Categories
Bay Area Parks Landscape Life in general Plein Air Sketchbook Pages Walnut Creek Watercolor

Bad Mood Cloudy Day at Borges Ranch That Ended Well

Borges Ranch Shell Ridge Area, ink & watercolor, 5x8"
Borges Ranch Shell Ridge Area, ink & watercolor, 5x8"

My mind was as cloudy as the skies when my plein air group visited Borges Ranch for a Saturday paint out. I was mad because a beautiful bookcase promised to me on Craigslist sold to someone else. I needed it badly. After I donated lots of books along with my rickety old bookcase I still had many I was keeping with no place to put them.

I was too grumpy to hang out with my painting friends so I hiked away from the ranch on the Shell Ridge trail, which is beautiful and quiet except for the sounds of birds. I set up my folding stool and sketched in ink with watercolor washes, facing one direction (above).

Borges Ranch Shell Ridge Open Space, watercolor, 5x8"
Borges Ranch Shell Ridge Open Space, watercolor, 5x8"

Then I turned to face the opposite direction and worked directly in watercolor. I was starting to feel better, enjoying freely painting all the gorgeous colors of spring.

Happy Ending

On the way home from Borges I passed an “Estate Sale” sign and pulled over. Usually estate sales just have a lot of crummy, over-priced furniture, ugly knicknacks, and icky used bathrobes. But this home was huge and completely remodeled, with a master bath better than any spa, a huge dreamy kitchen, and best of all (for me) a home office with TWO bookcases exactly like the ONE I almost bought for $100…and I got them for $20 each! The nice estate sales guy even loaded them in my car for me.

I learned a good lesson: Don’t waste time being grumpy! The second bookcase now holds my cookbooks and gardening books just outside the kitchen which makes them much more accessible than they were before and it looks nice there too.

Categories
Berkeley Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Interiors People Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Saul’s and The Actual Cafe: Sketches

Saul's Valentines Day Dinner, ink & colored pencil, 5x9.5"
Pickle Eater Wearing Cape Behind Susan Sketching, ink & colored pencil, 5x9.5"

By the date on this sketch at Saul’s Deli you can see how behind I am in posting. I have just a bit more organizing to do in the studio. Once that’s done I will share pictures of the studio and then can not only catch up on posting but also on sketching and painting.

Actual Cafe: Bike Hangs From Ceiling, Ink & watercolor, 8x5"
Actual Cafe: Bike Hangs From Ceiling, Ink & watercolor, 8x5"

We had a great Tuesday sketch night at the Actual Cafe in Oakland. It’s an interesting place with a huge mural on the wall, a lending library, bicycles hanging from the ceiling, and regularly scheduled art events. They host bingo games to benefit non-profits and, being a bike-friendly establishment, use an old bike rigged up to spin a bingo cage and send bingo balls down the chute.

And now off to the studio.

Categories
Art theory Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Outdoors/Landscape Sketchbook Pages

Dawn in Scottsdale and Notes from Portrait Class

Dawn View from my Scottsdale hotel window, ink & watercolor 5x8"
Dawn View from my Scottsdale hotel window, ink & watercolor 5x8"

I was too excited to sleep much during my week at the Scottsdale Artists School, despite my quiet, comfortable hotel room. One morning I woke as the sun was coming up, with the moon still shining brightly. Everything outside my window was glowing so I immediately grabbed my sketchbook and paints. What a great way to start the day, even if on only a few hours sleep.

I promised to share what I learned from Rose Frantzen but after typing up 5 pages of notes, I’m not sure they will be helpful to anyone without having been there and seen her working and guiding us. That said, here is a bit of my notes:

Continue reading “Dawn in Scottsdale and Notes from Portrait Class”
Categories
Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Interiors Life in general Painting People Sketchbook Pages

Returning to Real Life

Oakland Airport View, ink & watercolor 5x7"
Oakland Airport View, ink & watercolor 5x8"

Whew! As soon as I returned from my workshop in Arizona last month, the work on my house and studio began. Then over the past couple weeks I’ve devoted all of my free time to getting the new studio set up and moving in there, while completely ignoring my blog. At last I’m nearly finished with the work (even got to paint in the new studio today) and can begin to catch up here.

I almost didn’t make it to the airport (sketched above) because my usually reliable sister not only forgot she was driving me to the airport, but spent the night at my niece’s and left her cellphone at home. Returning from a nice walk the next morning, and just in the nick of time, my brilliant niece Sophie said, “Hey, aren’t you supposed to drive Jana to the airport this morning?” Yikes!

Superbowl at the Scottsdale Holiday Inn, ink & watercolor, 5x16"
Superbowl at the Scottsdale Holiday Inn, ink & watercolor, 5x16"

When I arrived at my hotel, the Holiday Inn Express in Old Town Scottsdale, the Superbowl was on TV in the lounge. They served a big free breakfast there every morning and hosted happy hour from 5-7 every evening, with free beer, wine, chile, nachos, and just for the Superbowl, free Subway sandwiches.

I sipped my beer, ate some chile and had fun drawing the people who sat still. There was some kind of betting game going on that I found incomprehensible, but the woman in blue sitting on a bar stool at the tall table won $20 from the nice men sitting at tables near me.

Categories
Drawing Gardening Ink and watercolor wash Life in general

The Light at the End of the Tunnel Is Getting Brighter

Lilly Amid the Pruned Hydrangeas, ink & watercolor, 7x5"
Volunteer Lilly Amid the Pruned Hydrangeas, ink & watercolor, 7x5"

All my time and creative energy for the past few weeks has been given to sorting, discarding, organizing and moving things as I downsize my living space and move to my new studio. All the studio furniture and most of the painting supplies and gear are in and I’ve emptied and removed almost all the big plastic bins on my steel shelving in the former garage, readying the space for art stuff and still life objects.

One bin was filled with 70+ old paintings on panels that I’d saved over the past few years after my annual January review-and-dump sessions. I’m keeping just 20 of the old ones and another 20 from last year that I like and dumping the rest. One cool thing about this process is that I could easily see where each reject painting went wrong, whether it was drawing, values, composition, and/or color choices. Hopefully that knowledge will help prevent making those mistakes so often in the future.

The Reliable Lilly, ink & watercolor, 7x5"
The Reliable Lilly, ink & watercolor, 7x5"

I also emptied a huge bin filled with family photos that never made it into albums. I filled a trash can with negatives and pics of pretty places and blurry faces. Now all the photos in their envelopes fit in one large file cabinet drawer. Those photos are still in great shape, but the ones in the family albums (with the sticky stuff behind the photos) are fading badly. Later I’ll pull those photos out of the albums and put them in envelopes or boxes too, as they suggest on Small Notebook, a great organizing/simplifying website.

My house is pretty much sorted out now, and in a week or so I should be back to “normal” life, painting and sketching regularly again. The rental unit still needs some finish work, but that can go on behind the scenes, without messes in my living space or cat-terrorizing-power tools and men in boots stomping through the house.

Categories
Ink and watercolor wash Painting Sketchbook Pages Still Life Studio

Last Sketches From My Old Studio

Art supplies and tea on right, ink & watercolor, 4x6"
Art supplies and tea on right side of table & sketchbook, ink & watercolor, 4x6"

These are some of my special drawing table items: my cigar box supply holder, my watercolor brushes and pens, and a coaster under my cup sent to me by illustrator Mick Wiggins in response to a fan letter I sent him about the series of posters he designed for BART, our subway system.

Lamp and squash on right side of table & sketchbook, ink & watercolor, 4x6"
Lamp and squash on right side of table & sketchbook, ink & watercolor, 4x6"

And here’s the left side of the same drawing table with my funky little table lamp for lighting still lifes, the wall grid for hanging supplies with paper towel holder, and the base of two combo lamps at the back — and some squash for sketching that are still (a month later) awaiting cooking.

Table still life, full spread in sketchbook, 4x12"
Table still life, full spread in sketchbook, 4x12"

Here’s the full spread as it appears in the sketchbook. I drew the cup twice because I wanted to practice ellipses. I feel a little sad looking at the pictures because that much loved studio is no more. It’s under construction to become a studio apartment instead.

My new studio is wonderful and almost done. Just need to move in my flat files and painting/canvas storage rack, which hopefully will get done this weekend. Then just a little more work on house, apartment and studio and I’ll be able to get back to my happy rut of living to draw and paint instead of living in topsy-turvy world

Categories
Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Painting Sketchbook Pages

Greetings from Topsy Turvy World

Earthquake water jugs, ink & watercolor, 5x7"
Earthquake emergency water supply jugs that sit beside my bin of earthquake supplies along the fence outside my kitchen. Ink & watercolor, 5x7"

This sketch and the next few I post are from back in the good old days when I used to just sketch, paint, and work. Now I live in construction chaos and once that’s over in a week or two, I’ll still be in sort/discard/move stuff mode as I downsize my living space.

I’m preparing to rent out the half of my duplex that was my studio and move everything I haven’t discarded into either my smaller (but quite comfy) living space or new studio. Meanwhile I’m trying to maintain some semblance of order while everything from my kitchen is in my living room (new kitchen floors in progress) and the wall between the two units has been replaced which means I have to continually go outside, unlock the door, lock it again to get to something that is in the other unit.

Ceramic bowl that Barbara made that I use to hold my phone and it's charger.
Ceramic bowl that Barbara made that I use to hold my phone and it's charger.

I love working alongside my carpenter or just watching him work because he is so smart, competent, serene and cheerful and always has a solution and a tool for every problem. On the other hand, I’m no good at all at transitions. I like things to be done, but nothing is finished because he can only work for me a few hours each day, after his full-time job and before it gets dark. The biggest chunks are done but the finishing touches can take just as long.

It’s all for the good though since the rental income will help support my getting to paint full-time within a year or so. Meanwhile, sketching saves me when my topsy-turvy world makes my head spin. Just looking, seeing and drawing anything calms me down and restores my sanity.

Categories
Animals Berkeley Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Painting Sketchbook Pages Urban Sketchers

Sketching Taxidermy at Spenger’s Restaurant

The High Room Taxidermy at Spengers, ink & watercolor, 5x7.5"
The High Room Taxidermy at Spengers, ink & watercolor, 5x7.5"

Our Urban Sketchers group met Tuesday night at the historic, oldest restaurant in Berkeley, Spenger’s Fish Grotto. I called ahead to see if we could sketch in the room whose walls are covered with taxidermy animals and fish. The manager was very supportive of our visit, even though he was dealing with half the restaurant (which has many rooms, all full of seafaring and other historic artifacts) being closed for carpet cleaning that day.

I arrived a bit late due to continuing construction work at my house, and found the group sitting at a big table in the middle of  the taxidermy room (actually called the “High Room” because of the super high ceilings). Richard the manager had opened and designated the room just for us. Thank you Richard!

We are delighted that Berlin Urban Sketcher and illustrator Olga Prudnikova has joined us for the next couple of months while she is in Berkeley. She and the rest of our group managed to do many sketches to my one. You can see their beautiful and quirky sketches on our SF Urban Sketchers blog here and here.

Thank you Spenger’s general manager Richard, for your support and hospitality. We had a great time sketching and snacking on their famous creamy, thick clam chowder.

Categories
Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Urban Sketchers

Brain Under Construction: Learning How vs. Being Able To

Under Construction, ink & watercolor 5x7"
Under Construction, ink & watercolor 5x7" * I was sitting on the curb just finishing up my sketch when a guy in a truck pulled over and politely asked me to move so he could park in front of his house, where I was sitting. I added the watercolor standing up.

When I returned from my workshop a week ago and told a friend about all I learned, she said something like, “I can’t wait to see your paintings and how what you learned has improved your work.”

If only it were that simple! Learning HOW is quite different from being ABLE to DO what you have learned. Especially when the teacher you study with has painted 8-12 hours a day for 20+ years honing her ability to see, draw and paint. Even when the teacher is extremely generous in her teaching and tries to tell you everything she knows during the intensive week of painting and learning.

I’m still processing what I learned, experimenting with it, and trying to incorporate it into a way of painting that works for me. I promise a post about what I learned soon. But no promises that you’ll see big “improvements” in my work yet. That only comes with practice and time. In fact, after “learning” something new, it’s not unusual for work to show signs of struggle and get “worse,” not “better” for a while.

MEANWHILE…The Studio Conversion

I’m still in the construction/remodeling/moving and sorting stuff process of converting my former studio (half my duplex) back into a rentable apartment and remodeling my former 2-car garage into my new studio (almost done; pictures soon). My carpenter planned to finish a few weeks ago on what turned out to be the only rainy weekend of the winter, which forced postponement.  Now he’s tied up on a big job but hopefully will squeeze mine in over the next week or two.

Categories
Drawing Faces Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Painting People Self Portrait Sketchbook Pages

Coffee and Me

Coffee with Pre-Trip To Do List
Coffee with To Do List

I’m back from my fantastic, amazing, intense week-long portrait workshop with Rose Frantzen, the best teacher I’ve ever had, in Scottsdale, Arizona. I will share my experiences once I have fully processed them and recovered my blogging mojo.

Meanwhile, I’m going through caffeine withdrawal again. After months with zero caffeine I needed extra energy to paint 8 hours a day on little sleep for a week. First it was just a morning cup of green tea, then black tea, then an afternoon diet Coke, and by the last day,  a morning cup of bad coffee AND the diet Coke in the afternoon. Now, after two days of withdrawal migraines, hopefully I’m over the worst of it. And it was worth it.

Self portrait with grey sweatshirt, ink & watercolor, 7x5"
Self portrait with grey sweatshirt, ink & watercolor, 7x5"

I felt like sketching and the mirror was handy so why not draw myself, cozy in my gray sweats. My grandma Gertie had a “house dress” she wore all the time at home and out back to hang her laundry. Just a yellow cotton smock that snapped up the front. I have my “house sweats” that I wear when I’m at home. So comfy and warm.