Busby taking a Sunday afternoon nap on the studio window seat and giving off that addictive kitty-sleep aura that always makes me want to snuggle in and take a nap too. (Quick sketch–Ink & watercolor in Moleskine watercolor notebook).
Category: Painting
Here's this week's Wet Canvas Weekend Drawing Event post. The original photos available for painting this weekend all had that grey sky look that I'm so familiar with here in the San Francisco Bay Area. It's been winter again in my neighborhood for days–nothing but gray foggy skies and constant wind blowing in from the Bay.
When I was in the rainforest in Costa Rica several years ago I saw what looked like a long green ribbon trailing through the jungle. It turned out to be leaf cutter ants that chew off and carry pieces of leaf that weigh at least 20 times their own body weight–like a human carrying a tractor. Leaf-cutter ants don't eat the leaves–they use the leaves to feed fungus that they cultivate and eat (yum). They live in colonies with three to eight million ant buddies. A friend of mine who lived in a small town in Guatemala for a year had problems with leaf cutter ants coming into their little house and stealing their vegetables piece by piece. Since the jungle had been cleared in their area, the ants had learned to shop for their greens in people's kitchens–made easier since there were no refrigerators and the produce was sitting out on the table. And I thought I had an ant problem! (Ink and watercolor in Moleskine watercolor notebook.)
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Lake Merritt Gooslings
I know it's supposed to be goslings, but I like gooslings better–better describes these little fuzzballs. It's so much nicer to get out for a walk around the lake at lunch instead of sitting in my office looking out the window at the lake and seeing the little ant-like people out there enjoying themselves while I'm working, working, working.
I took a watercolor workshop Saturday at the California Watercolor Association's storefront in the luxurious but ghost-town like Blackhawk Mall. Blackhawk is in a very snooty, upscale suburban area, full of pretentious identical McMansions, all with lush landscaping (requiring major irrigation in this hot, dry area) against a backdrop of arid, golden hills. There was an art show on display in the front room and half the paintings had been awarded big green ribbons which made me think of the green golf course lawns and the similarities between golfing and painting in watercolor.
Like golf (which I admit I've never played except for peewee golf as a kid) there are skills and techniques and equipment to learn, some body parts
Here's this week's entry to the Wet Canvas Weekend Drawing Event. The photos this week were from a South Dakota farm. I changed the composition a bit–adding an extra calf and a bale of hay and then did a quick ink and watercolor sketch. 
I did this today while I was sitting under the hair dryer at Circle Salon in Kensington waiting for my hair to turn bright copper red. Julie said my picture makes me look much older than I really am, but that's because I got so interested in all the lines and wrinkles when I was drawing. Then she got annoyed because she was ready to wash the dye out of my hair and move on to her next client but I wasn't finished with my drawing. So she took away the mirror I was using. I love drawing! I love my red hair too!
Here's the photo I took of myself under the dryer. I guess the good news is I don't look as bad as the painting, but the bad news is the painting doesn't look as good as the photo.
Irisa and I were taking a brisk lunchtime walk around Lake Merritt. These Oakland civil servants were having a little siesta under a tree by the bird sanctuary while some local residents looked on.
Just as I was falling asleep last night my sleepy brain came up with a great invention. I was so excited I turned the light back on and made this note in my bedside notebook: "Hip-Hop Suspenders Made of Bling!" I'm so tired of seeing guys walking around holding up their giant pants (or letting them fall down, displaying several layers of underwear). So in my sleepy genius I came up with what might be a hot new hip-hop style (continued below)…
…Suspenders made of chunky gold chains to match the stupid chunky bling necklaces and gold teeth that wanna-be rappers wear. Here's the picture I drew in my sketchbook this morning. Do you think I should try to market it? Leave a comment below and tell me what you think.
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Glowing morning
I was surprised to wake up at 6:00 a.m. to a sunny day today since my neighborhood near the San Francisco Bay is foggy most of the time. When I looked out the window, this grand old tree was brilliantly glowing. I ran outside in my pajamas and took a few photos and then painted the tree standing at my dining room window watching as the shadows changed minute by minute. I think I overworked it, and should have stopped earlier but what a great way to start the day!
Jana Bouc, Artist 
