Looking into the Codex Book Fair in the Craneway Pavillion, ink & watercolor, 5×8″
I attended the Codex Book Fair at Craneway Pavillion (a former car factory, now an event space) in Richmond with some friends from S.F. Sketchers on a gorgeous, sunny day. The fair is an annual event where book artists and small publishers show their work. There were huge crowds enjoying the amazing art, although a few tables were empty because the artists or publishers got stuck in an East Coast snow storm.
The Park on the Bay by Craneway Pavillion, ink & watercolor, 5×8″
After I visited the fair I sat outside on a bench and quickly sketched the view from the boardwalk by the building (above).
My favorite artist at the show was Andie Thrams. Her handmade, watercolor-illustrated, one-of-a kind books were amazing and inspiring. My favorite of hers was In Forests, which you can see page by page here. It really is a must-see for anyone interested in journaling and bookbinding, especially nature journaling in ink or watercolor.
The Pub on Solano near the border of Albany and Berkeley is a hidden-away, cozy place to sketch, play chess, or chat with friends or friendly strangers while sipping espresso, beer or wine and hang out as long as you want.
The Pub’s clientele tend to be colorful people who are interesting to eavesdrop on while sketching. The old guys I sketched above weren’t exactly firecrackers but the 40-something, rough-hewn guy in rainbow tie-dye and long blond hair sitting behind me kept me entertained with daring travel adventure stories of remote and distant lands told to his friend who was soon departing.
A bit of an anachronism, The Pub also sells tobacco and cigarettes from around the world and has an interesting display of old pipes. The indoor areas are smoke-free but they offer a front and back outdoor patio where smokers can enjoy their vice(s).
Piled up Shoes and Slippers, ink & watercolor, 5×16″
More crazy dreams! The night after the lost keys dream, I dreamed I was at a retreat where I kept losing my shoes. So of course I had to draw them, just to be sure they were still here.
Lately my every-day sneakers have started untying themselves several times a day. So then I dreamed that Justin Bieber and Justin Timberlake were giving me hands-on shoe-tying advice.
My Every Day Sneakers
They unlaced my shoes and then snipped the laces into small pieces. They explained that you need a separate piece for each set of holes and then you knot each piece to the next. We started running out of laces. I think I’ll just start double-knotting them, thanks. Or maybe it’s time for new shoes?
Birkenstocks, Dansko Clogs and Fuzzy Slippers, ink & watercolor, 5×8″
Yes those are magenta polka dots on my ancient Birkenstocks: I painted the funky old shoes with acrylic paint dots and it worked great. I’m definitely not a high heels kind of girl as you can see.
Dreamt I Lost My Keys So I Drew Them. Ink & watercolor, 5×8″
Sometimes I have the stupidest dreams. It’s unlikely I would actually lose my keys since I always put them in the same place. I do this because, like Winnie the Pooh, I’m “a bear of very little brain.” Although I haven’t lost anything* in a long time, I used to lose everything. My parents always said, “If your head wasn’t attached you’d lose that too!” I may not have a good memory but now I am organized about where I keep things.
The View From My Kitchen Sink, ink & watercolor, 5×8″
I did this sketch at the end of January after a month of not drawing while focusing on year-end organizing, learning a new computer, creating spreadsheets and doing taxes. The sketch is crazy wonky but it felt good to get back to drawing, even if it was just the kitchen sink, and the view out my window of my bottle brush tree, lemon tree, little purple potato tree and my neighbor’s house.
*(oops…not true…I keep losing my metal water bottles because they fall out of the too-shallow pockets on my backpack. I use a carabiner to keep the bottle attached now, but I’m going to replace the old bag with one with deeper water-bottle pockets. No point in using something that is so inefficient.)
I painted this oil painting from a 2nd generation scan of a difficult photo. The harsh shadows, eyes hidden behind sunglasses, and brilliant fall foliage in the background created a challenge. But this was the photo her husband wanted painted so I did my best. The subject of the painting is a beautiful woman, a brilliant researcher and educator, a terrific hostess and a wonderful mother. It was a pleasure to paint her, even with the technical challenges.
Caricature of Christina Aguilera, sketched on iPad in Art Studio
Like I said, very different portraits, very different women. I sketched this on my iPad while watching The Voice, a singing competition TV show on which Christina Aguilera was a judge. I don’t understand why the women on these shows wear skin-tight clothes and so much make up that they look like cartoon characters, but at least it makes them easy to sketch since they already look like caricatures of themselves.
I’m enjoying Nicki Minaj on American Idol. She goes even further in the makeup, false eyelashes and wigs department, looking even more like a cartoon character…and acts like one too, the way she says absolutely any random crazy thing that goes through her mind. Sometimes she’s really funny.
I guess not just movie stars are wearing false eyelashes now. The receptionist at my eye doctor’s office gets hers glued in at the salon when she has her nails done. I’d rather buy those hairs glued into a handle of a brush to paint with. Much more practical, don’t you think?
Flowering Crab Apple Branch, left page, ink, watercolor & gouache, 8×11″
Happy spring (or autumn if you’re on the other side of the world)! Despite it being a rainy, grey day here, perfect for spending indoors in jammies (which I did since I was a bit under the weather) spring has definitely arrived in the Bay Area with blossoming trees and green things sprouting everywhere.
Out walking in Berkeley on a Sunday morning in a nice neighborhood, I spotted a beautiful flowering tree between two homes. I was debating with my walking buddy whether to knock on the door and ask if I could take a cutting to sketch and paint from. He thought not, since people might still be sleeping, and suggested I take a photo. But I wanted to draw from the real thing. I was trying to figure out which house actually owned the tree and he was trying to figure out how to get me to keep walking.
Flowering Crab Apple Branch, right page, ink, watercolor & gouache, 8×11″
Just then I heard people chatting, coming towards us on the sidewalk from around the corner. It was the homeowners who’d also been out for a walk. I asked if I could take a branch to paint and they said yes. This is the first of several pieces (two oil paintings and another sketch) I created from their branch.
I wish I’d thought to take their address so I could send a thank you card with the image on it. Maybe my friend will remember what street we were on since he chose our route.
This is the full 2-page spread in the giant Moleskine Watercolor A4 sketchbook I’m using now. It’s 8.5 x 23 inches when opened so rather unwieldy when sketching outside the studio but I’m enjoying it anyway. I drew directly with a sepia Sakura Micron Pigma Pen and then painted with watercolor and a bit of gouache.
I used gouache for the background on this sketch because I wanted a fairly smooth/flat background which I couldn’t get with watercolor because of the way the paper buckles and doesn’t lie flat because of the seam. My favorite part is the enlarged pure watercolor blossoms in the white circle on the left hand side, visible if you click and then click again on the top image. I’m craving some “real” watercolor painting on good paper.
It seems like I’ve been struggling with painting sunflowers forever but with each attempt I understand them a little better. I’m very stubborn and will continue trying until the sunflowers and I are really good friends.
I lit the flowers above with very warm light which made the olive-green backdrop cloth look gold and kind of bleached out the color of the flowers. The pictures in this post are in the reverse order I made them, with the last first.
Sunflower #3, ink & watercolor, 5×8″
I did the sketch above after having such difficulty with the two below, trying to better understand the shapes of the flowers and their structure.
Sunflowers in Vase (#2), Oil painting on canvas, 16×12″
After working for hours on the vase in the painting above I looked at it in the mirror to check the symmetry and couldn’t stop laughing. It was completely off kilter, slanted to one side as if it had melted. It’s just amazing how our eyes and brain work together to correct things and fool us. I had to completely start the vase over to get it close to right. I experimented with using a dark background and tried to paint duller, darker colors for flowers not in the light but vibrant color kept sneaking back in. After days of repainting I called it done so I could move on.
Sunflower #1, Oil painting on panel, 10×8″
The first problem with the one above was my drawing. Instead of taking the time to carefully draw these sunflowers I jumped into painting, combining a few specifics with some generic version of flowers. All the pointy, sharp shapes and droopy flowers are a good visual representation of my struggle, frustration, and ultimately, disappointment with this painting.
I completed these pieces at the end of last year and had to give up when I couldn’t find any more sunflowers. Soon sunflowers will be available and I can start painting them again.
I have a feeling it’s going to go better this time around. I am studying nature drawing with John Muir Laws at his Bay Area Nature Journal Club. This month’s session was all about drawing flowers and I learned all sorts of cool stuff. More about that another time.
End of Journal Self-Portrait in Stillman & Birn journal, ink & watercolor
OK, let’s just get this over with. At the end of each journal I sketch a self-portrait. In the one above from the end of 2012, I had new glasses but was in need of a haircut. I put on some lipstick and mascara to get in the spirit. Even though it’s not very complimentary (or maybe it is? Yikes) I think it looks like me.
End of Journal Self-Portrait, February 2013, Pitt brown Brush Pen and watercolor, 8×5″
This one was done quickly last month in a Moleskine watercolor notebook with a brown brush pen (still wearing the same old grey hoodie plus a down vest to stay warm). My hair and clothes look right but NOT my face. Oh well.
I’m now using a giant Moleskine watercolor notebook, A4 size I think. and I’m really loving it. I have a whole bunch more sketches and some oil paintings to post…. but since I feel the need to go somewhat in order I had to get these posted first. Done. Moving on.
Crazy Chickens 1 at Poulet, ink & watercolor, 5×8″
The night we sketched at Poulet, a mostly chicken café in north Berkeley, I was feeling out of practice with drawing. So instead of trying to sketch the architecture or people I just drew their collection of chickens displayed on shelves, counters and walls.
More Ceramic Chickens at Poulet, ink & watercolor, 5×8″
I didn’t bother with the shelves they sat on or perspective or anything serious…just allowed myself to be as playful as the silly chickens. That helped me get over my insecurity, warm up my hand and get back to sketching again after a brief spell of doing everything but art at the beginning of the year.
Poultry Panorama (2-page spread in my sketchbook).
Pest Control at Pastime Hardware, ink & watercolor, 5×8″
When we made our annual sketching pilgrimage to Pastime Hardware on a cold winter evening I picked the Pest Control department. I was attracted by the big, ugly, inflated hanging rat and the artificial owls who seemed to be discussing who was going to nab the rat.
The names of the products seemed inflated too: Pest Chaser Pro and Sonic Pest Chaser (both made me imagine cartoon critters that jump out of the box and chase critters away). And then there’s the Tom Cat Mole Trap (contains cat? that chases moles?) and Cat Stop (do you need Cat Stop after you’ve released the Tom Cat Mole Trap?)
I know someone who is courting real owls by putting up owl houses in her yard. That solution might be worse than the problem. My son has a family of screech owls living in a tree across the street from him and they keep him awake, screeching all night long.
and then painted with watercolor and a bit of gouache.
Jana Bouc, Artist 