Category: Ink and watercolor wash

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Faces Flower Art Gouache Ink and watercolor wash International Fake Journal Month Life in general Other Art Blogs I Read People Sketchbook Pages

Who Am I? (Fake Journal Month)

Who Am I, Sepia Micron Pigma Ink & Gouache, 5.5x7.5"
Who Am I, Sepia Micron Pigma Ink & Gouache, 5.5x7.5"

This is the beginning of my contribution to International Fake Journal Month (read on for more about this). To participate, I’m filling a journal this month as a woman who doesn’t know who she is and is trying to find out. (Maybe she’ll learn how she lost her memory too.) I started by Googling “Who Am I” and clicked the first link, a YouTube video by Casting Crowns which inspired the rose and waves besides my pondering self.

Then I checked iTunes and found more than 100 songs named “Who Am I.” I shall play detective, listening to each song, reading the lyrics looking for clues to who “I” am. I’m looking forward to Snoop Dogg’s “Who Am I” day. As I write and draw what I learn, I’ll fill the journal and by the end of the month may have discovered my true identity.

International Fake Journal Month

Roz Stendahl of Roz Wound Up and The International Fake Journal Month blogs is one of my favorite artist bloggers. This month she introduced a quirky and wonderful concept: The Fake Journal. The idea is to create a journal for a month, where you take on a new persona, and fill that journal with the writings and sketches of that person as he or she evolves. To learn more about Fake Journal Month and Roz..

Continue reading “Who Am I? (Fake Journal Month)”
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Flower Art Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Plants Sketchbook Pages

Multitasking with Fuchsias & Botanical Sketching in the 1500s

Fuschias, Ink & watercolor, 5x7" in Moleskine
Fuchsias, Ink & watercolor, 5x7" in Moleskine

The weather has been so glorious the past few days it’s hard to be indoors, especially when cold April showers are predicted for the rest of the week. I decided to combine a walk with doing errands and calling my mom, so I tossed my sketching kit in my bag, grabbed my iPhone and headed out the door.

Three blocks from home I spotted these fuchsias. I remembered how my sister and I used to pretend these flowers were little ballerinas and dance them around our San Diego backyard. But I couldn’t remember what they were called. Since I had my mom on the phone, I asked her, “What are those little pink flowers called that look like ballet dancers?”

My mother is 86 years old and we’d just been having a fruitless conversation about Digital TV vs HD TV and LCD vs LED (and this with someone whose VCR has been blinking 12:00 for years). She said she had no idea what flower I was talking about but began describing random flowers that might qualify.

Meanwhile, I’d finished my ink drawing, set up my watercolors on the ground, and started painting. As I was writing a note in my sketchbook I remembered they were called fuchsias, like the color.

I changed the subject, packed up, and started walking again.  We continued our conversation until I reached the market and it was time for her to watch General Hospital.

Botanical Sketching in the 1500s

Fuchsias were named for Leonhart Fuchs, born in 1501,  a doctor who studied plants for their medicinal uses and wrote De Historia Stirpium comentarii insignes (or Notable Commentaries on the History of Plants) (because all medicine was herbal back then). The original book,  in excellent condition, is in the University of Missouri library and available for viewing. There are digital images of the book and its illustrations on their website or clicking the image below.

Fuchs illustration of pumpkin in De Historia Stirpium
Fuchs illustration in De Historia Stirpium
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Art theory Flower Art Ink and watercolor wash Painting Sketchbook Pages Still Life

Out Stealing Roses

Stolen Roses, Ink & watercolor, in 5x7" wc Moleskine
Stolen Roses, Ink & watercolor, in 5x7" wc Moleskine

As Maya Angelou said her grandmother always told her, “You don’t always get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get.” As a believer in Karma and Maya Angelou’s grandma, I was a little nervous about stealing my neighbor’s roses.

But that neighbor moved away a year ago and her roses were producing those first magnificent blooms of the year. I just couldn’t resist cutting a few to sketch. I drew them with my Micron Pigma .01 and then added watercolor. I wasn’t happy with the results so experimented with adding white lines with a new white gel pen, a “Y&C Gel Extreme .07” which I like it a lot. I liked the sketch (above) better too.

I decided to sketch them again and used my Micron Pigma with a lot of cross-hatching to try to understand their form in a more sculptural way.

Stolen Roses 2; ink, gouache, watercolor
Stolen Roses 2; ink, gouache, watercolor

Then I added watercolor and made a big mess. I couldn’t capture the delicate coloring from white to yellow with red edges of one of the roses . So I tried adding gouache. Yuck, worse mess. I washed off the paint and tried again. More mess, and this time I lost a lot of the black lines. So I got out a Sharpie fine point and went over the black lines with darker ones. More gouache, yuck, some white pen, gave up.

Then I took a bunch of photos of the roses, thinking I’d start an oil painting and keep a photo reference in case the painting took longer than they lived. Pretty soon I was coughing and sneezing and my eyes were watering. These roses were very fragrant and I was allergic to them (unlike the ones in my garden that I selected for their lack of scent). I put them outside and gave up. I guess I paid for what I got!

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Albany Ink and watercolor wash Landscape Life in general Outdoors/Landscape Painting Places Plein Air Sketchbook Pages

Creek by 99 Ranch Market, Albany

Ranch Market Creek, ink & watercolor in Moleskine 7x5 wc sketchbook
Creek, ink & watercolor in Moleskine 7x5

I thought I was bringing my car in for an oil change, but the service manager told me it was way overdue for its 3 year/30,000 mile major maintenance (about 3 years overdue, as a matter of fact). I take public transit or walk whenever I can so my 2002 Toyota RAV 4 has less than 26,000 miles on it. I thought I could wait until 30,000 but he said no because the kind of short trips I take are harder on the car than lots of regular driving .

So I left it with him to do the full boogie on the car, feeling a bit sheepish at my car abuse. Despite the offer of a ride, I decided to walk the two miles home, hoping I’d find something fun to draw on the way. Sure enough a mile into the walk, I found this beautiful creek I never knew existed, half in the shade and half brilliantly lit with spring greenery all around.

As I was sketching and painting, an elderly Asian woman (99 Ranch Market is an Asian shopping center) showed me the bag of bread she was bringing for the resident ducks and then wandered off down the path, hoping to find them.

When I got home I realized I’d left all of my keys with the service manager. Oops…. But fortunately I have a “Plan B” for my keys, having locked myself out one too many times in the past.

And now my car seems so much perkier and happier with all new fresh fluids and the nice car wash they gave it. I’m very fond of my car, it’s always been totally reliable, and I really should treat it better.

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Animals Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Painting Sketchbook Pages

Barnyard Critters at Old Borges Ranch

Proud Rooster, ink & watercolor in Moleskine 5x7
Proud Rooster, ink & watercolor in Moleskine 5x7"

After our painting session at Old Borges Ranch on Saturday I did a few ink and watercolor sketches of the critters who were roaming around where we sat for lunch and our critique. This rooster was wonderful and actually seemed to pose for me, just long enough to get this much and then he wandered off.

The chickens weren’t as cooperative. I wish I took a photo of the goofy gal at the bottom. She had the funniest, fluffy clown feathers–sort of like 3 sets of beards; one in the usual place and the other two on either side of her face.

Bit's o' chickens, ink & watercolor in Moleskine 5x7"
Bit's o' chickens, ink & watercolor in Moleskine

This goat seemed like such a happy guy (or gal?) chillin’ out in this empty tub. I was very hungry since I’d remembered all my art supplies but forgotten to bring lunch and it was already 3:00. I rushed drawing the tub and I can see that it’s not deep enough and looks a bit like a sardine can.

Goat chilling out in a tub; ink & watercolor in Moleskine 5x7" sketchbook
Goat chilling out in a tub; ink & watercolor in Moleskine 5x7" sketchbook

I’m using a really funky old computer monitor while mine is off for repairs so I have no idea how any of this is going to look on my blog. Hopefully the scans and colors are decent and the sizes of images make sense.

Categories
Gouache Ink and watercolor wash People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Subway Sketches: Pigeons, People, Shoes

Shoes on subway, ink & watercolor in sketchbook
Shoes on subway, ink & watercolor in sketchbook

I’m really enjoying sketching anywhere and everywhere lately. Here are a few sketches with watercolor added later from BART stations and trains this week.

In His Own World, ink & gouache in sketchbook
In His Own World, ink & gouache in sketchbook

These pigeons were doing the Romeo and Juliet thing in the BART station. BART put up mean wire pigeon preventers everywhere that makes it hard for them to perch anywhere. But these two found a dark corner to bill and coo. I know next to nothing about birds, but Romeo was puffing up his (?) neck as he made his croohoo noise and canoodled with Juliet who kept sticking her feathered hiney up in the air.

BART Station Pigeons, ink & gouache in sketchbook
BART Station Pigeons, ink & gouache in sketchbook

I added the gouache on the last two at home, not on BART, since I usually only have a few minutes for each sketch.

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Drawing Dreams Ink and watercolor wash Painting People Sketchbook Pages

Dream: Dancing Nude at the Office Party

Dancing Nude at the Office Party, Ink & watercolor, Moleskine sketchbook, 5x7"
Dancing Nude at the Office Party, Ink & watercolor, Moleskine sketchbook, 5x7"

I dreamed that I was at an office party where dancing was to be done nude. I was having fun, and surprised that I wasn\’t the most embarassed person there. There was a woman who was so self conscious she\’d wrapped herself in a gauzy fabric trying to (unsuccessfully) hide beneath it. The dream was fun but it was even more fun to draw it and just see who appeared beneath my pencil.

I usually like to draw directly in ink but I wasn\’t sure where I was going with this one so started with pencil and then inked over it.

Oh…I guess I should also mention that while my office does have nice parties, dancing nude has never been an option at any of them and, I\’m quite certain, never will be.

Actual sketchbook page:

Nude Party Dream - full page
Nude Party Dream - full page
Categories
Art theory Drawing Flower Art Ink and watercolor wash Painting Plants Sketchbook Pages Still Life Watercolor

Happy Spring Camellia

Happy Spring Camellia, Ink & watercolor, 7x5"
Happy Spring Camellia, Ink & watercolor, 7x5"

I couldn’t resist drawing this one cutting from my camellia bush instead of going straight to the oil painting I was planning to do of the little bouquet of camellias I was assembling. I wanted to enjoy deeply seeing all the shapes and connections and patterns and reflections and colors in the leaves, buds, and flower.

I realize now that I should have gone a little more slowly when I was drawing the flower petals so that I could really capture the personality of this particular flower, the way I did with the leaves and bud. But I think it was making me dizzy, trying to follow all those different curly shapes and ins and outs of the line so I got a little lazy and generalized instead of paying absolute attention and getting it exactly.

I’m always torn between going for the detailed exactitude of botanical illustration and the way oil painters say to skip the detail, skip the individual petals and paint the mass, the form instead. I see the value in both but combining them in one painting rarely satisfies either goal.

Categories
Acrylic Painting Flower Art Glass Gouache Ink and watercolor wash Painting Sketchbook Pages Still Life Watercolor

Painting Camellias with Mariah

Camelia #3, Watercolor on paper, 4x6"
Camellia #3, Watercolor on paper, 4x6"

Last night my step-granddaughter Mariah, a brilliant, almost 10 year-old artist with an enviable  sense of design and assurance and confidence in her work came over for a visit while her parents went out to dinner. Even though she she was sick, she was still up for doing some drawing and painting.

We picked a few camellias from my tree and got to work (or was it play?) drawing. She wanted to use acrylics; I fooled around with gouache and watercolor. Here’s her painting:

Mariah's Camelias, acrylic on paper, 8x8"
Mariah's Camellias, Acrylic & graphite on paper, 8x8"

And here are the two I did last night. (The one at the top top of this post I did this morning, with the flowers beside the window. I wasn’t ready to stop painting these pretty flowers, the first of the flowers to bloom in my garden.)

Camelia #2, watercolor on paper, 6x4"
Camellia #2, Watercolor & ink on paper, 6x4"
Camelia #1, Gouache on paper, 6x4"
Camellia #1, Gouache and graphite on paper, 4x6"

I really don’t like the way using white with gouache looks so chaulky.  I much prefer the clear lights in watercolor that you get by leaving areas white or only lightly glazed with color.

Categories
Drawing Faces Ink and watercolor wash Life in general People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings Watercolor

It’s All in My Head

Cat-Tail Aloe, Ink & watercolor in sketchbook
Cat-Tail Aloe, Ink & watercolor in sketchbook

My artwork, that is.  I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and planning for my next art projects, but other obligations have taken up my art time and energy. All I’ve done the past few days is the watercolor sketch from a trip to the U. C. Berkeley Botanical Gardens (above) and the BART subway sketches below. The aloe was drawn and a bit of wash added on site; then I messed with it some more at home. There were so many wonderful options for sketching there, but my companions weren’t interested in sketching so I didn’t want to make them wait for me.

Backpacking on BART, ink in sketchbook
Backpacking on BART, ink in sketchbook
Big Feet & Big Glasses, ink in sketchbook
Big Feet & Big Glasses, ink in sketchbook

I’m quite sure this woman knew I was drawing her and I think she intentionally held her pose for me. I started with her feet because they interested me and  I didn’t think I’d have time for anything more. But because she held still I continued on up her legs and eventually ran out of room when I got to the top of her head. She gave me a big grin when I got off and I gave her one back. It was a cool little acknowledgment between us.

I’m going to start keeping my “business cards” handy when I subway sketch (those cute little Moos with bits of my artwork and blog address on them) and hand them to people I’ve drawn as I get off the train (if I have the nerve).

Taking Notes, ink in sketchbook
Taking Notes, ink in sketchbook

These two women weren’t really  seated this close. I just used the space on the page that way.

Sometimes I forget that people from my “day job” read my blog. I was in a meeting last week and one of the participants began the meeting by mentioning that she’d seen my sketches from the previous meeting we’d attended and immediately recognized some of the people in the sketch. What a compliment that was! (Thanks A. B.!)