Category: Sketchbook Pages

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Drawing Every Day Matters Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

For Labor Day – My Office: EDM #82

Labor Day - My office

I drew this from a photo I took of my office when I was leaving work for the long weekend Thursday evening. Since this week’s Everyday Matters challenge #81 was “Draw your art workspace” and I’d already drawn my studio the week before, I decided to draw my work workspace instead.

I’m lucky to have a lovely view of Lake Merritt and Fairyland Park. But I’m unlucky to always have to keep my blinds closed and never see the view (unless it’s raining) because the glare from the lake makes it impossible to see my computer and the heat coming in the windows makes it feel like a sauna.

…and I’ll be seeing it all too soon tomorrow morning.

Noodlers Ink, watercolor in Raffine almost 6×9 sketchbook.

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Drawing Life in general Sketchbook Pages

To Jupiter for Dinner

Jupiter Pub Berkeley

[edit added November 06: If you are a fan of the duo that was playing the night I described in my original post and have arrived here via google search for the group, you don’t need to leave any more rude and personally insulting comments like several others have done as I will delete them.  Since people still seem to be getting here via Google search for the band’s name even though I’d already removed it at their manager’s request, I’m also going to remove my previous comments about the duo in my post, who were mostly enjoyable to listen to, especially the violin player. Please have some manners, folks!]

Tonight Michael and I went to Jupiter, a pub and pizza place near UC Berkeley Campus with a large outdoor courtyard and live music most nights. I selected it because I hadn’t gotten in any drawing today and knew it would be fun to sketch there. Usually it’s hard to get a seat because there’s no hostess. You have to stand around like sharks waiting for someone to leave but tonight we lucked out and got a table right away. These folks above were in the front row, listening to a folk duo. The pizza and Caesar salads were fabulous.

Violinist at Jupiter Pub Berkeley

Quick sketch of one of the musicians
(she was much prettier than my drawing) 

These were drawn with Micron pigma in my small Moleskine sketchbook. I started drawing the violinist when we sat down but they took a break after a minute. So I switched to drawing the courtyard and entrance to another cafe until the duo started playing again. I rushed a bit on both, since drawing time was limited (between courses and before a movie) and regretted having to do so, since I found so much to explore there.

I think I discovered something interesting about converting 3-D to 2-D tonight. For the first time I think I kind of got how to see a very complicated scene as flat, interlocking shapes (2-D) instead of layers of things in front and behind each other (3-D). I want to explore this idea more because I think it MIGHT be a key to understanding and drawing complex scenes.

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Animals Drawing Illustration Friday Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Illustration Friday: Safe (Safe Version)

Safe-bears-web

Nice and safe and cozy. Now scroll down to the Risky version of “Safe” or click here to see it.

I originally drew this as a little pencil sketch in a notebook on BART yesterday. Today I scanned and enlarged it, and printed it on a sheet of paper I pulled out of my Raffine sketchbook. Then I inked over the printed pencil lines and painted it with watercolor. (I don’t like working in this Raffine sketchbook because the spiral binding is too big and it annoys me but I’ve discovered I can put the pages back when I’m done painting them. I know this would be considered sketchbook heresy to some but it works for me.)

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Animals Drawing Illustration Friday Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Illustration Friday: Safe (Risky Version)

Snake-Unsafe-Safe
It’s best to use protection if you’re going to get close….

(I’m noticing from the comments that some people don’t get what the protection is…Is it my drawing that makes it hard to tell it’s a condom? Should I redraw to make it more obvious? Did you get it? )
I drew the snake on the left in ink in my sketchbook, painted it with watercolor, scanned it, and then in Photoshop, added a new layer and painted in the “protection.” I placed the two images side by side in a new Photoshop file.

Categories
Drawing Every Day Matters Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Streetlights (Everyday Matters #81)

Streetlights

Ink & watercolor in 9×12 Aquabee Sketchbook (Lamy Safari pen, Noodlers Ink).

Last week’s Everyday Matters challenge was to draw streetlights. The one on the left is on the corner of Carlson by Nation’s Burgers in El Cerrito. I spotted the middle one while taking a lunch-break walk along Lake Merritt in Oakland. The lamp on the right is on the Albany end of Solano Ave.

I drew the one below in my little Moleskine sketchbook with a Micron Pigma this morning while I was on the elevated platform at the BART station waiting for the train. It was right at eye level.

lamp

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Plein Air Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

View from Moeser Lane

moeser-lane-web.jpg
Click image to enlarge

I was driving down Moeser Lane on my way home from Blake Gardens and as usual was amazed by the view and had to pull over and paint it from the front seat of my car. Moeser Lane is a very steep street that heads straight uphill from my house (in the flatlands near the S.F. Bay) and ends at The Arlington in El Cerrito (which means “little hill”–hah!) . Moeser Lane has a colorful history, having once been a tramway carrying rock from a quarry located near the top of the hill.

Painted in watercolor on a Sennelier watercolor block sized 10″ by 4″ — perfect for such a widescreen landscape.

Categories
Drawing Life in general Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Mom’s Home from the Hospital

Mom and Me Again

I tried doing yesterday’s sketch again, this time starting first in pencil and then adding watercolor. It looks a lot more like her and this time our heads are the same size. Yesterdays drawing was the last page in my Aquabee sketchbook and today’s is the last page in my first Moleskine watercolor notebook.

Here’s the original photo:

mom-photoIMGP2983

Mom’s glad to be home from the hospital and I’m glad she’ll have will nurses and home health workers and my sister looking in on her. Hopefully the meds will do their thing and she’ll be able to go back to her normal life without any ill effects.

I also wish her normal life were richer, and filled with more interesting things than constant TV (including favorites the Home Shopping Channel, Court TV and General Hospital), sorting coupons and miscellaneous detritus of a lifetime, and the occasional dinner at Carrows or Norms Deli with friends or family. She used to enjoy painting and photography and collage and travel and walks on the beach.

It makes me sad to see how her world keeps shrinking and her strength and energy for doing new things are fading. And it scares me to see how easily and naturally that can happen as one ages. And it makes me want to stay strong and healthy; always learning and enjoying doing the things I love.

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Drawing Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Mom’s in the hospital

Mom and I

(Geez this is a terrible drawing–it gets worse every time I see it.)

Since I was thinking about my mom a lot this week, I decided to draw her from a photo we took at the beach on my last visit. I drew directly in ink, and strangely, my mom came out much bigger than I. I’m sure there’s all sorts of psychological reasons for this that I won’t go into here. Note to self: don’t draw wrinkles with a pen–they look like stitches. It’s a bad drawing, but it’s what’s in my sketchbook today so here it is.

My mother had a T.I.A. (trans ischemic attack — like a stroke but much briefer and less damaging though can be a precursor to a serious stroke) last Friday and my sister who lives near her took her to the Veterans Hospital in West L.A. She was in the Waves (the Women’s Navy) during WWII so she’s entitled to veterans benefits. Mom enjoys the special treatment she gets at the VA since she’s one of the few women in a hospital full of men. She was fortunate that there was no permanent damage and they’re giving her medication that should prevent future attacks.

My mother treats the hospital like it’s a fine hotel with room service. She didn’t like her bed and insisted they bring her a new mattress as she felt hers was too old and lumpy. The nurse said they’re all the same and mom said, “No, I’ve stayed her before and I had a better bed last time.” So they delivered a better mattress. They told her she could go home at 4:00 today but she said she was too tired and would go home tomorrow so they said OK. She told me it was because she knew they were serving pizza and cheese cake for dinner tonight and she didn’t want to miss it. She’s planning on staying at least through lunch tomorrow.

Lamy Safari pen, Noodlers Ink, Moleskine watercolor notebook.

Categories
Drawing Flower Art Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

What kind of tree am I?

Pink and Bright Orange Tree?

Please CLICK image then “All Sizes” to enlarge

I don’t know what kind of tree these came from, do you? Actually I drew the parts of two identical trees that are next to each other in my neighborhood. The only difference is that one has impossibly pink flowers and the other has impossibly bright orange flowers. I planned to draw both but discovered I was allergic to them and in order to finish more quickly combined their parts in one picture. Then I had to take a Claritin.

When I asked the neighbor if I could take a cutting from his tree to paint he said I could take the whole tree. He hates them because they bloom all year and constantly drop horrible stuff on his car: sticky sap, sticky little orange stringy parts of the flowers, and the hard seed pods (I know I’m using all the wrong names of the parts, sorry). He showed me the huge stump of the one he’d already cut down. Looking at the mess I had to clean up on my drawing table, I know what he’s talking about.

But the bees and hummingbirds love these trees. In the afternoon its swarming with bees and in the early evening it’s filled to capacity with chirping hummingbirds. I hope he doesn’t cut down the others. They’re stunningly beautiful and our neighborhood doesn’t have enough trees. Here’s some photos of the tree parts:
_DSC0189pink-DSC_0729pink tree

orange-DSC_0727 _DSC0187

Drawn with Lamy Safari Pen, Noodler’s Ink & watercolor in Aquabee Super Deluxe sketchbook

Categories
Animals Illustration Friday Sketchbook Pages

Illustration Friday: Run

Illustration Friday

I did this sketch from a photo I took at Golden Gate Fields in the very early morning when the jockeys are training new horses, running them around the track. I actually intended to do an ink drawing, but after a couple of unsuccessful but fun drawings with a Micron Pigma brush pen, I decided to start with a pencil sketch and THEN do an ink drawing and add watercolor. But I ran out of time, so here’s the pencil sketch.

I feel a little lame doing such a literal take on RUN but I’d been wanting to draw from my horse photos and the other options I thought of didn’t really grab me for drawing them (running out of time, running the show, river running, a Broadway run, running for office). I liked Michael’s suggestion (a nose running) a lot because it made laugh and was really original–but it was his idea, not mine.

I used a .5mm mechanical pencil in my 9×12 Aquabee Super Deluxe sketchbook.