Category: Watercolor

Ten Minute Trees on Memorial Day

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date May 28, 2007
13 Comments on Ten Minute Trees on Memorial Day

All images ink and watercolor in Moleskine Watercolor Notebook

I got inspired to get back to sketchbooking after looking at Pete Scully’s watercolor sketches (scroll down on his site to see entries from May 9-13) from his recent trip to Santa Monica, where I was born. They reminded me how sketches of even the most ordinary sights of daily life can make exciting sketches when seen through fresh eyes (and with some talent and skill like Pete’s). I decided to just go around my neighborhood, doing 10 minute sketches of trees, trying to capture their various personalities and gestures.

The one above is viewed past the flag on my next door neighbor’s house looking across the street to a little house and its very big tree.

Click here to enlarge
Above is my little Bay Laurel tree in front of my house. I thought it would be nice to have bay leaves at my disposal but it’s a weird tree that stays green all year but grows sort of clumpy and doesn’t really seem that tree-like. My drawing doesn’t either–I think I made the trunk to wide for the leafy part. I guess I should have added a little background to give a sense of size but my 10 minutes was up. (I gave myself up to 10 minutes to sketch and 10 minutes to paint and used the timer on my watch.)

Click here to enlarge
Above is my other next door neighbor’s tree–some sort of non-fruiting plum tree that really is this color and while it was planted a year after my Bay Laurel it’s twice as big.

I didn’t get any further than my own front yard but thoroughly enjoyed myself, listening to the birds chirping and neighbor’s music playing through their windows on this first sunny day in a week.

Tags Pen and Ink

Other Art Blogs I Read Outdoors/Landscape Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Worldwide Sketchcrawl 14 – San Francisco

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date May 21, 2007
24 Comments on Worldwide Sketchcrawl 14 – San Francisco

Ink and watercolor in small Moleskine watercolor notebook
To enlarge images, click picture then select All Sizes

Saturday was the 14th Worldwide Sketchcrawl and I attended the one in San Francisco. We met at the Ferry Building around elevenish (people straggled in for about an hour and then we finally left to walk up the Filbert Steps (straight up a huge hill with cute, old, little multi-million dollar cottages perched on it). This is the same area where the movie The Parrots of Telegraph Hill was filmed. The picture above is looking up at the porch on one of those cottages.

Next we hiked further uphill to Coit Tower where I drew the view above, looking down at the Ferry Building (the clock tower) in the distance and the Bay Bridge behind that. I was starving–lunch had gotten pushed back a couple hours since people didn’t seem to be trying to follow the planned schedule so I bought an “Its It” ice cream sandwich in the gift shop at Coit Tower. Unfortunately a big piece of chocolate fell off and melted all over my favorite green t-shirt, which I didn’t notice until later.

From there we walked to North Beach and met in Washington Square Park. I drew the bell tower on top of the cathedral across from the park (above) while laying on my back in the grass, listening to blasting 70s disco music and the generator powering the loudspeakers. A Communist Party group (mostly clean-cut college kids) were having a May Day celebration with red banners, red shirts, red cups for their drinks. On the other corner of the park a Jesus group set up their own stage and speakers and made random religious announcements.

This was a great day in San Francisco, perfect sunny weather and a festive atmosphere everywhere. One of the highlights of my day was finally meeting the wonderful Martha of Trumpetvine Travels. It was a delight seeing her drawings in person in her custom made sketchbook (that she gives directions how to make on her blog). I had so much fun hanging out, chatting, drawing and hiking with her. We had lunch in a deli near Washington Square and when we learned that people were going to stay at the noisy park another half hour, we decided to move on to Chinatown (next stop on the crawl) where I drew the building below.

I know it’s wonky. I started with the part that interested me and just kept drawing with ink until I ran out of space. While I drew one corner of the building Martha drew the whole interesting street with hanging lanterns, and all the different shaped buildings. It should be interesting to compare our drawings since we did all the same subjects, but in our own styles. Chinatown was packed with amazing sights, sounds, smells, and way too many people to find a spot to sketch until we reached the outskirts and found a bench to rest on. We hiked back to the Ferry Building to do one more sketch but once we were there realized we were too tired and called it a day. A very good day!

Tags Pen and Ink

Drawing Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

One Year in the Blogosphere

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date May 18, 2007
27 Comments on One Year in the Blogosphere

Watercolor in Aquabee Sketchbook 6×9
To enlarge, click image, select All Sizes

Today is the last day of my first year of blogging. I’d hoped to finish the year off with a bang but a combination of day-job overload, exhaustion and aches and pains prevented me from posting the past few days.

I’m hoping that tomorrow (Saturday) I’ll feel up to joining the 14th Worldwide Sketchcrawl in San Francisco. My former watercolor teacher and dear friend Susan is planning to be there and I’m looking forward to seeing her too and having some good sketches to share on my blog.

I’m also doing a lot of thinking about my goals and intentions for my blog and my artwork in general for year two of my sketchblog. More about that on my blog birthday tomorrow.

Here are some blog statistics for the year ending today:
Blog Stats
Total Views: 103,329
Best Day Ever: 703
Posts: 287
Comments: 3,017
Spam comments caught and prevented: 17,625

Photos Studio Watercolor

In the studio & Wanna be tagged?

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date May 14, 2007
17 Comments on In the studio & Wanna be tagged?

A watercolor in progress (about 1/3 done) on my watercolor table with my helpers standing by, waiting to help (or get in the way). This is a commissioned portrait of a house with the family’s 3 cats in the window.

An acrylic painting in progress on my easel in the opposite corner of the room.

If you click on the pictures to look at them on Flickr you’ll see little notes of what stuff is.

Tagged

Now, about this tagging business. This week I’ve been “tagged” by three different art bloggers. When you get tagged you’re supposed to list seven little known facts about yourself and then list seven blogs you like to visit and then tell each of those people they’ve been tagged. It’s sort of like a chain letter. Since I don’t know who’s already been tagged, and since I was tagged 3 times in 3 days, I have a feeling people are running out of people to tag…which makes me feel a little like I did in high school gym class where I was always the last to be picked for a team since I was such a klutz.

So instead of tagging other people, I’m going to invite people to be tagged. That way I won’t be imposing on anyone and won’t re-tag already tagged people. Will I get in trouble for breaking the chain? If you want to play and haven’t been tagged yet, just leave me a comment and I’ll toss you a tag…

Here are the 7 random facts about me:

1. I live in a house that used to be a duplex so I have 2 living/dining room rooms, 2 kitchens, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and 2 laundry rooms. (One living/dining room/kitchen is my studio and 1 laundry room is a pantry now.)

2. I have two cats who sleep on top of my computer monitor and tv with their tail hanging over the screen.

3. I love doing dishes and cleaning the cat litter box but dislike doing other housework because it takes too long.

4. I like to read manuals for computer software and electronic gadgets and I subscribe to PC Magazine.

5. I hate shopping for clothes but love shopping for art supplies and books.

6. I download books from Audible.com to my computer and iPod and listen to them while I watercolor (but oil or acrylic painting I listen to music).

7. I have a spinning bike (exercise bike) in my living room and I like to ride it while watching American Idol on my TiVo with the sound played through my stereo.

And here are links to the lovely artists who tagged me:

Claudia of Time Passages whose garden sketches are sensational!

Kerstin Klein of Snowflakes and Black Vampires who has been participating in the portrait party where people trade doing each other’s portraits.

Dinahmow (sounds like “Dynamo”) of Idle Thoughts of an Idle Woman whose printmaking and photography is stunning.

So, I know I’ve done this all wrong. I haven’t listed 7 new tagged people…but I’m tossing the ball to you and calling out TAG, You’re IT. If you wanna be tagged, just leave me a comment and I’ll link you in the next post.

Tags Acrylic Painting, Photos

Illustration Friday Painting Sketchbook Pages Still Life Watercolor

Illustration Friday: Citrus (leathery old lemon)

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date May 11, 2007
16 Comments on Illustration Friday: Citrus (leathery old lemon)

Watercolor on Arches paper, 10×8″. To enlarge, click image, select All Sizes

I hadn’t planned on doing Illustration Friday today but when I saw that the topic was Citrus I remembered the giant old lemon from a co-worker’s tree that’s been in my fridge for a week. I’ve been squeezing it on veges and into salad dressings and it was still going strong, though a bit squished. I’m not sure how this rendition ended up being so not-lemon colored. I should have stopped painting sooner though I like the way the little scalloped plate turned out. Too bad the topic isn’t little blue plates.

Last night a combination of back pain and a prank caller ringing my phone five times made for a bad night. This morning I called the number back (thanks to good old caller id) and told off the guy whose house it was. Apparently it was a 10 year old girl fooling around with the phone (but why was she up phoning me at 2:30, 3:30, 5:30, 6:30, and 7:30?). I’ve now blocked their number in case she tries again! Argh! I’m off to try for a better night’s sleep.

Dreams Painting People Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Drawing dreams: Like being a kid again

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date May 8, 2007
11 Comments on Drawing dreams: Like being a kid again

(above) I dreamt that Shirley (from Everyday Matters) was a graphic designer who had done the covers for some Curious George books that were being published by the organization I work for. I thought of her in the dream as Shirley hemend (the last name is actually part of her email address and it was lower case in the dream too).

Drawing dreams is so much fun. It’s just like being a kid again, sitting around like I used to with crayons and scrap paper drawing whatever came to mind next, like the people in the picture below. Except for me and the singer, the rest of the people just appeared randomly: a guy with a bozo haircut behind the singer, the old lady beside her, a guy with a beret and lady with a big hat, all just random people floating around in my subconscious waiting for a chance to come hang out for awhile.

(above) Dreamt I was in a big meeting room at work where a young goofy looking singer-songwriter guy was singing a song so beautiful and heartbreaking that it brought tears to my eyes and I fell in love with him — until I realized he was too young. I’m always 25 in my dreams and then at the end I remember I’m more than twice that.

(above) Dreamt that Leah and I were on the hike we took Saturday where we saw so many beautiful butterflies, but this time there were hundreds instead of dozens.

All images ink & watercolor in Handbook Company Journal.
To enlarge, click images, select “All Sizes”

Tags Pen and Ink, People

Every Day Matters Painting Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Marbles Again

Watercolor on Arches 140 lb cold press paper 8×10″
To enlarge, click image, select All Sizes

I was determined to try again with the marbles. I just wasn’t happy with the previous version that I painted when I was way too tired. I’m not satisfied with this one either, and will try again for the fresh transparency I’m wanting to capture.

Marbles present an interesting challenge — they’re glass, reflective, transparent and round. And it’s even more challenging when a big cat named Busby insists on sitting with his chin on top of the cigar box (covered by a paper towel) on which the marbles are perched. He kept bumping them off or blocking the light, making the reflections from the window keep changing.

I’m not sure if he’s attracted to the little halogen lamp I use on still life set ups that gets nice and warm, or just to annoying me. I finally put a sketchbook between the box and the cat so that he could at least rest his head on something of mine while keeping his distance from the marbles.

On the other hand, this gives me an idea. Next time I want to draw him I’ll set up a still life and then ignore it and capture him instead while he’s actually holding still for a minute. (He actually holds still much of the day, snoozing on a blanket in the closet but it’s too dark in there to draw.)

Tags Cats

Every Day Matters Glass Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

EDM 117 – Draw Something Round (Marbles)

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date May 2, 2007
14 Comments on EDM 117 – Draw Something Round (Marbles)

Watercolor in Aquabee 6×9 sketchbook
To enlarge, click image, select All Sizes

All day at work (which has been insanely busy lately) I was thinking about coming home and painting some marbles for this week’s Everyday Matters challenge – Draw Something Round. But I worked until 7:30 pm and then by the time I’d cooked dinner and eaten it was 9:00 p.m. I decided to give it a go anyway. The best thing that came out of it was the fun my cats had chasing marbles around the studio. I should have drawn that!

My intention was to be loose and fresh but I guess I was just too tired. Also, I decided a month or so ago that any watercolor painting I do at home would be on watercolor paper instead of sketchbook paper since it’s so much better and more pleasurable to paint on which I regretably ignored. But at least I got a drawing/painting done today, even if it’s not great. And tomorrow is another day to try again.

Tags Glass

Flower Art Painting Watercolor

Iris wet-in-wet

Watercolor on arches paper 10×10 inches
To enlarge, click image, select All Sizes

I drew this in pencil from an iris I cut from my garden tonight. I painted each petal or group of petals with water and then dropped in paint, working one section at a time. As each section got less wet I added a little more paint for detail, still trying to keep the overall effect loose and free. If it wasn’t so late I would have added another layer of water and darker paint here and there, but I have a great new book on acrylics I want to go read so I’ll keep my notes here short, AND avoid overworking the painting, just for something different.

Drawing Faces People Portrait Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Drawing Faces

Graphite and watercolor in Aquabee 6×9 sketchbook
To enlarge, click images, select All Sizes

These are two more faces from my project of drawing faces from a book of character actors acting that I explained in a previous post here. This actor was supposed to be a soccer dad whose daughter just scored a winning goal in the first picture and a Hells Angel preparing for a confrontation in the bottom picture. Drawing the top picture I could really see what all the muscles in face were doing to pull his skin here and there.

I had to draw the first one twice–the first time I didn’t get things lined up at all. I seem to always want to make faces and their features symmetrical whether they are or not. I try to straighten tilted heads, make mouths the same size on both sides of the face even when the head is turned so that it’s shorter on one side. The second time I looked more carefully at angles and where features lined up with each other and their sizes in relation to each other and I got closer to reality.

Tags Faces, People