Category: Sketchbook Pages

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Life in general Painting Sketchbook Pages Still Life Watercolor

Halloween Candy & Earthquakes

Halloween Candy

Watercolor on Arches Hot Press paper in 5.5 x 7.5″ sketchbook
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Last night was Cody’s birthday party at Hunan Villa in Pinole.  There were 10 of us sitting around the table celebrating, with good food and good company. Halfway through dinner we all noticed the table seemed to be rocking back and forth and so did my chair. Everyone looked at each other trying to make sense of it.  At first we all thought it was someone bumping the table, but the floor seemed to be moving in a strange wavelike manner as well. Suddenly a painting flew off the wall two feet away from us and smashed to the floor, scattering glass everywhere. That’s when we realized it was a fairly good-sized earthquake. Fortunately that was the end of it (for now) and we all went back to celebrating, considerably more alert than before.

These candies are called “Gruesome Gummy Candy” (and one Hersheys Nugget) — all that was left at 6:00 P.M. at Longs on my way home.  I think they’re supposed to be spiders or tarantulas. I like to wait until the last minute to buy Halloween candy so I don’t eat it all, long before the trick-or-treaters arrive. Sadly only three groups came to my door tonight. In my old neighborhood where I lived on a main street, streams of cute little ones came by all night long, which I relished. Now what to do with all the extra candy? Hmmmm…..

Categories
Gardening Painting Plants Sketchbook Pages Still Life

More Last Tomatoes

The Last Tomatoes in a Bowl

Watercolor on Arches 140 lb hot press paper drawn first in blue Micron Pigma pen, 5.5″ 7.5″
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Yesterday I cleaned up my four tomato plants, removing all the dead leaves and icky, gooshy tomatoes (without screaming once — squooshy, slimey things scare me) and was delighted to discover an abundance of still quite lovely tomatoes, ripe and ready to be picked. I was sure when I painted the last bunch of tomatoes that they were truly the last, but we’ve had some wonderful summer weather all over again and the tomatoes just keep on doing their thing.

I piled them in this old stoneware bowl and stuck them in the fridge. I’ve been working on an oil painting family portrait (more about that tomorrow) and have been neglecting my blog. So I decided to stop working on the oil painting, and loosen up with the tomatoes and some watercolor in my sketchbook.

Now back to the portrait. If I don’t finish it tomorrow I’ll post the work in progress. The painting was inspired by looking through some baby pictures of my son with his father and grandfather that we wanted to bring on a visit to my father-in-law. He’s been very ill and on Thursday night he thoroughly enjoyed seeing the pictures (and us). I was hoping to finish the painting before he died and to share it with him but sadly/blessedly he passed away this morning. If the painting turns out well enough, I’ll bring it to his memorial. In the meantime it’s been a blessing for me to lovingly paint his smiling face, knowing it would not be visible much longer.

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Landscape Oil Painting Other Art Blogs I Read Outdoors/Landscape Painting Plein Air Sketchbook Pages

Lake Merritt Japanese Garden

Lake Merritt Zen Garden

Oil on Masonite Panel, 12×9″
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I’ve been studying oil painting for months, reading piles of books, learning from others, watching endless painting videos (some that are literally “like watching paint dry”), taking a class and practicing every chance I get. Last week it seemed that despite my study and “book learning,” while I had the knowledge of how to paint in oils, I didn’t have the skill to actually do it. Today I think something has clicked and I’m finally starting to get it.

I nearly finished this painting on site with my plein air group this morning at Oakland’s Lake Merritt Botanical Garden. Unfortunately (or fortunately, really), the painting had a little accident on its way home and got smeared. That gave me the perfect excuse to work on it some more.

I’d been having difficulty with painting on the slick surface of the gessoed masonite with the stiff bristle brushes — the paint wouldn’t stick and kept sliding around when I tried to paint another layer on top. Then I got an email message from Nel, raving about a new softer brush she was enjoying: a Raphael Kevrin Mongoose Series 877. I picked one up at Artists and Craftsman in Berkeley and used that to fix and finish the painting. She was right — it’s a fabulous brush!

I had the most trouble painting the water, especially since I omitted the little island/tree in the middle of the pond and moved the big redwood tree all the way to the right. I had to adjust the reflections from what was actually there and I don’t think I quite got it right. Hopefully it looks a little like water and not grass!

Any tips appreciated (I mean advice, not spare change.)

Here’s the photo I used to finish the painting at home, and a couple steps along the way:

Continue reading “Lake Merritt Japanese Garden”
Categories
Painting Sketchbook Pages Still Life Watercolor

Last of the Summer Tomatoes

Last of the tomatoes

Watercolor on Arches cold pressed paper in sketchbook, 7×5.5″
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I was so tired tonight after all day meetings at work (and staying up painting very late last night) that all I wanted to do was go to bed as soon as I got home. But my painting group was coming over and I was looking forward to seeing everyone so I tidied up the studio to make room for them to paint after my marathon painting sessions this weekend.

Seeing everyone painting got me energized so I grabbed these tomatoes from my garden, set them up under a light and got to work. I regret the last shadow I put in (between the the two groups of tomatoes). I thought it might help the composition by bridging the two groups, but I think it just added to the confusion of all the competing shapes and colors (which is made worse by the scan–in the original the shadows aren’t so bright).

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Drawing People Sketchbook Pages

Fishtank Ensemble at Freight & Salvage

Freight & Salvage

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Micron Pigma .005 pen in Moleskine sketchbook

One of my favorite musical groups —The Fishtank Ensemble — was playing at the Freight & Salvage tonight and Michael and I went to hear them. I’ve posted about them before so won’t go into details except to say they’re fabulous! You can hear some of their gypsy jazz/klemer/flamenco tunes on their website. I sketched while we waited for the show to start but was annoyed that I had the wrong pen–the extra extra fine point instead of the .01 I usually use.

Freight and Salvage started out as a Berkeley folk club/coffeehouse 39 years ago, and was originally located in a warehouse with that name. It’s a wonderful place to hear a variety of great music and I’ve had some very memorable nights there. But this night is nearly over and tomorrow is my painting class and I have to leave early in the morning, so…buenas noches, mis amigos.

Categories
Art theory Faces Life in general Painting People Portrait Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Squinting to See the Light (funny story)

Squinting to see the light

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Watercolor in large Moleskine notebook

Today at work, 10 of us were sitting around the table in the lunchroom eating and chatting. I sat across from our director, facing the picture window and our 27th-story view of Oakland, the San Francisco Bay, Mt. Tamalpais and the huge, cloudy sky. I was thinking about what I learned in my painting class last Sunday about the importance of learning to see color temperatures and value. A good way to do that is to close one eye and squint, which helps to blur the details, so that you can see shapes and values. I decided to practice on a blue house and a large brick building that I could see in the distance. I tried one eye and then the other, curious if it made a difference between my left and right eyes.

Suddenly I realized the conversation had stopped, our director was asking me if I was OK, and everyone was staring at me. I burst out laughing realizing that I was sitting there making weird squinty faces and they were all thinking I had an excruciating headache or had suddenly gone mad. I started trying to explain what I was doing and they looked at me perplexed. They finally realized it was an “art thing” and went back to chatting about work and TV shows and travel.

When I got home tonight, I looked in the mirror to see just how funny I looked and had to do this quickie self-portrait in my sketchbook. Amazingly it actually looks like me!

Categories
Animals Life in general People Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Cat Attack, Bomb Threat & Happy Birthday

90th Birthday Party

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Ink and watercolor in small Moleskine watercolor sketchbook

My mom’s visit started with a cat attack and ended with a bomb threat at the airport (which extended her stay an extra day). My sister picked her up at the airport and as they walked in her door, Marcy started to tell my mom not to touch her grouchy, unpredictable cat. She was a moment too late: mom reached out to pet him and Bob the Cat sunk his claws into her hand. Next stop was a visit to the hospital where the nurse there washed her finger and put a band-aid on it and gave my mom a tetanus shot. After that she proudly showed off her band-aid and told the story to anyone who would listen.

Today, my poor sister again did airport duty, since she lives near the airport. When they arrived at the airport it was shut down due to a bomb scare. Marcy brought Mom back home, where she decided to stay another night. Now she’ll have lots of exciting stories to tell when she gets home.

In between, we attended the 90th birthday party(pictured above) of my great aunt in a country club. There were about 75 people people who came to show their love and respect to this feisty, vivacious 90 year old. It was nice seeing my cousins for the first time in years and their grown kids and their 2 year old twin boys and all the lovely old ladies dressed to the teeth for this special day. I drew this surreptitiously at the table while people were making speeches about my aunt. The perspective is a little confusing as the man on the left was at my table and the ladies behind him were at the next table.

Reading this was probably about as interesting as watching someone else’s vacation slides. I’ve got lots of exciting art stuff to share too, but most of my energy the past week has been devoted to family. Now it’s back to regularly scheduled programming: painting!

Categories
Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Cat Toys and Endings

Cat toys

Ink and watercolor in Aquabee sketchbook
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To preserve my sanity I squeezed in a quick sketch in the half hour before I had to leave for my great aunt’s 90th birthday party at her club. I should be primping and trying to make myself look like I belong at a fancy country club in an expensive suburb but this was more important.

I’m a pretty solitary person, needing at least as much alone time (if not more) than social time. Days of family events and spending time with extended family during my mom’s visit can get me pretty overwhelmed so I have to carve out moments like this one. I grabbed the first thing I could find to draw, put on a CD, and got to work.

Now I have to decide whether to wear my white pants since it looks like a summer day today (which no doubt will horrify all the ladies as it’s after the official deadline for white) or be nice and wear something more seasonally appropriate. And now I only have ten minutes to shower, makeup and dress before the hour-long drive so wish me luck.

Meanwhile, here’s a link to Ronell’s blog post, “Endings” where she writes exactly what I’m feeling about the end of summer, the end of peaches, and time marching on, made even more poignant by mother’s approaching 84th birthday and my great aunt’s 90th. I wish I could have written her beautiful post but instead I’ll just say, “What she said….”

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Drawing Faces Other Art Blogs I Read People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Subway Drawings & Mom Visit

Subway Drawing -bart41

Chubby cyclist. He was so stuffed into his clothes it must have been uncomfortable — but I give him lots of credit for riding his bike to and from the BART station instead of driving there like I do.
All drawings Micron Pigma pen in small Moleskine notebook

Subway Drawing -bart39

Sound asleep and resting comfortably after a long day.

Subway Drawing - bart40

She figured out I was drawing her and gave me a big smile as she got off. I didn’t have time to finish her bearded partner though I wished I did. He had a lovely gentle face.

It’s been a crazy week at work leaving me no energy to draw or paint in the evening. My mother ( see her artwork from the 50s here) arrives tonight for a nearly weeklong visit. I’m hoping to do some drawing while she’s here and I start a plein air painting workshop on Sunday with Elio Camacho.

Categories
Art theory Painting Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Working on Cars in My Driveway

Car Repair 2
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Sharpie pen and watercolor in Aquabee sketchbook

Cody Car Repair 2
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Just as I finally was ready to start painting today, both my sons came over to work on their cars in my driveway (right outside the studio). It was a beautiful Indian summer day and I wanted the door open. But Cody was running a compressor and a power tool that made horrible noise as he removed the bolts holding all the wheels on the car. I made lemonade out of the lemon by drawing them (very quickly — they kept moving) and then turning up the stereo really loud.

I spent a lot of the weekend preparing for a new series of paintings  — sketching, making notes and digging up reference material and also thinking about next steps for a painting in progress. I’m trying to wait until I have a plan of action before I put brush to canvas so that I don’t spend half of my painting time dabbling and the other half wiping off the dabbles.

When I’m in that “between paintings” stage I can get very grumpy and frustrated. But for once I took advantage of the lull and cleaned up the studio; organized my cabinet full of glassware, fabrics and still life objects; and cleared off the studio kitchen counter which had been piled with random stuff waiting for a home. When I finished I was ready to start the sketch of the first of the new series and finally knew what I needed to do to the paint in progress (more about that tomorrow).