these two were. I guess they are waiting to light them until after Thanksgiving when the shops stay open evenings. Even without the grand lighting, we were grateful for the relatively warm evening that allowed us to sketch outdoors at night in November.

Categories
Berkeley Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Painting Places Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Sketching at REI (Recreation Equipment Inc.)

Tango Ski Boot, ink & watercolor
Tango Ski Boot, ink & watercolor

REI Berkeley was our sketching destination last week. The store sells high-tech gear for every kind of outdoor activity along with comfortable clothing and shoes. It turned out to be a fun place to sketch with an overwhelming variety of subject matter.

While drawing the fancy, complicated ski boot above, I reminisced about my attempts at skiing with some fondness and pride. Growing up in sunny San Diego I was a surfer girl, not a ski bunny. Fearless in the ocean, on my first ski trip in my 30s I found I was terrified on the slopes. I challenged myself to go on both downhill and cross-country ski trips with friends, family, and even once on my own. I never bought any fancy equipment; rentals were fine with me.

Gentlemen's Hats, ink & watercolor
Gentlemen's Hats, ink & watercolor

It seems that hats have become quite popular again for guys, a trend that hasn’t seen a comeback (other than baseball caps) since my grandfather’s day. I remember his beige felt fedora and how, when we took my sister and I for a ride in his Buick, he would carefully put the hat on the little ledge above the back seat so “us kids” wouldn’t fool around with it (though we always did anyway). Even my two sons wear those cute pork pie hats now.

Hi-Tech Baby Buggies, Ink & colored pencil
Hi-Tech Baby Buggies, Ink, WC, colored pencil

I liked the original ink sketch of these strollers, but hated the watercolor added at the store.  Everything was brown or dark blue and looked ugly. At home I tried washing off the paint and applying colored pencil over the remains. I tried varying the colors. I erased and tried again. I tried and tried, but finally remembered IT’S JUST A SKETCH, and moved on.

You can see some of my sketch-buddies’ excellent REI sketches on our Urban Sketchers blog here and here.

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

Baby Night at The Cerrito Theater; Hot Yoga; and Detoxifying Debunked

Baby Night at the Cerrito Theater, ink & watercolor
Baby Night at the Cerrito Theater, ink & watercolor

Before we met the others at Nong Thon on Tuesday night, Cathy and I sketched in the dark outside the restaurant by the Cerrito theater and El Cerrito Yoga. Tuesday night is baby night at the theatre and families lined up, loaded down with babies and baby gear, to see the Social Network. The Cerrito serves beer, wine and pizza (along with usual movie fare) while you watch the movie.

El Cerrito Yoga, ink & watercolor
El Cerrito Yoga, ink & watercolor

We could see into the warmly lit, crowded yoga studio and did some quick gesture drawings. This is one of those Bikram yoga studios where they say they crank up the heat to “increase flexibility and flush toxins.” I’m not sure I’d enjoy spending the evening in a crowded room full of people sweating out their toxins, whatever “toxins” are.

I know some people swear by sweating, fasting, or colonics to get rid of “toxins” and I wondered if there is any scientific evidence that tells what these toxins are and why releasing body fluids would get rid of them. I found this great article that scientifically (and hilariously) debunks the whole concept, as does this one on Wikipedia.