A thumb by itself isn’t so interesting so I drew my hand in the scuba diver’s “OK” position (used to sign to your dive buddy that you’re doing OK). It’s Sunday and I’ve wasted most of it trying unsuccessfully to color correct in Photoshop a photo of a commissioned painting I recently completed and delivered (and as soon as I get it right I’ll post it here).
But I did a drawing of my thumb and I like it and it’s nice weather and my dog is healing and so I’m A-OK.
I did 3 sketches of umbrellas for EDiM 3. Above is my funny folding duck umbrella (meant for children, I think, but it’s been my only umbrella for at least 10 years). First is where it lives in a tall vase and then opened, sitting on the floor where it scared my cats.
The umbrella above sits on the deck outside my studio and shades the big glass door from the hot afternoon sun. It’s actually a much bigger umbrella than it looks in the picture. I got the base from Costco to replace a previous one that cracked over the winter. This one is designed to be filled with sand and bricks by the owner and then assembled (ugh).
It was a lot of work filling it and then screwing on the cover with about 36 screws, especially since my electric drill stopped working and I did it all by hand. Then I couldn’t lift it turn it right side up and had to get the guys next door to help me since it weighs about 125 pounds filled. Even though it’s heavy it rolls really well so I can move it around as needed.
The cue for day 2 is “Knife” and this is the most recent of a long line of Swiss Army Knives I’ve owned over the years. I carry one with me in my purse or backpack. They come in handy for cutting fruit, opening a can, removing a splinter (there is a tweezers) or screwing in a loose screw.
I’ve had several taken away from me at airports; I forget to take it out of my bag before traveling and the x-ray machine doesn’t lie. Oops.
Yay! It’s May 1 and that means it’s time for Every Day in May. Each year the Every Day Matters (Facebook) (Flickr) groups posts a list of cues and members commit to doing one drawing a day, all month long. The cue for day one is “Window.” My calico cat Fiona snoozing in her fuzzy bed, on a blanket, in a box from Costco, beneath the window in my home office, on a sunny (too hot) day was fun to draw.
Do you think there are enough prepositions in that last sentence? One of the few things I remember from all the stuff we had to memorize in school was a list of prepositions in alphabetical order. I can still cite them…. “about, above, after, against, along, among, around, at, before, beneath, beside, between…..” But why on earth did we need to memorize that list!!!!???
I used a Pentel Tradio Pulaman Fountain Pen for drawing at Picante Mexican restaurant. I love this pen with its smooth chisel tip. Since it isn’t waterproof I could add washes of water to make the gray areas. But Picante is such a colorful place I had to add a little color too. I ordered delicious fish tacos but was too hungry to draw them.
When we planned the Urban Sketching evening for Cato’s, a great old pub, little did we know that a large group of Kaiser doctors were also planning a happy hour event that night too. The place was totally packed but a large group of urban sketchers made it work anyway. We gathered around several tables and sketched eaters, drinkers and sketchers (and in my case, dinner).
My hamburger was delicious but I ate it too quickly, anxious to get sketching and a bit overwhelmed by the noise and crowds. That was my first night out sketching since adopting my pup, who was waiting patiently and not all that happily in her bed in my car in the parking lot of the PetFood Express store across the street from the pub.
Carole Baker is an amazing painter in remote northern Alaska who I’ve known through our blogs and correspondence for years. When she was in Berkeley for a visit we met in North Berkeley to sketch. Above is a photo of my wonky sketch (held by Carole so that I could photograph it) of Earthly Goods, the store on one corner of Vine and Shattuck.
We sat on the same bench but looked in opposite directions. Here is Carole and her sketch of the produce market on the opposite corner of Shattuck and Vine.
I was so inspired by Carole and her art on the beautiful greeting cards she gave me as a gift. You can see Carole’s art on her blog Carole Baker’s Art Journal.
This little fig tree has survived so much: being transplanted, then a killer frost, and then transplanting again after sewer line work. As soon as leaves sprouted this year so did two figs. Sadly the crows or squirrels (or the toddler next door?) took them before I could even post this.
I sat in the driveway and quickly sketched some roses but had to stop when the shadow of the house took away the light.
And then there’s my not so spring-y self, frowning into the mirror, with hat-head and something wrong with the mouth. And yes, it’s intentionally buried at the bottom of this post. It feels good to be drawing again, after what seems like months away from it. It’s also a little frustrating feeling rusty at it. But the only fix for that is more drawing!
I put my sketching stool in my front garden to paint the one iris that decided to bloom this year. The past two years none of them bloomed and I think it’s because you’re maybe supposed to dig up the bulbs and separate them and plant them further apart when they get too crowded? Gardeners, your advice welcomed!
I missed sketching the first blooming of my roses, when each rose is so perfect and beautiful it’s just heart breaking. I was “too busy,” putting it off one day too many and then the big rains came and the fresh perfect roses were no more.
I really enjoyed drawing and painting while practicing close observation of the different shapes and structures of this amazing plant.
I am so glad to move on from this series finally! Lately I’ve been sketching lovely spring scenery, trees and flowers but before I post them, here are the last and the grossest of the dog treats. These two items were neither a treat to draw nor did my dog’s digestion appreciate them (to put it mildly!)
The Puffed Pig Snout is exactly that, a kind of weird half-face; really quite disturbing. Millie was quite happy to munch it right up, though she will also happily eat cat poo and grass, so that’s not saying much.
I labeled the Tooble incorrectly in the sketch as I’d lost the label and remembered wrong. It’s not a sheep esophagus, it’s a smoked beef trachea, cleverly renamed a “Tooble” for marketing purposes. I’m glad that they are finding ways of using all of the animal, but still…
I’ve completed my investigation of the weird new world of dog treats and we settled on Millie’s two favorite chew treats: Pizzle sticks and raw organic marrow bones.
Phew! Done! Now on to something completely different!
Jana Bouc, Artist 