Category: Ink and watercolor wash

Thanksgiving Turkey Leftovers

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date November 28, 2010
16 Comments on Thanksgiving Turkey Leftovers

Thanksgiving After Dinner Sketch, ink & watercolor

Most of the year my sister Marcy’s dining room is her art studio, and the table is full of art projects in process. For thanksgiving dinner she graciously hauled all of her studio stuff into the spare room and set a beautiful table for ten, complete with grandma’s china, table cloth and candles. When dinner was over the table’s real purpose called out to me and I sketched and painted by the warm glow of the candles.

The next day in honor of our turkey feast, I painted wild turkeys from photos I’d taken last summer on an evening walk in Tilden Park.

I started with oils but found it frustrating, especially on the small panel (above) so I switched to ink and watercolor in my sketchbook (below).

The turkey guy above was strutting his stuff, showing off for a lady turkey. When she ignored him and wandered off down the path, turkey dude and his buddy followed behind, shaking their tail feathers, still trying to get her attention.

Stayin Alive' Turkey Walk — Stayin' Alive Turkey Trot

I imaged the turkey dudes strutting to the song “Stayin’ Alive” by the BeeGees that starts with:

“Well you can tell by the way I use my walk.
I’m a woman’s man; no time to talk…”

OMG! Those tightie whitie pants! Here’s last year’s Thanksgiving Leftovers post (same table).

Tags Animals, Art, Bay Area Parks, BeeGees, Berkeley, Birds, Drawing, Ink and watercolor wash, Oil Painting, Pen and Ink, Sketchbook Pages, Stayin' Alive, Thanksgiving sketch, turkey

Building Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Landscape Outdoors/Landscape Painting People Places Sacramento Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Urban Sketcher Trip to Sacramento Part II

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date November 25, 2010
6 Comments on Urban Sketcher Trip to Sacramento Part II

Tower Bridge over Sacramento River, ink & watercolor

Continuing on from yesterday’s post, we left the Crocker and walked a few blocks to Sacramento’s Old Town to meet up with Urban Sketcher Pete Scully who lives nearby in Davis. Then we all stopped to draw this beautiful bridge, which is actually painted with gold metallic paint, unlike the Golden Gate Bridge which is painted a red-orange, and is not gold at all.

Eagle Theater, ink & watercolor — Eagle Theatre, ink & watercolor

Old Town is several square blocks of restored Gold-Rush era buildings with board walks instead of sidewalks, old trains, horse-drawn carriages, and a few people in costume like this woman (who, when I asked if I could sketch her, told me she was just waiting for her husband to come out of the restroom, and indeed left after 5 minutes). It’s very rustic, and while a bit touristy, is not nearly as bad as Fisherman’s Wharf or Pier 39 in San Francisco.

My last sketch of the day was the exterior of the Amtrak station in Sacramento. The building is very ornate and I would have liked to spend more time accurately capturing some of the details but my eyes were burning from some nearby idling diesel buses so had to go indoors.

There’s a Starbucks at the other end of this block-long building and I ran down there to get a latte for the ride home and then almost missed the train. On the trip back we shared our sketchbooks and relaxed; such a pleasure compared to driving. I want to plan some more train sketching trips soon!

Be sure to also check out Pete Scully’s sketches of the day on his blog and Cathy and Sonia’s sketches on our Bay Area Urban Sketchers blog.

Tags Amtrak, Eagle Theatre, Pen and Ink, People, Sacramento, Tower Bridge Sacramento

Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Landscape Painting Places Quick Sketch Sacramento Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers Watercolor

Urban Sketcher Train Trip to Sacramento Part I

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date November 24, 2010
5 Comments on Urban Sketcher Train Trip to Sacramento Part I

Emeryville Amtrak Station, ink & watercolor

Bay Area Urban Sketchers took a little field trip by train to Sacramento to see some art, connect with another Urban Sketcher and have some good sketching fun. We arrived early to sketch the Emeryville Amtrak station (above) and then it was “All On Board!”

Once we got underway I experimented with doing VERY quick watercolor sketches of the scenery as we traveled, with about 30 seconds to capture each lovely view flying by:

Capitol Corridor #5 — Capitol Corridor Views #5

Once we arrived the weather was perfect so we walked the 6 blocks to the Crocker Art Museum to see the Wayne Thiebaud “Homecoming” retrospective show (ends November 28). One of the great things about the show was seeing that at almost 90, Thiebaud is still painting and innovating. The work in his show range from the 1960s to 2010.

Crocker Art Museum New Building, ink & watercolor

We explored both the Crocker’s permanent collection and the Thiebaud show. I was a bit perplexed by the way the shows were curated. Works seemed to be hung randomly, in no particular order that I could discern. I would have really liked to see Thiebaud’s paintings arranged by date to see the progression of his work.

In the permanent galleries I had the sense that they had tried to just hang everything they had, regardless of quality, condition or style. There was something both amateurish and charmingly small-town about the museum and even the demeanor of the guards who were refreshingly friendly, enthusiastic and proud of the work they protect. The Crocker has paintings by many of my favorites from the Bay Area Figurative Movement of the 1970s and I enjoyed seeing those “old friends” again.

Next post tomorrow will be Part II of the trip…meeting up with Pete Scully for a sketching visit to Old Town Sacramento.

Tags Amtrak sketches, Art, Drawing, Emeryville Amtrak, Ink and watercolor wash, Landscape, Pen and Ink, Quick Sketch, Sacramento, Sacramento sketches, Sketchbook Pages

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

Zut! Undies! Fourth Street at Night, Berkeley

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date November 20, 2010
10 Comments on Zut! Undies! Fourth Street at Night, Berkeley

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

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’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.

Tags Art, Berkeley, Dog, Drawing, Ink and watercolor wash, Pen and Ink, shop window, Sketchbook Pages, storefront, underwear, Zut!

Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Painting People Sketchbook Pages Still Life Subway drawings

Copper Pitcher, Copper People

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date November 16, 2010
9 Comments on Copper Pitcher, Copper People

I needed to draw and paint something fun and refreshing after the ordeal with the last oil painting. I reached into my still life cabinet and pulled out this fun little pitcher. This gave me the idea to draw my complete inventory of still life items, one at a time. And that gave me the idea to draw everything I own. I wonder….

BART Snoozing in Copper, ink & watercolor — BART Snoozing, ink & watercolor

The day before I’d drawn these two guys snoozing back to back on BART. The coppery paint mixture worked perfectly for them too.

Tags Art, BART, Drawing, Ink and watercolor wash, Pen and Ink, People, Sketchbook Pages, Still Life, subway drawing, Subway drawings

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

Sketching at REI (Recreation Equipment Inc.)

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date November 11, 2010
6 Comments on Sketching at REI (Recreation Equipment Inc.)

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.

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.

Tags Art, Berkeley, Drawing, fedora, hats, Ink and watercolor wash, Pen and Ink, REI, Sketchbook Pages, ski boot, strollers

Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Painting Sketchbook Pages Still Life

Thrift Shop Silver Teapot

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date November 6, 2010
21 Comments on Thrift Shop Silver Teapot

Silver Thrift Shop Teapot, ink & watercolor

This was so much fun to draw with all the little details and decoration. I found it at a thrift shop when I was taking a long walk in El Cerrito and stopped in to browse. I expect to have more fun drawing and painting it again. It’s sitting on my drawing table enticing me to come back and draw.

Tags Art, Drawing, Ink and watercolor wash, Pen and Ink, Silver, Sketchbook Pages, teapot

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

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

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date October 31, 2010
4 Comments on Baby Night at The Cerrito Theater; Hot Yoga; and Detoxifying Debunked

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.

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.

Tags Art, Bikram yoga, Cerrito Theater, Detox, Drawing, El Cerrito, Ink and watercolor wash, Pen and Ink, People, Sketchbook Pages

Animals Drawing Food sketch Ink and watercolor wash Places Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Sketching at Nong Thon Vietnamese Restaurant

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date October 30, 2010
1 Comment on Sketching at Nong Thon Vietnamese Restaurant

Green Mussels at Nong Thon, ink & watercolor

We met to sketch at the new Vietnamese restaurant, Nong Thon, on the corner of Central and San Pablo in El Cerrito and we had a great time. The restaurant is large, open and has been completely redesigned. The food was delicious and the service was beyond fantastic.

Ox= FAIL; but some thoughts for next time

In the entry there is an elegant, life-size statue of an ox standing in real growing grass (below a skylight). My friends made beautiful renditions of the ox but I got all snarled up on its proportions. I’ve saved a page in my sketchbook to go back and give it another try. The waiter told me that in Vietnam boys ride on the ox playing a flute to pass the time, as they till the soil.

I’d called ahead to make sure it was OK for us to come sketch and they generously reserved a whole section of the restaurant for us where we’d have the best views and could move around to sketch different scenes.

You can see some of my friends’ sketches on our Urban Sketchers blog. Micaela is going to India for a wedding soon so her ox looks very “Indian Water Buffalo.” Beth and Sonia both went in the direction of Babe the Blue Ox.

Tags Animals, Art, Drawing, El Cerrito, Ink and watercolor wash, ink sketch, Pen and Ink, Sketchbook Pages

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

Cancun Restaurant: Tuesday Night Sketching

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date October 23, 2010
3 Comments on Cancun Restaurant: Tuesday Night Sketching

Now that it’s dark by the time we meet we’re back to scouting out indoor sketch sites. We met up Tuesday night at the Saturn Cafe (to carry on from last week’s sketching at Jupiter). But we found the atmosphere at Saturn kind of sterile, gray and sad despite their vibrant Barbie-pink soda fountain theme so we headed across the street to the vibrant, warmly lit Cancun restaurant.

I enjoyed drawing all the odd angles and perspective in the multi-level ceiling and light fixtures. But when I finished I wondered why’d I’d chosen to draw the least colorful area of the cafe which has wonderful Aztec-themed murals on all the walls.

The young woman taking orders asked to see my sketch at the end of the evening, wondering what we were all doing and why I’d been looking in her direction so carefully. I was embarrassed by how poorly I’d drawn her face (drawn in ink there was no fixing it) but she smiled and said they were nice sketches. (More sketches from Cancun by my sketch buddies on Urban Sketchers Bay Area).

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