Well, yes, of course I’ll use soap every day in May…but that’s not what this post is about. I read that the Every Day in May group was doing a daily sketch from the Everyday Matters (EDM) list. I had so much fun with EDM in 2006 when I first started art-blogging so despite being in the middle of a dozen different things I decided to join in.
They started with #101 – Draw a bar of soap. I searched the house and had no bars of soap so I drew my favorite liquid hand soap from Trader Joes. It’s Lemongrass-Sage and it smells wonderful!
I hadn’t used my Pentel Brush Pen in a long time and I thought I remembered that it doesn’t bleed when you add watercolor. No such luck. Or maybe I didn’t wait long enough for it to dry? Just for fun, here’s my original EDM #101 bar of soap, just for fun.
The Pub in Albany was originally an old house and though long ago it was (minimally) converted to a pub, it is as comfy as hanging out in my living room (except a lot more interesting). People come to drink beer or espresso, play card or board games and sit around in big overstuffed chairs to chat. There are interesting collections of objects in every room.
The Pub: Like a Living Room, ink & watercolor
Until we started sketching in pubs I had no idea that there was so much game playing going on. Beer drinking aside, it just seems so wholesome the way groups of friends meet in person to play games instead of playing digital games alone or with virtual friends online.
A note about the picture above–the white shape above the bottom right chair is the head of the bald guy who was sitting there. I liked how it looked even though you can’t tell what it is.
This was the first rose I cut from my rose bushes this year which led to the first cut on my hands from the rose thorns (likely not the last). And it was the first sketch I did of the first rose. My intention was get the essence of the delicate rose with as few lines and as few washes as possible. I drew it with a gold gel pen, painted directly in one layer and stopped.
Albatross Pub Berkeley: the bar (painted in near darkness), ink & watercolor
The past couple of weeks our Tuesday night sketch group has met at pubs to draw and sample the beer. First stop was the Albatross, Berkeley’s oldest pub. It’s a very friendly and comfortable place with several different rooms. I left the group sitting at a big table in the back and moved up front near the bar.
Albatross Pub, couple with hat, ink and watercolor
The Albatross stocks a variety of board and card games for its patrons. There were some men playing chess nearby and a couple on a date playing a card game while talking about their travels. I felt comfortable sitting by myself drawing and painting. Nobody bothered me. The only difficulty was seeing the colors I was painting.
Dart players, ink
Tuesday nights The Albatross hosts dart tournaments. These two guys didn’t actually overlap like this, they took turns approaching the line and throwing their dart. Each player has his own style of aiming and throwing, and they repeat it exactly the same each time. I drew them in stages capturing a little more with each throw. The short guy on the left leaned way forward, held the dart by his forehead, then tossed it with his left foot coming off the ground. His much taller partner stood upright and very still, and just tossed the dart without moving his body.
Last Saturday my plein air group met at Borges Ranch in Walnut Creek’s Shell Ridge Open Space. It’s a beautiful place that feels far away out in the country, and is surrounded by strange, tall hills covered in a hundred shades of green.
While I was painting I kept hearing the strangest sounds: yips, yelps, squeals and howls. I ruled out the sheep, goats, pigs and roosters and decided it was either the world’s most annoying beagle or a coyote. Later I asked the ranger who confirmed that there were three coyote families in the three nearby hills. He said they all have pups in their dens and are very talkative now. Want to hear a coyote? Click here to go to a site with a coyote sound clip.
To see wonderful photos and stories about life with an adopted coyote who was orphaned at 10 days old when his parents were shot for killing sheep, please visit The Daily Coyote blog, “a story of love, survival and trust.”
Now back to the painting–I tried to simplify, avoid details and focus on color, light and big shapes. The sky was completely covered in a thick layer of clouds and I noticed a painting “rule” in action: cool light creates warm shadows (and vice versa). Although the heavy cloud cover meant there weren’t obvious shadows, I could see how darker areas leaned toward red while areas in light were cooler (e.g. lemon yellow, not an orange-yellow).
When I got home I broke my rule of not touching up plein air studies and fussed with it, eventually ruining it and throwing it in the trash. I’m glad I took a photo first…and that I had the joy of painting to a coyote soundtrack!
When I finished the journal above I decorated the cover and sketched a self-portrait as I do for the last page of each sketchbook. This journal is called Harlequin (theoretically because of the multi-colored cover–the back is turquoise, the front is lavender with black spine covering). I know the word “harlequin” has nothing to do with patching together leftover bits of bookcloth to make a cover, but I let my sketchbooks name themselves and this one wanted to be called Harlequin.
I used (expensive, oil-based) Sharpie Paint markers for the color on the cover but they didn’t show up at all on the black and required several layers on the lavender. Despite the art store clerk’s recommendation, Sharpie Paint markers are not meant to be used on fabric. Annoyed with the markers, I switched to a gold gel pen for the words and lines.
End of sketchbook self portraits, ink & watercolor
These are the two journal-ending self-portraits sketched on the last spread of the book above. I don’t know why I refuse to try for accuracy when I sketch self-portraits. I just draw and see what happens instead. The first one (on the left) feels like me, even though the proportions are wrong. The one on the right is wrong in so many ways I might as well have been drawing a completely different person.
Newly bound journal
I’d planned to experiment with dying my own bookcloth for the new journal like Shirley does, but when I went to the store to get the Wonder-Under (iron-on stuff to fuse fabric to paper backing) I fell for this linen fabric and used it instead. My adventure on the previous journal was figuring out how to patch the bookcloth together. This one was figuring out how to fuse the fabric to the Thai Mulberry paper per Shirley’s instructions (the hardest part was figuring out how to peel the almost invisible paper backing off the Wonder-Under). Maybe next time I’ll dye fabric.
I’ve also updated my file How to Bind a Watercolor Journal (as I do each time I bind a journal and learn more) and it’s available to download on the Comments & Resources page of my website, JanaBouc.com.
It’s become an annual tradition for our sketch group that when Cathy’s wisteria explodes into bloom she invites us to spend the evening in her serene Berkeley backyard garden sketching and painting. This year it was a cool, foggy evening so we bundled up and drew until our fingers were too cold and the light was gone.
Wisteria close up, ink & watercolor
Then we went indoors and shared our work while snacking on ginger cookies and pistachios.
Our excellent online Berkeley newspaper, Berkeleyside, published this wonderful photo essay “The Hanging Gardens of Berkeley” with pictures of wisteria in brilliant bloom all over Berkeley, in some cases completely hiding the buildings.
Sharing art with other sites is fun (and as it turns out profitable). Berkeleyside features my sketches of Berkeley from time to time (linked here) and I’m always honored when they do. Then a few months ago a natural foods specialist asked if she could use some of my paintings on her website. I’m glad I said yes. One of her readers just bought three of those paintings. It’s good to share!
Rose Reverence, oil on Gessobord panel, 10x10" - SOLD
My riotously rampant roses were bursting forth from their bushes so I had to put other plans aside and paint them. Their fruity scent was as intoxicating as their vibrant colors. These were two different kinds of roses, both of which change colors and shape as they open so I had to work quickly to complete this painting in one session.
I left the still life set up just in case I needed to fix anything the next morning. But of course by then they were completely different roses. And the painting was complete.
Saturday was the 31st Worldwide Sketchcrawl and I joined the San Francisco group to explore the Mission District and sketch. I tagged along with my friend Pete Scully who had mapped out a route that included stops at two famous S.F. comic book stores.
Sketcher at a.m. meetup at Dolores Cafe
While waiting for the crawl to begin everyone sat and stood around drawing everyone else. See Pete’s sketch of me seriously sketching here.
Pete Sketching atop stairs
Later, while Pete climbed up a set of stairs to draw a Victorian house, I sketched him sketching and then picked up some lunch at a cafe up the street.
Fire Hydrant and Mission Dolores
Since I was sketching with Pete, of course we had to stop and draw a fire hydrant (see Pete’s fire hydrant series here). I was amused by the similarity of shapes in the tower atop Mission Dolores and the fire plug.
Mission Mariachis standing around
I don’t know what these guys were waiting for but they never did play.
Old "New Mission Theatre"
The theater is defunct, the sign peeling and is dwarfed by neighboring Giant Value big box store. I bet the theater was beautiful when it was new.
Below, some BART people on the very bumpy ride to SF. I’m finding that as much as I love my fountain pen for its smooth flowing, I have less control, especially when drawing on transit or when standing.
Warrior in full leather (and kilt), ink & watercolor
Moving on from the bagpipers in the last post to some of the other characters I met at the Scottish Festival. Except for the kilt, this guy could have been in Mad Max. I asked him about his metal cup since nearly every person in character either was carrying one or had one clipped to their belts. I asked whether drinking was an important part of the culture. He said no, that when you were served beverages you were expected to have your own goblet or mug, they weren’t provided.
Sitting in the Clan Cian booth
This old gent with the long white hair and beard was one of the most authentic-looking characters.
Mary Queen of Scotts
She behaved quite regally but seemed to be a kind sovereign.
Serving girl
She was hanging out and helping to serve in the beer garden. I added extra length to her skirt using Photoshop cloning after my sister pointed out she looked to be standing in a hole or missing feet because her skirt wasn’t long enough.
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A tent was set up to demonstrate how the lords and ladies traveled in style, with full silver settings, rugs, bedding and furniture. They could only travel (to visit other lords and ladies) very short distances each day in their wagons because of the weight and all the setting up required for their servants to create a home away from home each day.
Romans waiting by a small fire truck for a parade to begin
Along with Scots there were Romans, Vikings and even a couple of pirates.
Jana Bouc, Artist 