Jana Bouc, Artist

Learning to Vacation

Ink in Moleskine sketchbook – Peaberry’s Coffee in Oakland’s Rockridge District, land of yuppies with strollers
Click here to enlarge

Today was my first official day of vacation. There’s something about a week off that makes me want to hoard every moment and then I start worrying about it ending before it’s even gotten started. It usually takes me until the very end of vacation to get into the swing of relaxing. I’m so grateful that the physical pain in my back and hip is gone. Tomorrow I’m going celebrate feeling good and being free.

Today I had a wonderful hour and a half of massage and bodywork that my sister treated me to for my birthday and then I took an hour long walk along College Avenue in the Rockridge District of Oakland/Berkeley and had a latte at Peaberry’s Coffee (above) where I listened to the guy in the foreground rant for 20 minutes to a very patient woman about how he brought dessert and cheese to a dinner party where the hosts didn’t put his dessert out and stole the cheese for themselves and never said thank you. Then I drove over to Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley and exchanged a couple CDs at Amoeba Records. I really like one I brought home today: Rodrigo Y Gabriela–sort of flamenco/rock guitars from Mexico–wonderful!

Ink in moleskine: at Berkeley’s Skateboard Park
Click here to enlarge

Yesterday I rode my bike to REI looking for a Klean Kanteen which is a lightweight stainless steel water bottle to avoid polluting the world with jillions of plastic water bottles and my body with the chemicals in plastic that are now found to be absorbed into the water and the body. They were all out. Riding home I discovered the Berkeley Skate Park (above)– like a whole bunch of concrete ski-slopes, jumps, rails, curbs and swimming pools where skaters try out their tricks (video) without endangering anyone but themselves.

Afterwards I did some figure drawing using a brushpen, adding gouache later to some of the sketches. Here’s a couple of them.

Brush pen in Aquabee sketchbook

Brushpen and goauche on hot press Arches paper

I’m also a little frustrated because I’ve finished all of my work in progress and it’s time to start some new work but I can’t seem to settle on what I want to do next. After a couple days of trying to make myself settle down and get to work in the studio I’ve realized what I really want is to just be outdoors, drawing and painting what I see, rather than working in the studio. So that’s what I’m going to do because it’s my birthday vacation and I get to do whatever I darn please, so there!

Tags Figure Drawing, Pen and Ink, People

Landscape Outdoors/Landscape Watercolor

Judy’s House – A Watercolor Dilemma

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date June 24, 2007
19 Comments on Judy’s House – A Watercolor Dilemma

Watercolor on Arches paper 15 x 22″
Click here to see large version

This was a painting that was going well–it was commissioned by a friend as a gift for her husband for their anniversary. She wanted me to paint their home and cats in their favorite spot at the front window with their tulip tree in bloom.

As a first step I’d done a perfect flat wash for the sky. Then I did the cats in the window since that was a key feature and moved the rest of the painting along, blocking in the shadows, doing the shrubbery and the other other windows, and the details. Then disaster….

I had a latte sitting on a tall table in the studio. The painting was taped to a drawing board that was sitting on the floor leaning against the table. The next thing I knew the cup was knocked over and coffee was dripping off the table, down the sky in the area to the left of the chimney. I quickly blotted the painting and used a sponge to successfully remove the coffee before it stained. It left that area looking slightly lighter. I tried to ignore it, but today, when the rest of the painting was finished I decided to go over the sky with another wash of blue. But by now the paper was wrinkled and the paint sunk into the valleys, creating anything but a flat wash. So, I tried another wash, which just exaggerated the valleys. Then I tried removing paint with a tissue to give the effect of wispy clouds but that didn’t look right either. So I wiped off as much as I could, waited for it to dry and painted another glaze of blue which not only did the same thing, but also got a little splotchy on the right side.

I’m going to flatten the painting by pressing it under tissue paper and a pile of books for a few days and then maybe try again to glaze the sky. I have this awful feeling that I’ve ruined the painting, not just the sky but many other areas too, and that I should probably start it over again, which I really don’t feel like doing at this point … or maybe it will look better after I don’t see it for a few days.

What do you think?

UPDATE: Here’s the finished painting

Flower Art Life in general Painting People Plants Portrait Still Life Watercolor

Birthday flowers from my neighbors

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date June 20, 2007
12 Comments on Birthday flowers from my neighbors

Watercolor painted quickly and directly on Arches hot press watercolor paper without preliminary drawing and then when dry, Pentel brush pen to draw/paint the lines. 7.5″ x 11″
Click here for enlarged view

My wonderful next-door neighbors brought this potted azalea for me as a birthday gift yesterday, along with a nice card and a hug from each child. I have the sweetest neighbors. Not long after I first moved in I fell in love with their kids and after photographing them at baby Alex’s baptism painted these portraits of Alex, Yessica and Erick which they have hanging in their living room. We help each other with all sorts of things and they often bring me delicious home cooked Mexican food (including delicious barbequed salmon with cactus relish).

Then my sons took me out to good Thai food last night. It was wonderful being with them and realizing more than ever what great young men they’ve become. It made my day, even though I looked like a gimpy old lady with my limping and had to sit on my fleece jacket because the sciatica makes it hurt to sit without extra padding. But the combination of their good company, the good wishes of people who’ve written or called to wish me speedy recovery and happy birthday, the yummy Thai food, some nice pain meds and a Singha beer made for a perfectly happy birthday! And I am getting a little better each day.

Tags Ink, Pen and Ink, People

People Sketchbook Pages

Waiting for an x-ray

2 unfinished sketches – ink in Moleskine
Click here to enlarge

Today is my birthday but instead of celebrating I went to see my back doctor and then to the hospital for a hip xray. They aren’t sure if my hip pain is sciatica from a flare up of an old herniated disk in my back or something wrong with my hip. While I was waiting for the doctor I drew the spine on the right hanging in the office but didn’t get to finish because he was right on time. Then while I was waiting for the xray I drew the waiting woman on the left but got called in before I could finish that either.

This morning Barbara took me out to breakfast for our traditional annual pilgrimage for a french apple pancake at Fat Apples but instead of our usual hike up there, we drove. I had to bring my shoes for her to help me put on because the pain makes it impossible to reach my feet. I’ve got my fingers crossed that this will be gone before my birthday vacation which I postponed to next week to be able to help with all the last minute preparations for several institutes at work but I’ve ended up working from home instead. It’s a little hard to go into the office when you can’t put your own shoes on! Thank goodness for my comfy new home computer workstation and for modern pharmaceuticals! My neighbors just brought me a lovely plant for my birthday and my sons are taking me out to dinner tonight. Now I just need some birthday cake and candles to blow out to make my birthday wish for completely recovery by Thursday.

Tags Pen and Ink, People

Digital art Dreams Sketchbook Pages

Dreams…

All were drawn in pencil and then ink in my dream sketchbook, then scanned and digitally colored in Painter.
Click here to see enlarged.

(Above) Dreamt that my painting group turned into a dance group.

(Below) Click here to see enlarged. Dreamt I was standing in line to sign up for a race. A big sweaty bald guy without a shirt kept leaning on me and I told him to stop it. Once we started running I realized I could fly so I did, even though I knew it meant I wouldn’t get the race t-shirt. Flying is so much fun!

(Above) Click here to see larger. Dreamed I was visiting New York City with my dad and we were walking the streets stopping into jazz cafes and listening to music. I had my flashlight to light our path. I was so happy being in New York I started crying with joy and decided to move there. His wife Linda was there, dressed like Jackie O and neat and trim. Then I remembered how expensive it is to live in Manhattan and that my dad died many years ago. But it was still a happy dream.

If you look at the images enlarged, please tell me if they’re too big for your screen.

Tags Painter Digital Art, Pen and Ink

Landscape Oil Painting Other Art Blogs I Read Outdoors/Landscape Painting Photos

Pt. Reyes in Oil

Oil on canvas, 16 x 20″
Click here to see enlarged view

Yippee! I finally got back to oil painting and I think that everything I’ve learned in acrylic and gouache and from reading books on landscape and seeing other people’s instructional photos and videos on the web and especially the great advice I’ve gotten from other art bloggers finally clicked. I was actually able to capture just what I wanted to in this painting, which is a rare gift!

I just wish I could tell whether the images look right on the screen. I still haven’t quite gotten my monitor calibration dialed in. In the painting the distant hills and mountains look a little misty–like there’s lots of atmosphere/fog between them and the viewer, subduing the colors. The blue peeking through the clouds is ultramarine not cyan like it appears on my monitor. But this afternoon I wanted to paint, not futz around with computers. I did enough of that last weekend!

Here are the things I’ve learned about oil painting that I applied:

I limited my palette
toned the canvas with a wash of acrylic yellow ochre
painted the sky white and then blended in the blues
blocked in the darkest darks, the mid-value big shapes, and then did the next smaller shapes and then added details.
I made sure to wipe my brush if it picked up some of the wrong neighboring color before applying more paint
I didn’t let myself get lazy about mixing colors from whatever was left on the palette instead of adding the missing color in fresh paint
And I stopped before I overworked it and didn’t get hung up in details

And here are the people who I pestered for oil painting advice (which they generously gave me) that finally sunk in:

I did the painting from this photo I took on a hike in Pt. Reyes to the ocean. I painted it this afternoon in about four hours (including cleaning up), trying to pretend that I was painting plein air:

Tags Photos

Drawing People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Subway Drawings

All are ink in Moleskine sketchbook.

This is the busiest week of the busiest month of the year at my day job. We’re holding five institutes in the next few weeks across the country and 10 hour days are norm.

As a result these drawings done on our subway system known as BART are the sum total of my art output this week.

I’ve been too tired at night to draw and too late rising in the morning to do dream drawings after not sleeping well.

But there’s just one more week to go and then I’m on vacation and it will be 12 glorious days of drawing, painting, rest, reading and relaxation. I’m planning lots of fun trips around the Bay Area to do mini-sketch crawls with art buddies.

Tags Pen and Ink, People, Subway drawings

Photos Studio

My studio’s new ergonomic sit-stand desk

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date June 12, 2007
8 Comments on My studio’s new ergonomic sit-stand desk

Finally I have my new Workrite Sierra electric sit-stand desk. This is it in lowered position for sitting in a chair. If you click on the picture above, it will take you to Flickr where I’ve annotated all the different items (just mouse over the little boxes and the descriptions appear). Flickr also has larger sizes of both photos.

Here it is at standing height (I’m tall). It’s so great being able to alternate between sitting and standing–it saves my back and my feet!

On the left is my main drawing table that I’ve previously posted drawings and photos of before. On the right is a drawing table that students or painting group buddies use. To the right of that is my window seat and to the right of that is my easel. Maybe I’ll take 360 degree pictures of my studio (my favorite place in the world) and post those some day.

I love the new desk but it’s been a journey getting all the computer stuff set up, including calibrating the new LCD monitor so that the colors look the same on the screen and on the printed output. I had been using an old CRT monitor that was excellent quality but too huge and heavy to use with this table. I advertised it on Craigslist for free and a nice guy who also turned out to be an artist was happy to take it home with him.

There were a series of amusing mishaps and extreme computer geeking with my good buddy Richard, who worked with me until 1:30 a.m. on Friday to get it all set up. Some of it was pretty funny and I wanted to write about them but I’m too exhausted tonight. We’re going through our busiest month at work and between the studio being all kerblooey with all the computer stuff plus the demands at work, I haven’t been able to get much posted the past week. But soon I’ll be on my birthday vacation (either next week or the following week, depending on what’s needed at work) which will be devoted to sketching and painting. So don’t give up on me. I’ll be back with regular postings very soon!

Tags Photos

Digital art Illustration Friday People Sketchbook Pages

IF: Suit (Birthday Suit)

The Illustration Friday challenge “suit” really didn’t grab me until I remember it was my birthday this month…

(above) I scribbled the idea for this on a handy notepad with pencil at midnight while I was waiting for my neighbor’s party to end so I could get some sleep. Then I inked over the outline today and followed the steps below to get to the finished picture. The color in the picture above comes printed on the notepad.

Techie notes:

I outlined the sketch in ink and scanned into Photoshop, using Levels to erase the background (paper had designs on it) and improve the contrast. Then I opened it in Illustrator and used “Trace” command to get clean outlines. I imported that into Painter, doing some more drawing and then creating layers defined as “Multiply” to paint it without losing the outlines. I mostly used the digital airbrush. Then I opened it in Photoshop to use the handy “Save for Web” option (Phew!) It took about 2 hours total.

This is my first project on my new electric sit-stand desk/computer workstation. It was a massive project requiring lots of computer and furniture wrangling in my studio to get it all set up and functional and some really late hours. That’s why I haven’t posted the past few days. Tomorrow I’ll post some pics of my new desk and write about the project, my ridiculous goof-ups, the fixes and the complicated but very groovy computer setup that my friend Richard, tech consultant extraordinaire, helped me plan and assemble.

Tags Painter Digital Art, People, Photoshop painting

Gouache Life in general Painting Still Life

Papaya in Gouache

Gouache on Arches hot press watercolor paper, 10×7.5″
Click here to enlarge, then click again

I meant to paint in oils this afternoon and I meant to go to bed early tonight and I meant to get some good exercise in today. Oops.

Instead I spent the afternoon with the president of my neighborhood association touring the former private elementary school around the corner from my house that is on the verge of being leased to a new charter high school. I’m feeling very much the Nimby-ite (Not In My Back Yard) because the school will almost literally be in my backyard — on the next block. While the school’s focus is supposed to be all about community service and group hugs, my experience with the nicest of teenagers (including my own who weren’t always all that nice) is that high school students are noisy, drive like fools, and have lots of trash that rarely ends up in the trash can.

By the time I got home I had to cook dinner and then clean up the huge mess from chopping tons of different veges for a stir fry. When I finished it was 9:00 and I was about to head to bed for a nice early night when I saw this lovely half papaya I bought today calling out to be painted.

“OK, you have one hour” I told myself and then to bed!” Two hours later and here I am uploading the picture. I still have to do my back stretches. But at least I’m happy I painted today because tomorrow it’s back to the office.