Peet's Coffee after Manet, Graphite, ink & watercolor
When I walked up to the woman at the counter at Peet’s to order my coffee I started babbling that she looked just like someone in an Impressionist painting. She humored me and asked for my order. I ordered my latte, went back to my table, and Googled “Impressionist Bar Painting” on my iPhone. It didn’t take long before I found it.
Manet, Bar at Folies Bergère
I showed her the image on my phone and asked if she’d pose for me like the woman in the painting and she agreed. I don’t have permission to post her photo so all I can show you is my sketch, which is a study for a larger painting.
Needless to say, I left a good tip for my coffee (and modeling services). And fortunately there wasn’t a line of people waiting for their coffees.
I can see that I need to go back to Peet’s to sketch and take more photos so that I can replace the computer monitor on her left with something more beautiful. Or maybe it’s appropriate to be there? But it sure isn’t as pretty as Manet’s oranges and flowers in crystal.
Bad Mood! Ink, watercolor, marked up kitty handout from pastel demo
Sometimes I get grouchy. For no reason. Or for good reason. I don’t like to be grumpy so I try to do things to cheer up: take a walk, go dance it off at Jazzercize, write and sketch in my journal over a latte at Peet’s Coffee or all of the above. Today, after trying all, it was the surprise of seeing my sister walk into my neighborhood Peet’s (surprise because she lives 5 towns away) that did the trick.
Before she arrived, while I was sipping and sketching, I was horribly annoyed by the woman sitting beside me at her computer who made dozens of phone calls. She was trying to reach “important” people like “Mr. Spike Lee” about his New Orleans film because she had “ideas” he would be interested in. She left message after message for others about her trip to Ireland, various parties and meetings, and how she was working out in preparation for her trip to Ireland next week…”so call me…kiss, kiss…ciao.”
SHHH - cards to handout to rude cell phone users
My sister told me about a funny little card she’d seen for handing to loud or rude cell phone users. I looked for one online and found that designers Aaron Draplin and Jim Coudal created the hilarious “Society for Handheld Hushing” page where you can download and print this 3-page pdf file containing a variety of cards and little handouts like the one above.
I’m not sure I’d have the nerve but perhaps if it could be done surreptitiously…
Warm sun, green hills, blossoming trees and a great Peet’s cappuccino to sip at an outdoor table while sketching was made even better by a pen that actually worked in my sketchbook. After struggling to find a pen that would not skip, scratch, smear, show through or bleed on the Arches 90 lb cold press paper I’d bound in my journal, I discovered that my Lamy Safari fountain pen was just right.
Pens
All of the pens I normally use were giving me problems. The Sakura Pigma Micron skipped, scratched over the textured paper when drawing, and was even worse for writing in the journal, whether I used my favorite .01 or a fatter-tipped .05.
Pitt Artist Pen and Sharpie tests
I tried using an Ultra-Fine Point Sharpie since it would at least produce a strong line (above). But I found that the ink flowed too quickly, bleeding and spreading if held in one spot and worse, showed through to the other side. I also tried the Pitt Artist Brush Pen on this page, which worked OK but was a thicker line than I like for general sketching. The black ink in the finer-point Pitts seemed paler than the Microns, but it might also be that they resist the sizing on the paper more.
Testing Prismacolor .05 Pen
Prismacolor Illustration pens are similar to the Sakura Pigma Micron and Pitt Artist Pens and are very nice and comfortable to hold. But they too performed poorly on the Arches CP. In the sketch above I was trying to do a contour drawing of what I saw on the BART train but my lines were barely visible until I redrew them with a Sharpie.
Testing Noodlers & Carbon Platinum Ink
Then I tested my Lamy Safari F-point fountain pen and was delighted to see that it was a pleasure to write and draw with on the Arches CP paper.
Ink
I’d last filled the Safari with Noodlers Black Bulletproof ink, which is supposed to be waterproof but actually bleeds a fair amount when a wash is applied after it’s dry. I used a dip pen to test Platinum Carbon Ink and it held up better, barely bleeding at all.
So I squirted out the remaining Noodlers in my Lamy and refilled it with the Carbon Platinum ink. I’ve been a happy sketcher ever since. The ink is a rich black, doesn’t bleed, is great to write with on this bumpy paper, and is comfy to hold. Yay!
Paper
Now that I’m halfway through my journal it’s time to prepare for binding the next one. I’ve been testing papers and I think I’ve found the one. When I finish my tests I’ll post them. I have a feeling I might have found the perfect paper for ink and watercolor journaling.
Signs of spring were sprouting everywhere on my walk and I couldn’t resist stopping to sketch and paint. But I stopped so many times that before I’d gone half a mile I was so hungry I had to return home for lunch before heading out again.
The sketch above graces the first page of my new sketchbook, bound with Arches 90lb cold press watercolor paper. It’s quite different from the Fabriano Venezia sketchbooks I’ve been using the past year.
Princess flower bush blossoms, ink & watercolor
I’m really enjoying the way the book opens flat, it’s size (7.5″ tall x 5.5″ wide) and weight, how comfortable it is to hold and to hold open for working across the spread, the texture of the paper for painting and the way the pages don’t ripple, pill, or show through to the other side. The paper takes a lot of abuse and layering, which is both a good and a bad thing. Good because it holds up, but bad because it allows endless diddling around which isn’t really the point of sketching (but is a bad habit of mine).
Peets people, ink & watercolor
And what’s a nice walk on a spring-like day without a stop at Peets for a Cappuccino at a sidewalk table and a bit of sketching/painting. I’m still finding my way with this paper, trying to get a sense of how much paint to use, and which pens work best with it.
One thing I’ve determined for sure is that I prefer painting on site when I go out sketching, as I did with these, and not just drawing on site and adding paint later as I did last week with my sketching group. I just spent the evening painting the drawings from last week’s outing and it just didn’t have the zing that painting from life on site does.
You can make many more sketches and have more control of the paint when you save the painting for later, but then you either have to work from memory (of which I have too little) or photos (which never capture what you really see in person) or by using a pencil to softly write “Y” in areas that are yellow, “B” for blue, etc.) While I loved those “paint by number” kits when I was a kid, I’m not crazy about painting by letter now.
Here is the lion that guards the door at the hotel beside the chubby cherubs on Harrison Street. I love his big nose and stylized fist. I sketched this from the photo on my monitor from across the room, to simulate drawing from life as best I could. I did a complete pencil sketch with shading and then drew over that with my Pentel Pocket Brush Pen and then decided to erase all the pencil shading and paint him with watercolor. Here’s a photo of the building.
Cherubs & Lions on Harrison
A couple weeks ago when I posted my sketches from the library and Peet’s Coffee I mentioned the old man in a weathered, WWII leather aviator cap and his 1940s era bicycle that Cathy sketched. I adored the way she captured this funny old character who was selling bike parts to a young man so I asked her to send me scans. She did, and now I get to post them below.
Cathy's sketch of the bike guyCathy's sketch of bike guy's ride
Most of their decorative squash buddies had grown unsightly fuzz and gone off to the compost bin. But these three were still pretty and when I looked around for something to sketch last week, they cried out “Choose Me! Choose Me!” So I did.
I wanted to paint today. And I didn’t. I had a headache that wouldn’t go away and a bunch of boring, annoying chores to do. I had to return a jacket to Costco that was so wonderfully, fuzzy green but unfortunately, also oddly misshapen). The gas tank “empty” light in my car had been on for days (my least favorite chore, second only to dragging the trash cans out to the street, which I pay a neighbor boy to do).
I needed to go to Target for cat litter (and since Fiona only recently decided to start using the litter box again for ALL of her needs and not just some, I didn’t want to discourage her with a dirty box.) And I wanted to take a walk before the predicted week-long deluge of rain started.
So I sacrified a day in the studio that probably would have been a struggle anyway, feeling crummy as I did, and took off on a long walk to Radio Shack in Albany to buy new ear bud covers for my iPhone since one had disappeared.
Hints of tobacco and toilet?
On the way home, I stopped at Peet’s Coffee to sip and sketch. I saw this sign from across the room and thought “that can’t be right!” It was advertising their new coffee, Sumatra Blue Batak, claiming in fancy script that it was “Smooth and full-bodied” and had (what I thought I read) “…hints of tobacco and toilet…” . Huh!? I squinted and looked more closely and saw it said “hints of sweet tobacco and toffee” Even with the toffee though, I’m not sure I’d want to drink coffee that tasted like tobacco. Ick.
I completed all my errands, the headache is almost gone, and with Monday and Tuesday off, I still have two days to paint and enjoy being cozy in the studio while it rains.
Sorry to bore you with my stupid day and list of chores. Maybe I should have just posted the picture and then shut up?
The Berkeley Public Library is a beautiful old building that was lovingly preserved and added on to a few years ago. We met there to sketch last Tuesday night, enjoying the ambiance and craftsman furnishings in the lobby of the old section. I experimented with trying to get the perspective from where I sat in a room filled with wood, metal filigree screens, brass door frames, carved ceilings and handcrafted furniture.
I asked Cathy to take a picture of me sitting in the high-backed chair with diagonal arms so I could sketch it later. I messed up my face (in the sketch) so I just pasted on a fresh piece of watercolor paper and did it again.
Me for realMe sketching in funny chair
When the library closed at 8:00 we headed across the street to Peet’s Coffee, hoping that their manager (who looks like Harry Connick Jr. and dresses in fancy 1950s suits and ties and an Elvis pompadour) would be there for us to sketch. He was there but he was wearing a different costume: suspenders over a tight white t-shirt and a fedora. I asked him why he wasn’t wearing a suit and he said he hadn’t known in advance he would be working that night so wasn’t dressed for work.
Last time we were there I asked him if he was in a band and why he dressed so cool. He said he just liked to, and that years ago when he was in a band he dressed much more sloppily. (My dad was famous for starting up conversations with strangers and asking similar questions which used to embarrass us kids but I guess I inherited his curiosity.)
The manager never stopped moving and was often out of my sight but one of his buddies who seemed to be channeling Keith Richards (only looking much more alive) hung out for a while and he at least stood in one place long enough to sketch him.
Peet's: Rocker Dude
Cathy was facing a tiny, ancient man in a weathered, WWII leather aviator cap who parked his 1940s era bicycle behind me in the store’s entry way, giving her a perfect view for sketching him and the bike. He was selling bike parts to a young man. When he left she showed him the sketch of his bike (but not of him because it was just too funny) and got the information about his bike for her sketchbook.
Before they closed at 9:00 I was able to get in a quick sketch of these people at a nearby table.
(Updated) We met at the newly remodeled Shattuck Plaza Hotel in Berkeley to sketch on Tuesday night. The lobby of the historic building has been transformed from an old-fashioned residential hotel with good”bones” to something entirely different. The walls are covered in a variety of black and white patterned wall paper from florals to paisley to stripes that seems to vibrate. The floors are a patchwork of checkerboard marble in between sections of rug the designer describes as “red and mauve 1960s flower-power pattern”. There are two huge crystal chandeliers, a red one that was newly created and the other, an original, that is 100-years old.
I was going to try drawing all of the different patterns on the walls, floors and furniture, but couldn’t stand looking at them, as reminded me of watching the patterns behind my eyelids during my migraine of only a few days prior. So I sketched a few of the lamps, sconces and furniture I could see from where I sat. Then we headed out into the cold for our next stop.
Monks at Peets Coffee, ink & watercolor
We went to Peets Coffee across the street and relaxed to the classical music while we sketched people. The monk knew we were drawing him and when they were leaving, came over and asked to see our sketches. I told him he had a beautiful smile.
He looked a bit embarrassed by my comment, but said thank you, and told us he doesn’t usually get out much, that he was here visiting with his grandmother and brother after living the past ten years in Thailand. He seemed so genuinely happy and at peace and made me want to return to my long-neglected Zen meditation practice
On my walk to Peets Coffee and the bookstore today I saw so many things along the way that I would have liked to sketch. But I was feeling tired and under-caffeinated so I made a mental note to take the same route on the way back to sketch them.
It struck me as ironic to see a sign saying “STOP” beside a tree (above) with leaves that are changing colors and falling. We can’t stop the seasons, time keeps steadily moving on, the days get shorter, and I’m so aware of each passing day being one less to do all the things I want to do.
As I wrote that, I pictured myself with a quiver of arrows that represent my days, and each day I select an arrow and shoot it from my bow…and that gave me an idea for a sketch….
Arrows of Time, ink and gouache
And that made me wonder which is better:
To carefully select the daily arrow (of time) and aim to make sure the day is spent intentionally, doing the things that matter;
or
To be adventurous, pick an arrow at random and shoot without aiming and (as my old yoga teacher used to say when instructing us to take a seemingly impossible pose) “just see what happens” — let each day be its own adventure.
UPDATE: Diane Patmore just left this most wonderful comment:
“Perhaps that sign is telling us to stop and look at the tree?”
That snapped me right out of my melancholic meanderings. Indeed, the only way to slow time is to live in the moment, and enjoy it as it’s happening! Yes! Stop and look at the tree; appreciate its beauty and the color of changing leaves. Accept its reminder that change is inevitable and resisting change causes suffering.
Breathe in the wonderful October air and be grateful to be breathing at this very moment. Ahhh. I feel much better now!
It’s been a weird weekend. As the song says, “It never rains in California in the summer” except it did on Saturday morning after a night of thunder and lightening (also rare in the Bay Area). It was supposed to be a plein air painting day but the combination of rain and a headache convinced me to stay home and paint instead.
Then the power went out. It was too dark in the studio to paint without some lights and I needed coffee to try to get rid of the headache so I walked to Peets to sketch there. I used my sepia Copic Multiliner and then did a watercolor wash (mixing a few colors on my mini-watercolor palette to match the ink color.
Alejandro's Dahlias, ink & watercolor
When I got home I called the electric company and they said to expect repair or a report by 11:00 p.m. that night so I made plans to go out to dinner and to the movies. I didn’t want to open the fridge so my food would stay cold as long as possible. Then I sat my sketching stool in the driveway next to my neighbor’s flower bed and sketched and painted a couple of his dahlias.
Then I took another long walk with a friend, grabbed a fish burrito and went to see Julie & Julia which I loved! It had been ages since I’d been to the movies and even longer since I’d gone alone. I sat near another woman singleton who had the most infectious laugh and we laughed together throughout the delightful movie.
I appreciated the movie’s nod to the challenges faced by tall women (being one myself). The obsession with eating and cooking rich French food made me curious to know whether Julia Child ever dealt with body image issues or weight problems.I found these quotes from her in an interview in Business Week magazine in 2000:
Q: Could you sum up your feelings about the low-fat food movement? A: I don’t go for that at all…our motto is: “Small helpings. No seconds. No snacking. A little bit of everything, and have a good time.” If you can follow that, it keeps your weight and health in good form. Even if you’re going to have some rich dessert, you can always just have a little spoonful to taste it and keep your spirits up. Then I don’t think you have to go into that miserable, low-fat stuff.
Q: That’s more the French way of eating, I think. Americans always wonder why the French aren’t fat even though they eat rich foods.
A: It’s because the French don’t eat these great big helpings. It’s really horrifying to them to go to Disneyland and see these great big fat Americans plodding along, always eating something. No snacking is very important, I think.
I have a feeling she’s right about the snacking, but I know I find it a lot easier to maintain my weight if I cook and eat simply than if I’m surrounded by delicious, rich food and try to just eat a spoonful to taste it. But then I’d always rather be in the studio than in the kitchen, and am just as happy with a bowl of brown rice, broccoli and tofu than fancy French cooking.
P.S. The electricity came back on the next morning, 24 hours later.
Jana Bouc, Artist 