Category: Subway drawings

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People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Subway Drawing

Subway to Sketchcrawl

Ink in Moleskine sketchbook
To enlarge, click image, select All Sizes

Just a few people on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) —  our version of the subway — on the way to the Sketchcrawl Saturday.  This is being another killer week at work, leaving little energy for much else. I’m determined to get in some drawing tonight and I’m looking forward to a long weekend and my annual one week birthday vacation next month.

I have an idea for a personal sketchcrawl while I’m on vacation — an hourly drawing, no matter what I’m doing or where I am. I’d set my watch to chime on the hour and every time it chimes, do a drawing of something I’m seeing or doing…for 12 hours straight. And maybe I’ll use a pre-determined different drawing technique or implement each time. So 7:00 a.m. might be a blind contour sketch, 8:00 might be using a fat felt pen, 9:00 might be using a brush and ink, 10:00 could be cross-hatching with ink or shading with a soft pencil…. It sounds like fun and gives me something to look forward to while slaving away until then.

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Drawing People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Subway Drawings (BART)

Some drawings from my morning and evening BART rides today in ink in my small Moleskine sketchbook.

To enlarge click images and select All Sizes.

BART20

A.M. Waiting for the train

BART22

AM Riding to Work

BART21

PM Riding Home

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

Sketches & Picasso Exhibit

BART19

BART Rider – Ink in small Moleskine sketchbook

(To Enlarge, click Images, select All Sizes)

Peets

Peets Coffee water display – Ink in small Moleskine sketchbook

SFMOMA

Woman in the SFMOMA Cafe (loved her thick grey hair in a huge clasp)
Ink in small Moleskine sketchbook

BART17

Just before the earthquake Friday: BART Rider with Orchid just before the trains stopped. Ink in small Moleskine sketchbook

Friday, Susie and I met at the SF Museum of Modern Art on the opening day of Picasso and American Art. It was very interesting seeing Picasso’s groundbreaking paintings and the way American artists picked up his ideas and explored them in their own paintings. I think my favorites were the Willem de Kooning paintings; the first was quite derivative but you could see the development over the half dozen or so paintings spanning a couple of decades how his work progressed and matured into his own strong and unique voice.

More than anything, what I got from this show was the importance of an artist’s unique voice. I’ve been pondering what makes something “art” vs. decorative, pretty, marketable pictures; or what makes an artist a “real” artist. This exhibit helped me to understand that it’s not just technique, talent, or skill (all important things) — it’s also the expression of the artist’s unique view and personality that is essential. An artist doesn’t have to invent a new “ism” or create a whole new way of working like the impressionists, cubists, expressionists, etc. But a recognizable, unique and authentic voice or perspective that is courageously or confidently expressed (even if it’s ugly) seems like it might be the key.

Do you agree? Do you have an opinion of what makes an artist a “real” artist or art “real” art or do you think the whole question is irrelevant?

ADDENDUM: I must point out that my questioning this is all this in terms of my own place in the world: I’ve been painting and drawing and identifying myself as an artist for 30 years but there’s always that question in the back of my mind….that voice that says, “If you were a real artist you would…[fill in the blank].” I don’t meant to imply judgment on anyone else’s choice of style or work. Please see my comment in response to Katharine‘s comment for more.

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People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Meeting and Subway Sketches

Meeting People 3

Two craggy old guys sitting in front of me at the California Watercolor Association meeting tonight. The guy didn’t really have writing on his neck but it was a good spot to take down notes on upcoming watercolor shows to enter. It was an interesting meeting: Golden Acrylics had a representative demonstrating and teaching about the use of their paints and mediums with a free goody bag for everyone at the end of the meeting.

Meeting People 2

Two lovely young ladies at a meeting at work today (though my drawing doesn’t do them justice). The meeting was to envision where our organization will be in 2012 (five years) and where we’ll be–if still there, in what role, or doing something else. It’s great to get the support to pursue our own dreams as well as to help build and contribute to our organization whose mission is to improve literacy and learning for adolescents.

BART16

Two commuters and two babies on BART.

All are ink in Moleskine sketchbook.

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Drawing Other Art Blogs I Read People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

An Art Lesson on BART

BART15

Ink in small Moleskine

This morning I got on BART and spotted the guy on the left at the end of the car in his knitted Cat-in-the-Hat hat, except that he looked more like Mr. Natural from R. Crumb Comics than the Cat. I only had a couple minutes to draw him and then a bunch of people got on and I couldn’t see him anymore so I started drawing the hand of the guy sitting beside me holding a tiny iPod.

After a few minutes he smiled at me and then started helping me, pointing out where lines that I was drawing as curved were really straight and where I needed to add shading. My stupid pen ran out of ink so I pulled out another, with brown ink. He recommended I try UniBall pens (which I like but hadn’t used for sketching). He was clearly a talented artist and a wonderful teacher — his recommendations were right on and offered with great gentleness, kindness and caring. I asked about his art and he told me was formerly a graphic designer but now worked for Apple in “technology not art” and only rarely does his own art anymore and then only digitally with a Wacom tablet and Painter.

I’d been surprised by how crowded the San Francisco BART train was since I’d been quite late leaving for work. It was already around 9:45 but many more people than usual were getting on at each station. My “art teacher” turned to his friends behind us and as they chatted about Apple products I realized that all these people were on their way to MacWorld, which was opening today in San Francisco. I was sad to bid him farewell when I got to my stop. He was the kind of person I would love to have as a friend or a teacher and I’m sad I never even found out his name.

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Drawing People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Subway and Cafe Sketches

BART14

Today was back to work and back on BART. These folks (above) were my entertainment on my morning ride. These sketches are all in my little Moleskine.

Sauls

I sketched these people (above) at Saul’s Deli after dinner while waiting for Michael to return from the men’s room.

Peets

These folks were at Peets. I like walking up there from my house, getting a latte, doing a quick drawing and walking back home. It’s a one-mile walk and a pleasant destination. I had trouble with the guy’s wife because she kept talking and moving. He just sat there without moving anything except for his wonderful bushy eyebrows.

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Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Subway Drawings (BART)

BART13

I first sat behind her and was sure she was holding a can of Budweiser. It seemed so sad at 8:30 a.m. I couldn’t stop thinking about her sad life, dressed in business attire and having to drink a can of beer on her way to work so I moved to a seat to the right and slightly behind her. When I looked again, I discovered it was a can of Slimfast, not beer. She spent more time staring at the can than drinking it. I tried that stuff once and it was like drinking liquid cake batter (ewww!). I just noticed I entered the date in my sketchbook as 9/20/06 but it was really 12/20/06. Wishful thinking?

Micron Pigma pen in small Moleskine sketchbook
(To enlarge, click images, select “All Sizes”)

BART12

This position is becoming increasingly familiar as I draw on BART — people playing games on their cell phones while listening to their iPods. I was so tired coming home tonight I didn’t even want to read or draw, just wanted to close my eyes, but then I saw this guy and had to draw him. I got the date wrong again when I entered it in my sketchbook — this time I wrote 10/21/06 and then corrected it to 12/21/06. I seem to be having trouble dealing with December!

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People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Small sleepy sketches

Cafe

BART passenger

Just a couple of quick sketches today. I drew the top sketch at Peets Coffee tonight, a few minutes before they were closing. There were still three people sitting at tables and each had one foot up on extra chairs. If Peets wasn’t about to close and I wasn’t so sleepy, it would have been fun to keep drawing. It’s not much of a sketch but at least I got my pound of decaf Holiday Blend for tomorrow morning.

The bottom picture is just a guy I drew on my very late (7 PM) BART ride home from work. Coming home so late, I was really glad I’d spent yesterday evening making a huge pot of vege soup and roasting a chicken instead of in the studio. It was so nice to come home and know the soup and chicken just needed a quick trip through the microwave and dinner would be ready. Making pictures is great, but you can’t eat them, so every now and then other things just have to come first. Like maybe tomorrow I’ll get to the dust bunnies and fur balls floating around the house! (or not?)

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Drawing Other Art Blogs I Read People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Subway Drawings (BART)

Subway Drawing - BART 7

Ink in Moleskine (click image, select All Sizes to enlarge) 

He was sitting two seats up from me this morning and his profile was irresistible. He was a perfect model for the whole 13 minute ride. When I got off he gave me a knowing look. He couldn’t see me drawing him (the seat between us hid my notebook on my lap) so maybe he thought the times he caught me looking at him were because I found him irresistible.

Bart-Susie
Ink in Moleskine (click image, select All Sizes to enlarge)

The drawings above (Susie) and below (Sharon) were done last Thursday night on BART when we were returning from the art show in San Francisco. Neither of the pictures capture their likenesses though they do capture something of them.

Bart-Sharon

Ink in Moleskine (click image, select All Sizes to enlarge)

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Drawing Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Subway Drawings (Noses on BART)

Subway Drawing - BART 5

bart6

Micron Pigma Ink in small Moleskine sketchbook
(To enlarge, click image, select “All Sizes”)

Some people on BART today and yesterday. I felt pretty cheeky drawing the guy at the top left of the first picture. He was standing right over me, holding on to the seat in front of me reading. He got off at the next stop so I didn’t get to finish his arms or the book he was reading.

I really liked the woman’s nose in the bottom left hand picture. There’s lots of great noses on BART this week–if only I was able to draw them properly. With the train jerking so much, and the small size of the paper, noses are pretty tiny–one little jiggle and they’ve got a wild schnoz [from Yiddish for nose: snoyts, snout, muzzle, from German Schnauze.]

You can see that something funny happened to the binding in this new Moleskine. The first two pages of every Moleskine sketchbook always seem to be stuck together near the binding so this time I tried pressing them apart which was not a good thing and left a loose string on this third page. At least I got the first few pages filled (after totally messing up the drawing on the first page. Got over that by reminding myself it’s not an omen and it’s my sketchbook and I don’t have to show anyone that page!).

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