Category: Sketchbook Pages

It’s About Time: What I learned today

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date September 17, 2006
15 Comments on It’s About Time: What I learned today

“Old Teeth” (study for a large painting I’m going to make, drawn today from a combination of photos I took on Broadway in Oakland). Ink, watercolor in Moleskine large watercolor notebook. If you wonder why those hip-hop people want to have gold teeth, you might also enjoy a previous post here about a new invention I came up with in a dream for those baggy-pants boys.

* * *

I spend a lot of time being frustrated because there isn’t enough time to do all of the things I want to do. Every weekend I start off being optimistic, with exciting ideas to explore for painting, drawing, teaching, learning; things that need to be done to care for myself and others; gardening projects, housework, paperwork, etc. But weekends (and most days) always end the same way: feeling disappointed because I didn’t accomplish half of what I thought I could do.

They say (whoever “they” is) that with age comes wisdom. Well I got a huge chunk of wisdom today, and this is what I learned:

There will NEVER be enough time to do everything. Not only that, there will never be enough time to do HALF of what my busy mind comes up with on any given day, week, month, year.

So all I have to do is accept the reality that time is finite and that my little brain, full of ideas, is not. Instead of fooling myself into thinking I can do it all, I need to reassure myself that I probably can’t do half of it, and just pick what I most want to do that day, do it, and rejoice.

When I told Michael about this discovery, he asked if that meant I’d no longer be living in what we call “Jana’s World” where time is this fluffy substance that is mostly ignored until it suddenly surprises me to discover I’m late, yet again. But I like living in Jana’s World and I’m not looking to relocate; it’s (Jana’s) World peace I’m after.

Tags Pen and Ink, People

Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Farmers Market, El Cerrito Plaza

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date September 16, 2006
13 Comments on Farmers Market, El Cerrito Plaza

Please click here to enlarge.

I packed my little painting kit in my backpack and walked the mile up to El Cerrito Plaza after lunch to sketch at the Saturday farmers market. It was a rare sunny, warm day in this usually foggy, windy neighborhood. Unfortunately when I arrived I learned they would be closing in only 20 minutes. That was just long enough to stand and do most of the drawing, but not to paint. Time was cut even shorter by the various people who came over to see what I was doing and wanted to chat a bit. At 1:00 I took a few photos and headed back home with a pound of Peets Coffee Special Decaf beans.

I wish I could have painted at the Plaza because I knew exactly how I wanted to do it–very quick and fresh, with a light touch. But instead, sitting at my drawing table painting from the photos, I overworked it, eventually making one grand mistake (painting the background red since everything in the fruit stand had a red glow to it from the red shade structure–that is everything except the background which was NOT UNDER the structure–and clearly obvious in the photo!)

The red background looked awful, which gave me the chance to try out my bottle of Aquacover, which is like liquid paper but designed to work with and match different brands of watercolor paper. Supposedly you can use it to reclaim white areas in a watercolor painting without it being noticeable AND you can paint back over them. I used it to hide the red background and then, before it was quite dry, painted some green on top of it, which sort of blended in a bit instead of sitting on top. I think if I’d waited until it was dry, and had used it a little more thickly (I diluted it) it might just have worked better. I can tell that it would definitely work well for small areas without any problem. The Arches Bright White Aquacover matches the Moleskine watercolor notebook well.

Ink, watercolor and Creative Mark Aquacover in “Arches Bright White” in large watercolor Moleskine notebook.

Tags Pen and Ink

Drawing Life in general Sketchbook Pages

Slam

Sanford Draughting Pencil in Raffine 6×9 sketchbook

I finished watching the 1998 movie “Slam” tonight and I loved it! It’s about the redemptive power of art (poetry) in the life of a young African American man living in the Washington DC projects. When the movie ended I wanted more and decided to draw the lead actor. But in scanning through the DVD, looking for an image to pause and draw, I spotted this sweet boy and decided to draw him first. Now I’m too tired to draw anymore tonight. Since I’ve already had the DVD for a couple of weeks, I guess keeping it a few more days to draw from it won’t matter.

I’m going to cancel my Netflix subscription since I never seem to get around to watching movies. When I’m home I always seem to be more interested in drawing, painting, writing, or learning from and being inspired by other artists in the international art blogging community that has so enriched my art life.

Tags Pencil drawing

Drawing Life in general Sketchbook Pages Still Life Watercolor

More little tomatoes

Ink and watercolor in 6×9 Raffine sketchbook

Searching my house for something to draw tonight I had to resort to looking in the fridge. Everything in my house just seemed so man-made and dry. I needed something alive and bright to give me enough energy to draw since I’m recovering from a funky migraine and feeling a bit bedraggled. These little tomatoes were shining brightly in the light of my fridge and they were fun to draw and paint.

The highlight of my day today was listening to an interview with novelist and screenwriter Nora Ephron (who is also a blogger) on the NPR program Forum (where it’s available to listen or download). Her new book, “I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts On Being a Woman” is a funny take on the insults of aging. She is one of my favorite witty writers. Her book “Heartburn” (about a failed marriage) has one of the most hilarious passages I’ve ever read about picking the one person to end up with who’s going to drive you crazy. She is so brilliant and funny!

Tags Pen and Ink

Colored pencil art Drawing Other Art Blogs I Read Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Drawing Friends

Judith by me, Ink and watercolor (Micron Pigma .08) in 9×12 Aquabee sketchbook.

Painting group tonight in my studio but only three of us could make it. Susie wanted to work on a still life so Judith and I decided to draw each other. We took turns posing for a 5 minute sketch (below) and then drew each other’s faces as we were drawing each other (above).

(Click image to enlarge, pick “All Sizes”)

Above: Judith by me, 5 minute ink sketch in Aquabee 9×12 sketchbook.

(Click image to enlarge)

Above: Judith’s 5 minute sketch of me (colored in afterwards).
Ink and watercolor pencil in 12 x 16 Aquabee.

(Click image to enlarge)

Above: Judith’s longer sketch of me, slightly cropped (sorry Judith, I removed the “cocks comb” as Susie said it resembled, that you drew growing out of my head that was really a weird pillow behind me)
Ink and watercolor pencil in 12 x 16 Aquabee.

I find that drawing someone’s face is like caressing them, getting to know them on a deeper, more intimate level. My mother always told me it’s not polite to stare, but drawing gives you a chance to stare and really see, and among friends, it is a real gift!

Tags Pen and Ink

Drawing Gardening Life in general Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Little Green Tomatoes

Haiku for my little tomato plants

Poor green tomatoes
Planted too late to grow red
Reach for fading sun

I guess I planted them a little too late. Everybody else has harvested theirs and removed the plants from the garden. Mine are still striving to grow up and become nice big juicy red tomatoes but summer is over. Unless we get a month of Indian Summer (fingers crossed) they will never grow up to become edible fruit. Just sad little green tomato babies.

I drew this as a meditation after a frustrating day (more about that in a minute). I sat down outside and started drawing the middle of the plant, looking at it like a jigsaw puzzle, where each intersecting shape was a puzzle piece. Every time I reached another intersection I followed that line to the next. Eventually the puzzle started fitting together. But the sun went away and it was getting windy so after I did about 80% trying to accurately capture each little leaf and stem (amazing variety of charming leaf shapes on tomato plants!) I quickly sketched another 20% to fill it in so I could go inside. This Jigsaw Puzzle method of drawing I came up with is really helping me to understand better what I draw–especially when there are layers and layers of shapes. (Raffine 6×9 sketchbook, Lamy Safari pen, Noodlers Ink, watercolor)

My frustrating day involved typical contractor bad behavior– not finishing a job, not calling when they said they would, leaving holes that were supposed to be patched, making me stay home all day waiting for their return to finish which never happened, leaving a mess. Drawing helped me let it go, as did this quote I found in one of my old journals:

“Cheer up! Life isn’t everything.” (Mike Nichols)

Tags Pen and Ink

Animals Illustration Friday Life in general Sketchbook Pages

Illustration Friday: (Ant) FARM

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date September 9, 2006
18 Comments on Illustration Friday: (Ant) FARM

Before this week’s theme (Farm) was posted Friday morning, I was trying to take close up photos of some ants that were carrying around a chunk of kitty kibble on the bathroom sink. I don’t think they carried it there–maybe the cats dropped it? So when I saw that the topic of the week was “Farm” I immediately thought of those Ant Farm kits that I always wondered about when I was a kid.

My whole house is really an ant farm. The bathroom ants are the stupidest since usually there’s nothing for them to eat but toothpaste. The living room ants are travelers. They come in through one crack between the wall and the floor and go out through another nearby. The ones in the yard travel around managing their herds of aphids on the roses and bushes. The kitchen ants stay away from food or trash and instead hang out by the sink which makes it quite convenient to wash them away. The ant problem is minimal these days, since I discovered Ortho Home Defense (doesn’t smell and safe for kids and pets). Before that I felt like I was living in an ant farm! You just spray the stuff around the perimeter of the house once a season and the ants are gone. I guess it’s the end of a season (sadly).

I did this in Painter, which I’m trying to learn. It’s taking some time to get used to drawing on a piece of plastic that you can’t turn to draw in different directions. And when I moved the file from my laptop to my desktop computer I discovered that the colors were appearing much lighter on the laptop than they really are. My desktop monitor is big and calibrated and the laptop isn’t, but I can use it on my drawing table.

Tags Animals, Painter Digital Art

Drawing Outdoors/Landscape Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Monastery in San Anselmo, CA

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date September 8, 2006
7 Comments on Monastery in San Anselmo, CA

Today was a much better day. I visited a friend in San Anselmo (Marin County) and have always been intrigued by seeing the top of this castle-like building peeking out over the trees in her neighborhood. So today on the way to my next stop (the gym) I parked at the bottom of the dirt road leading up to the monastery (or so I thought). And put my quick sketching kit in my backback and started climbing the road…which ended in a hillside covered in poison oak and weeds. I spotted a tree trunk halfway up, climbed up to it, dodging the poison oak, and used it as a little table to put my paints on.

While I was doing this quick watercolor sketch, two nursery school teachers and their brood were having an adventure, walking up the dirt road (but not climbing the hill). It was fun listening to the teachers calling out “Peanut butter!” and the kids shouting “Sandwich!” along with the whines, “It’s too hard…” and demands “Put down the stick!” and questions “What do we do when we cross a street?” (“Look for cars!”). It’s funny how the music, conversation or stories that are happening while painting somehow get embedded in the painting.

If I had taken just an extra minute before I started drawing, I wouldn’t have put that one tree centered right in front of the other, even though that’s how they were in real life. Ink, watercolor in small Moleskine watercolor notebook.

Tags Pen and Ink

Other Art Blogs I Read Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

We painted each other

Susie by me (no risk of anyone recognizing her from this picture!)
(ink & watercolor in 9×12 Aquabee sketchbook)

Tonight my painting group had planned to take turns posing for each other for a life drawing session. Then life intervened and only Susie was able to come. We were both so tired we decided to just paint for half an hour or so. We sat across from each other at the table, and painted each other’s faces as we drew each other.

Me by Susie (maybe recognizable with my new green glasses and red hair–love the way she did the hair!)
Watercolor on 4x 9.5″ block

While we painted Susie told me about the two huge, beautiful semi-ferral cats that she just adopted and some outrageous tales of blogger misdeeds that I won’t repeat here. It is an interesting subject though, what one choses to share on blogs for the world to see (as if the world is so interested) and how it can affect one’s life when it goes too far.

Tags Pen and Ink

Drawing Sketchbook Pages

Bird clock and table with orchid

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date September 5, 2006
7 Comments on Bird clock and table with orchid

I’m so very tired tonight that I didn’t really want to draw but convinced myself to just do pen and ink of something I could see while sitting on the recliner in front of the TV. The bird clock on the wall used to be my father’s. It’s the only thing I asked for of his stuff when he died because he had it in his study where he wrote many books. It’s just an inexpensive thing from Walmart that his stepson gave him but I remember talking to him on the phone and hearing the bird calls, never knowing if they were the loons from the lake in Maine where he lived or from the clock in his study.

I took out the battery that powers the bird sounds because it was driving me crazy, always chirping to remind me that yet another hour had passed, never to be had again. Time seems to be flying by and to hang onto it I keep staying up too late, which is why I’m stupid-tired tonight.

After answering email and looking at my favorite blogs last night, I started watching the training videos that came with my copy of Painter (digital drawing/painting software). At midnight I tried to go to sleep but my mind wouldn’t switch into sleep mode and stayed alert all night, selecting colors from digital palettes, typing those stupid nonsense letter combinations into stupid Blogger verification screens, and thinking about painting and drawing. Hopefully tonight I’ll sleep!

Lamy Safari pen, Noodlers Ink, Raffine 6×9 Sketchbook.

Tags Pen and Ink