Jana Bouc, Artist

Drawing Famous Faces & Copyright Info for Artists

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date April 10, 2007
19 Comments on Drawing Famous Faces & Copyright Info for Artists

Ink (Pentel brush pens) in Aquabee Deluxe 6×9 sketchbook
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My painting group buddies Lea and Susie are taking a monthly portraiture class from local artist Myrna Wacknov. One of the homework assignments they’ve worked on during our painting group sessions is to take two sheets of watercolor paper and divide each into 8 sections using strips of tape. Then on one they draw the same person 8 times using different colors, techniques, lighting, etc. on each image. On the other they do eight different people but unify them in some way. Judith isn’t taking the class but jumped in anyway and is painting a sheet of 8 angelic portraits of George Harrison from an old Rolling Stone cover.

Then I found the book “In Character: Actors Acting” at the library, with 250 pages of photos of character actors’ faces showing every kind of expression and feeling. I couldn’t resist joining in. I bought a used copy of the book and plan to go through it, flipping it open to a page and making drawings or paintings in my sketchbook. This is the first one. There were two photos of this guy on the same page and I got distracted and accidentally drew his left eye from one photo and the right eye from the other photo. He was looking in different directions in the two photos–he’s not really wall-eyed, poor guy.

Copyright issues:
I did some research about whether I need copyright permission to use these photos in drawings. The answer is yes and no… BUT since I doubt anything I draw will look “substantially similar” to the original photo (or the person I’m drawing!), I’m probably OK.

Here’s what I learned on a page about copyright rules for illustrators:
Q: What are the rules when it comes to illustrating celebrities?
First of all, if you’re not working from your own photographs or memory, you need to obtain permission from the photographer who created the photo you will be using as reference material. (You do not need to get permission from photographers if you create portraits or caricatures based on dozens of photographs from different sources and you are careful to not to include elements that would make it obvious you copied from a particular photograph.)

Q: Can I use someone else’s photograph as reference material for a painting I’m creating?
If you’re copying a photograph, you must get the photographer’s permission…Even though it’s in a different medium, you’re violating the photographer’s copyright if you copy a photograph in your painting.
BUT….
To constitute a copyright infringement, a “copy” must be “substantially similar” to the original work. If your finished illustration looks different from any of the originals you used as a reference material, you shouldn’t need to obtain permission.

Tags Faces, Ink, People

Every Day Matters Flower Art Gardening Plants Plein Air Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Iris in my Garden (EDM: Fresh)

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date April 9, 2007
18 Comments on Iris in my Garden (EDM: Fresh)

Watercolor in Canson 7 x 10″ Sketchbook
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I’d planned to spend my painting time in the studio today but it was too gorgeous outside to stay indoors. So I pulled up a lawn chair and painted this iris in my front yard. I drew it in pencil and then added watercolor, all the while listening to birds chirping (and the sounds of the nearby freeway which I pretend is the ocean), with the sun shining, the bees buzzing around me and the wind blowing my hair.

These irises are heart-breakingly beautiful. They are so fragile and temporary. One day they’re proudly blooming, thrusting their strong, wild purpleness proudly up to the sun and the next day they’ve turned to a little wisp of gelatinous film, drooping sadly from their stalk. I’m glad I was able to sit with this one for an hour and enjoy it’s beauty before it’s gone.

Tags Plein Air

Gardening Life in general Outdoors/Landscape Photos Plants Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Sister Spa Day

Watercolor & Ink in small Moleskine watercolor notebook
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Yesterday I treated my sister Marcy to a sisters’ spa day at the wonderful Osmosis Day Spa in Freestone, CA and then dinner at the Union Hotel in Occidental.

We started with a tea ceremony in their Japanese garden and then had enzyme baths which was the most relaxing experience I’ve ever had. After putting on lovely Japanese robes, we were escorted to a private room with a glass sliding wall facing another zen garden and pond.

In the room were two large cement tubs piled with fragrent cedar sawdust, soft rice bran and enzymes imported from Japan. After climbing in, we were each buried up to our chins with this warm, heavy stuff. It was like being in the most comfortable recliner ever, and like being in a womb. Beautiful music played while we relaxed and for once my mind went completely blank. Every five minutes our beautiful attendant arrived to refresh the cool washcloth on our forehead, gently wipe our faces with a cool cloth and give us sips of water. Because of the enzymes, the sawdust gets warmer and warmer until it’s time to get out after 20 minutes.

Thoroughly baked to just the right temperature, our attendant helped us out, brushed us off and then we showered before moving on to our heavenly 75 minute massages. Speaking of baking, across the street from the spa is the Wildflour Bakery, where Marcy bought a loaf of “Sticky Bun” bread which was hot out of the oven filled with rich, melting cinnamon and nuts.

After the massages we retreated to the zen garden and sat in the open air meditation gazebo (seen in the photo above). Marcy sat on the provided meditation cushions watching the Koi and meditating until she dozed off and almost fell over. Then she joined me on my bench where I was making the sketch at the top, of the view from the gazebo (photo below).

By then it was nearly four and since we’d skipped lunch we headed a few miles west to Occidental for dinner at the Union Hotel. The second sketch at the top is what was sitting on the bar in the cafe at the hotel along with several more large clay bunny statues. Then it was a lovely 1 1/2 hour ride back home through the most brilliantly green fields covered in yellow and white wildflowers. For city girls it was fun seeing all the horses, cows, sheep, lambs, llamas, a few deer, a squashed skunk, and many hawks out in the beautiful country.

“Pull over, I have to pet those horses,” Marcy said. So we drove down someone’s dirt road to pet the horsies, who were only interested in us long enough to determine we had no food for them and then went back to eating grass. The car above is in the side garden at Osmosis–a bit incongruous but I’m sure there’s a story behind it.

Tags Pen and Ink, Photos

Dreams People Sketchbook Pages

Goofy sketches and dream tidbits from AM/PM journal

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date April 5, 2007
5 Comments on Goofy sketches and dream tidbits from AM/PM journal

AM: Dreamt Tim was holding up an eggplant and painting it.

PM: Memory drawing of old Chinese lady I saw today who’d converted her umbrella into a carrying device (known as a shoulder pole I learned by googling “Chinese over shoulder carrying”)

AM: Dreamt I was sitting in front seat of truck with Blake from American Idol and another couple. We were watching a movie displayed in the air in front of us and I kept fiddling unsuccessfully with the remote trying to fast forward.

AM: Dreamt that this doorman named Jack got a phone call and they dropped the phone out the window to him, almost hitting two lady shoppers.

PM: Memory drawing of Richard from the back as he worked on my computer wearing a jacket and cap because he was cold and so was I but didn’t think of turning on the heat.

Tags Pen and Ink, People

Acrylic Painting Flower Art Plants Still Life

Eggs and Cactus Flower in Acrylic

Post author By Jana Bouc
Post date April 3, 2007
10 Comments on Eggs and Cactus Flower in Acrylic

Acrylic on canvas board, 10 x 8″
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This weekend I again tried working in acrylic and oils, doing this practice still life of brown eggs in a white bowl in each medium. I wasn’t happy with the way the acrylics weren’t letting me blend and the hard edges I ended up with. The oil painting is still drying, waiting for another layer.

But then tonight, although I thought I was too tired to do anything, I got inspired to start another painting –this cactus flower–in acrylics, with a plan to do the first loose wash to block in the painting in acylics (to avoid turpentine washes with oils) and then paint over it in oils for the final layer because I prefer the gooshy slipperiness of oils and the ability to blend and have soft edges. I started the painting with acrylics, squirting in a bunch of glazing medium and using gesso instead of white paint and lo and behold I had something very much like oils, blending beautifully. Here’s the painting in progress:

Acrylic on canvas, work in progress 12 x 15″

So now I think I’ll finish it in acrylic and see how it goes. The other thing I’ve figured out with these paintings is how differently I need to approach color mixing with watercolor vs oils or acrylics. With watercolor I tend to paint in layers, striving for getting the color right on the first try but inevitably doing many layers, building up the darks and saturated colors.

Working opaquely with oils (and to some extent acrylics), especially when trying to work alla prima (completing a painting in one session as one does painting outdoors without letting the paint dry), it’s pretty critical to mix and apply the right color the first time, not diddling around with a dab of this and a dab of that. It really forces me to accurately gauge the colors and values of the colors I see or want to use, getting the dark values right first.

One more thing I learned…I discovered I’d been saying to myself, “I’ll never learn how to mix colors in oils” so every time I caught myself thinking that I changed the thought to “I can learn this!” and now I think I’m getting there.

Tags Acrylic Painting

Animals Gardening Plants Watercolor

Hummingbird nest

Ink and watercolor on Arches paper, 10×8″ drawn from actual nest
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I’ve been watching some little brown birds make a nest under my neighbor’s eaves the past few days and this morning I pointed it out to them. It was fun to see the smiles on the little kids’ faces. Then they showed me this hummingbird’s nest that they found in a tree they were trimming last week.

Yessie, their little girl, had brought it to school for sharing but since their house is very tiny, with no room for anything extra, they’d just put the nest in their recycling bin. It was nicely packaged in a thin plastic container with holes that originally held 4 pounds of red table grapes–just the right size for the little branches and nest to fit into. They were happy to give the it to me and I will treasure it.

The nest is a marvel of engineering, only 1 1/2 ” (3.5 cm) in diameter. The inside is wonderfully padded with what looks like dryer lint and a few downy feathers. The outside is made of tiny pieces of moss and lichen. I can’t tell how they attached it to the branches but it’s firmly attached. It looks so cozy I wish I had one my size to curl up in.

Here’s a photo of a similar hummingbird nest with babies in it and a link to a site about hummers.

Tags Animals, Pen and Ink

Gardening Outdoors/Landscape Plants Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

A Morning Walk

A neighbor’s beautiful front garden and purple house

Ink and watercolor in small Moleskine watercolor notebook
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The creek by Peets Coffee and Albany Hill

Today I woke to a beautiful spring day and went for a walk with my sketchbook and little paint set, planning to end up at the creek for another try at painting it. I find it quite challenging (impossible, really) to make something that looks like a creek amidst trees and spring greenery. But a few blocks from my house I spotted a beautifully landscaped yard in front of a tiny blue and purple house and had to stop and paint the blossoming fruit (?) tree surrounded by what I always think of as Martian plants (a little painting of one kind here). But they’re really called Euphorbia (photo of this kind), which is almost “euphoria” and always makes me wonder how it got named that.

So being a word-loving dictionary nerd I had to look it up. It wasn’t very exciting: “From Latin, euphorbea after Euphorbus, first-century Greek physician.” Also, “Euphorbiaceae: very large genus of diverse plants all having milky juice.” I think I’ll just keep calling it Martian plant since it’s so otherworldly looking.

But euphoria — what an interesting definition: ” A feeling of great happiness or well-being, commonly exaggerated and not necessarily well founded.” Hmmmmm, that makes me stop and ponder. If I’m feeling unfounded happiness or well-being, I’m not about to question it! Bring it on!

Tags Pen and Ink

Drawing Life in general Sketchbook Pages

Goodbye Old Hoodie

Memory Brush Pen in Aquabee 6×9 sketchbook
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Ink in my AM/PM sketchbook

These are ritual goodbye drawings of my ratty, old, gray hooded sweatshirt. I’ve been wearing it as a sort of housecoat/bathrobe for years. I put it on over my pajamas in the morning and wear it year-round to stay comfy in my house day and night, where it’s usually a degree or two cooler than I’d like.

My cat Busby chewed up the zipper months ago, so zipping it requires lining up the teeth in three different places where they’re missing. A few weeks ago the tab on the zipper fell off, making it even harder to close. It’s full of holes and threadbare spots, paint stains, bleach stains, and a grease stain from when I slipped carrying the barbeque and the grease never washed out.

Last week while my car had an oil change I visited the Target next door and bought two new grey “hoodies” on sale. They’re soft and clean and warm with perfect zippers and no stains. But I’ve been ignoring them, choosing to wear my old one. To help me part with what’s become a bit of a security blanket, I did these drawings to honor the ratty old thing before I toss it in the trash.

By the way, when did sweatshirts become known as hoodies? I somehow missed that moment in time. For years they were sweatshirts and then all of a sudden they were hoodies. It seems like such a cutesy name for such a homely item of apparel.

Tags Pen and Ink

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.

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A.M. Waiting for the train

AM Riding to Work

PM Riding Home

Tags Pen and Ink, People, Subway drawings

Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Feeling Swirly

Watercolor in Aquabee 6×9 sketchbook
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This is a sketch of how I’m feeling tonight. I was feeling too swirly (a made up word) to draw something particular so I decided to just play with colors for a little while, trying to draw what my mind feels like, and then call it a day.