Category: People

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Drawing Faces Oil Painting Other Art Blogs I Read Painting People Portrait

Self Portrait in Pigtails

Self portrait in pigtails, 16x12", oil
Self portrait in pigtails, 16x12", Oil on canvas

I met a very quirky 76 year-old woman artist who has made her home, her car and her self into a wonderful, crazy work of art. I’ll share more about her next time, but today wanted to post this self-portrat she inspired.

I’d been feeling discouraged about oil painting after doing a terrible plein air painting on Saturday but meeting that woman on my walk today, I was inspired to braid my hair and decorate myself with make up and do a self portrait in oils.

I started by setting up a mirror but found it awkward to paint while having to keep looking in a mirror to my right and making the same face.  So I took photos, shooting into the mirror, and then displayed the best one on my computer monitor and worked from that. Here’s the photo I used:

Reference photo of me
Reference photo of me

I started by drawing with white pastel pencil on an already toned canvas (actually a reused canvas: the first painting I did when I picked up oils a year or so ago — a portrait of my sister that was so terrible that I scraped it and covered it in a warm brown oil paint to be used again). I like sketching with a pastel pencil because it rubs off easily from a primed canvas and disappears into the oil paint without streaking or smearing.

Pastel drawing on toned canvas
Pastel drawing on toned canvas

Then I photographed the drawing bove and pasted the image as another layer in Photoshop on top of the reference photo, adjusting the new layer to 60% opacity. That allowed me to see where my drawing was off and make the adjustments on my canvas. You can see in the overlay below that I’d missed in many places, despite my attempt at accuracy.

Drawing overlapping photo
Drawing overlapping photo

I’ve learned the hard way that an incorrect drawing just leads to a bad painting.  I could have just enlarged the photo and traced it right onto my canvas, but I love drawing and wanted the challenge of drawing myself somewhat accurately. I think the final painting does look a bit like me and it was definitely fun to do.

I’m going to wear my hair like this to work tomorrow. And I’m not going to give up oils.

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Drawing Faces Life in general People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Doodleheads, Subway Sketching, Patience

Sketches of people meeting
Meeting, thinking, waiting (click images to enlarge)

Practicing patience while doing for others the past week has meant less time for painting. A dear friend broke his leg and has required 2 trips to the hospital and other chauffering. The computer I gave to my wonderful neighbors came down with a variety of ills, including a dead power supply and a huge load of viruses (or is that virii?). And work was a non-stop series of meetings, trouble-shooting and brainstorming sessions that completely wore out my brain.

Subway sketches of people on BART
Doodleheads: Subway sketches of people on BART

Today instead ofpainting I’ve spent hours trouble-shooting and (hopefully) restoring my former computer (the virus scan is still running and zapping hundreds of virus files). Lesson: Never let a 12 year old boy use a PC without first installing virus software! A friend told me about the free (for home users)and downloadable Avast Antivirus and he is right: it is fantastic!

Subway sketches of people on BART
Doodleheads 2: Subway sketches of people on BART

I need to start a new sketchbook. This one is nearly full and I seem to be postponing the dreaded blank sketchbook, instead cramming everything on the remaining few pages.

Another thing I discovered this week is that Amazon offers all sorts of free music mp3 downloads, (click this link then scroll down) from whole albums to songs from a variety of artists. I’m listening to the ones I downloaded yesterday and really enjoying them. Everything from Billie Holiday, the Butchies, and Firewater to the entire album “Very Best of Naxos Early Music,” which is heavenly.

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Drawing Faces Life in general People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Waiting and waiting…BART and meeting sketches

He didn’t really have 3 extra heads. Those heads are the first people who sat in his seat but each got off after one stop so I had no time to finish them. Maybe they are his guardian angels watching over him as he sleeps.

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WAITING

I’m getting good at waiting… My very lame loaner computer is teaching me patience because every step takes so long. Hopefully mine will be back from the shop soon. It’s amazing what a difference 2 GB of memory in the exact same computer makes compared the 500 MB in this loaner.

These are some sketches over the past couple weeks while waiting for the subway, waiting for my stop, waiting for a meeting to end….

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Faces Oil Painting Painting People

Farmers Market Friends (Work in Progress)

Farmers Market Freinds
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I’m really happy with the way this painting (from a photo I took at the Farmers Market) is progressing and since I couldn’t finish it tonight and it’s back to the office tomorrow, I decided to share it as a work in progress.

Questions for you:

  1. Can you tell that the woman on the left is resting her hands on her shopping cart handle and that there’s a plastic bag of stuff in the cart?
  2. Is the way her hands are mostly one light shape confusing?
  3. Is that area of hands/cart handle/plastic bag distracting? (Before I pointed it out.)
  4. Do you think I should leave their shirts alone or add the patterns that were really on their shirts?
  5. Anything you see that needs fixing (other than the list above and below)?

I still need to add paint to the truck in the background to get the color right, paint in the lettering and add some contrast to the lady on the right (and maybe adjust her face a bit).

Categories
Flower Art Glass Landscape Oil Painting Outdoors/Landscape Painting People Photos Plein Air Still Life

Farmers Market Diversity, Roses & Revised Painting

Roses Re-do

(Larger) Finished but not satisfied…

Saturday I walked to the Farmers Market at El Cerrito Plaza with the plan to make some watercolor sketches. After half an hour exploring, taking photos and trying to find a spot to sketch I realized I needed to get out of there.

That happens to me sometimes; one minute I’m enjoying the sights and sounds somewhere and the next I just have to leave. Maybe it’s a blood sugar thing—it was time for lunch—or I’d just had enough of crowds and sun and wanted to get back to the studio. Since it’s my Birthday month to do whatever I please I didn’t push myself to stick it out and get a sketch; instead I headed to Peets Coffee for an iced-latte and a nice long walk home.

I took photos of the glorious produce displays at the market, but I couldn’t resist sharing this photo that captures the wonderfully diverse womanhood in the Bay Area. I wish I knew what the rest of her pants say:

Diversity @ Farmers Market

New Camera

I got some great photos at the Farmers Market (that inspired two paintings in progress) with my new camera that is quite compact but has 10x optical zoom. A few years ago I bought a similar camera but for twice as much money and it’s four times bigger and heavier and less competent. I find it amazing how some technology just keeps advancing exponentially while others, like cars, just keep chugging along, not that much more sophisticated all these years later, than Model Ts.

Revised Painting:

Below are a couple or previously posted plein air paintings that I decided to try to finish up (or finish off, as the case may be) in the studio.

Continue reading “Farmers Market Diversity, Roses & Revised Painting”
Categories
Drawing Life in general People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Worked late, missed train, got to draw

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Once everyone left the office I could finally concentrate on a complicated project. By the time I finished and headed out it was nearly 8:00 p.m. I arrived at the BART station just as my train was pulling away and the flashing sign said it would be 20 minutes until the next one. I was exhausted, hungry and alone on the platform with nothing to do.

Within a few minutes, more late commuters began to arrive, sit down and kill time. I grabbed my sketchbook and the 20 minutes flew by. I drew the people above while waiting (felt pen added at home because I liked the negative space) and the folks below on the train ride home.

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Drawing Faces Painting People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings Watercolor

I just love to draw

BART riders

Ink & watercolor in Strathmore Drawing 6×8″ sketchbook (larger)

A tall, overstuffed, nerdy guy sat down beside me on the commute home, opened his laptop and started watching a bloody horror movie. It was one of those movies with a creepy doll in it.

I turned away from him, tired from my first day back at work after being home with a cold,  and feeling disgusted by what I saw on his screen. But once I started drawing, I just felt happy.

I added watercolor this evening at home and that made me feel happy too. I really like this sketchbook paper for drawing with ink and then adding light watercolor washes. Although I usually prefer Cheap Joes inexpensive Golden Fleece watercolor brushes, tonight I grabbed an old friend: the first watercolor brush I ever bought: a Winsor Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Sable brush, with peeling paint, loose ferrule and no point.

I’m glad to be 2/3 over my cold, out of my pajamas, showered and dressed after a couple of days of being housebound with no energy to do any of the above.

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Drawing Faces Other Art Blogs I Read People Portrait Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

More Portrait Swaps: Andy (& Nel again)


Andy

ANDY by JANA
Ink & watercolor, Aquabee sketchbook, 12×9″ (larger)

Andy of “Drawn to Running” emailed me and invited me to do a portrait swap with him. I think he’s quite adorable and looks like someone with a very kind heart. I exaggerated in my sketch of him but had great fun doing the drawing, which was a relief after my struggles in the studio earlier this week.

Here’s his excellent portrait of me: an amazing likeness!:

Andy\'s portrait of me

JANA by ANDY

I’m still working on painting Nel and I’m determined to succeed to capture her image from one particular photo without making her look unattractive, which she most definitely is not! Here is another attempt (3rd of those I did today, the first two not worth posting!).

NEL #6
Ink & watercolor, Aquabee sketchbook, 12×9″ (larger)

Nel 6

Drawing in Sharpie is great fun. You have to move quickly or it starts to bleed; you can’t erase, just have to redraw the lines. I enjoy this kind of “take a chance and go” drawing and quick painting so much more than careful labored work these days.

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Other Art Blogs I Read Painting People Portrait Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

More for the portrait party

Nel 2

Watercolor, 11×7.5″ Nel #1 (larger)

Last week I posted my portraits of Nel and Rita for the Portrait Party blog’s birthday celebration. Today I worked on painting Nel from a different photo. Above is my first attempt.

Nel and Rita both did wonderful portraits of me for the Portrait Party. You can see Rita’s here and Nel’s here. They captured my likeness and a sense of my funny side and joyfulness.

Here’s today’s second version:

Nel 3

Watercolor, 11×7.5″ Nel #2 (larger)

You might notice that the drawing is exactly the same in both paintings. That’s because I did the drawing first and scanned it “just in case” I messed up. Then, when I wanted to do another painting, I printed the drawing out on a piece of watercolor paper and started again.
Nel 4

Watercolor, 11×7.5″ Nel #3 (larger)

I’m not happy with any of these, and I seem to have put my frustration on Nel’s face. Since that seems to be the general theme in my painting this week, maybe it’s time to move on to making color charts, always a good thing to do when the muse is on strike.

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Drawing Faces Other Art Blogs I Read People Portrait Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Portrait Party Pics Part I

1st Sketch of N.

Nel in Sharpie and watercolor in Aquabee 12×9″ sketchbook (larger)

Two art blogger friends and I are swapping portraits for the Portrait Party‘s Happy Birthday Party. You can see there pictures of me here on Nel’s blog and here on Rita’s Flickr page.
Anyone can join in the drawing fun. Just grab a friend and sketch each other; follow the directions here. To be included in the Happy Birthday Party contest, you need to submit your sketch to the Portrait Party by March 31.

1st Sketch of R.

RITA in Sharpie and watercolor in Aquabee 12×9″ sketchbook (larger)

My painting group met at my studio tonight and we finally caught up with each other after a month of way too much busyness to meet regularly. Lea finished illustrating her latest children’s book (which I think is going to become a classic) and shipped the last of the paintings off to her publisher. Susie shared some beautiful watercolors from her trip to Hawaii. Sharon was working on an abstract watercolor and while she painted, Judith surreptitiously sketched her. To get even, Sharon did a quick watercolor of Judith.

Then we uploaded their portrait swaps (below) to the Portrait Party. On the left is Judith’s sketch of Sharon. Sharon’s quick watercolor of Judith is on the right. They both captured each other’s essences in a powerful way.

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(click images to enlarge)

It’s been a while since I’ve sketched with those very unforgiving Sharpies and it was fun and somehow liberating to just start drawing and see where I ended up and then loosely add watercolor. I was working from photos I was sent by N. and R. I’ve never met either of them in person but I find it’s often easier drawing someone I don’t know intimately. One of the photos N. sent me was so intriguing that I plan to attempt a more serious portrait from that image later.