Tag: Pen and Ink

Categories
Animals Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Painting Sketchbook Pages

Barnyard Critters at Old Borges Ranch

Proud Rooster, ink & watercolor in Moleskine 5x7
Proud Rooster, ink & watercolor in Moleskine 5x7"

After our painting session at Old Borges Ranch on Saturday I did a few ink and watercolor sketches of the critters who were roaming around where we sat for lunch and our critique. This rooster was wonderful and actually seemed to pose for me, just long enough to get this much and then he wandered off.

The chickens weren’t as cooperative. I wish I took a photo of the goofy gal at the bottom. She had the funniest, fluffy clown feathers–sort of like 3 sets of beards; one in the usual place and the other two on either side of her face.

Bit's o' chickens, ink & watercolor in Moleskine 5x7"
Bit's o' chickens, ink & watercolor in Moleskine

This goat seemed like such a happy guy (or gal?) chillin’ out in this empty tub. I was very hungry since I’d remembered all my art supplies but forgotten to bring lunch and it was already 3:00. I rushed drawing the tub and I can see that it’s not deep enough and looks a bit like a sardine can.

Goat chilling out in a tub; ink & watercolor in Moleskine 5x7" sketchbook
Goat chilling out in a tub; ink & watercolor in Moleskine 5x7" sketchbook

I’m using a really funky old computer monitor while mine is off for repairs so I have no idea how any of this is going to look on my blog. Hopefully the scans and colors are decent and the sizes of images make sense.

Categories
Gouache Ink and watercolor wash People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Subway Sketches: Pigeons, People, Shoes

Shoes on subway, ink & watercolor in sketchbook
Shoes on subway, ink & watercolor in sketchbook

I’m really enjoying sketching anywhere and everywhere lately. Here are a few sketches with watercolor added later from BART stations and trains this week.

In His Own World, ink & gouache in sketchbook
In His Own World, ink & gouache in sketchbook

These pigeons were doing the Romeo and Juliet thing in the BART station. BART put up mean wire pigeon preventers everywhere that makes it hard for them to perch anywhere. But these two found a dark corner to bill and coo. I know next to nothing about birds, but Romeo was puffing up his (?) neck as he made his croohoo noise and canoodled with Juliet who kept sticking her feathered hiney up in the air.

BART Station Pigeons, ink & gouache in sketchbook
BART Station Pigeons, ink & gouache in sketchbook

I added the gouache on the last two at home, not on BART, since I usually only have a few minutes for each sketch.

Categories
Drawing Dreams Ink and watercolor wash Painting People Sketchbook Pages

Dream: Dancing Nude at the Office Party

Dancing Nude at the Office Party, Ink & watercolor, Moleskine sketchbook, 5x7"
Dancing Nude at the Office Party, Ink & watercolor, Moleskine sketchbook, 5x7"

I dreamed that I was at an office party where dancing was to be done nude. I was having fun, and surprised that I wasn\’t the most embarassed person there. There was a woman who was so self conscious she\’d wrapped herself in a gauzy fabric trying to (unsuccessfully) hide beneath it. The dream was fun but it was even more fun to draw it and just see who appeared beneath my pencil.

I usually like to draw directly in ink but I wasn\’t sure where I was going with this one so started with pencil and then inked over it.

Oh…I guess I should also mention that while my office does have nice parties, dancing nude has never been an option at any of them and, I\’m quite certain, never will be.

Actual sketchbook page:

Nude Party Dream - full page
Nude Party Dream - full page
Categories
Art theory Drawing Flower Art Ink and watercolor wash Painting Plants Sketchbook Pages Still Life Watercolor

Happy Spring Camellia

Happy Spring Camellia, Ink & watercolor, 7x5"
Happy Spring Camellia, Ink & watercolor, 7x5"

I couldn’t resist drawing this one cutting from my camellia bush instead of going straight to the oil painting I was planning to do of the little bouquet of camellias I was assembling. I wanted to enjoy deeply seeing all the shapes and connections and patterns and reflections and colors in the leaves, buds, and flower.

I realize now that I should have gone a little more slowly when I was drawing the flower petals so that I could really capture the personality of this particular flower, the way I did with the leaves and bud. But I think it was making me dizzy, trying to follow all those different curly shapes and ins and outs of the line so I got a little lazy and generalized instead of paying absolute attention and getting it exactly.

I’m always torn between going for the detailed exactitude of botanical illustration and the way oil painters say to skip the detail, skip the individual petals and paint the mass, the form instead. I see the value in both but combining them in one painting rarely satisfies either goal.

Categories
Drawing Faces Life in general People Sketchbook Pages

Sketching in the Rain; Fingerpainting with Coffee

Potted Palm, Ink & coffee in sketchbook, 8x6"
Potted Palm, Ink & coffee in sketchbook, 8x6"

I’ve been desperate to get back to sketching and was determined to do some today while I was out for a walk doing errands. Just as I sat down to sketch, cup of coffee in hand, it started raining.  I didn’t care. Little drops of rain splattered on my paper, making interesting texture where they met the ink.

I’d forgotten my watercolor kit at home and was annoyed until I looked at the cup of coffee in my hand and thought of how much I liked sepia washes that Pete Scully sometimes adds to his sketches. I dipped my finger in the coffee and began finger  painting.

Then it was time to head home and get ready for a special 10-year-old’s birthday party. I’m the antithesis of a party girl these days, preferring quiet time alone or in one-on-one time with friends. But last night’s dinner party and today’s birthday party were both “command performances” so I gave myself the push I needed to show up.

The intimate, sophisticated dinner party for 6 last night was a joy; the other diners brilliant, funny intellectuals beside whom I felt like a peanut brain. But I adore them all and it was an absolute delight. What a contrast to the non-stop activity and noise of kids loaded up on sugar and then cooped up  indoors because of the rain today.

Mariah's Birthday Guests, pencil drawing, 8x6"
Mariah's Birthday Guests, pencil drawing, 8x6"

I spent the last hour of the 4-hour birthday marathon trying to sketch the jumping-bean children. They were nice kids; a junior United Nations representing as many nationalities as there were guests (and there was a dozen of them, I think).

I’m happy to be home now with no plans for the next couple days besides painting and sketching.

Categories
Drawing Faces Ink and watercolor wash Life in general People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings Watercolor

It’s All in My Head

Cat-Tail Aloe, Ink & watercolor in sketchbook
Cat-Tail Aloe, Ink & watercolor in sketchbook

My artwork, that is.  I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and planning for my next art projects, but other obligations have taken up my art time and energy. All I’ve done the past few days is the watercolor sketch from a trip to the U. C. Berkeley Botanical Gardens (above) and the BART subway sketches below. The aloe was drawn and a bit of wash added on site; then I messed with it some more at home. There were so many wonderful options for sketching there, but my companions weren’t interested in sketching so I didn’t want to make them wait for me.

Backpacking on BART, ink in sketchbook
Backpacking on BART, ink in sketchbook
Big Feet & Big Glasses, ink in sketchbook
Big Feet & Big Glasses, ink in sketchbook

I’m quite sure this woman knew I was drawing her and I think she intentionally held her pose for me. I started with her feet because they interested me and  I didn’t think I’d have time for anything more. But because she held still I continued on up her legs and eventually ran out of room when I got to the top of her head. She gave me a big grin when I got off and I gave her one back. It was a cool little acknowledgment between us.

I’m going to start keeping my “business cards” handy when I subway sketch (those cute little Moos with bits of my artwork and blog address on them) and hand them to people I’ve drawn as I get off the train (if I have the nerve).

Taking Notes, ink in sketchbook
Taking Notes, ink in sketchbook

These two women weren’t really  seated this close. I just used the space on the page that way.

Sometimes I forget that people from my “day job” read my blog. I was in a meeting last week and one of the participants began the meeting by mentioning that she’d seen my sketches from the previous meeting we’d attended and immediately recognized some of the people in the sketch. What a compliment that was! (Thanks A. B.!)

Categories
Drawing Flower Art Ink and watercolor wash Painting Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Blinded by the Light…of Tulips

Tulips, Ink & watercolor in sketchbook, 6x8"
Tulips, Ink & watercolor in sketchbook, 6x8"

I was taking a walk today, trying to find my way back into to the world of the living from the Zombie world I’d been in the past few days, when these tulips seemed to jump out at me. Although I had my sketchbook with me, I was multitasking on this walk, carrying groceries home from the market while talking to my mother on my cellphone. Since I couldn’t really stop and sketch, I took a few pictures and sketched in ink from the image on my computer monitor when I got home.

I’m feeling so grateful for the simple things in life right now: being able to eat and sleep and walk and sketch and breathe and be warm and dry and cozy in my own home. Sometimes it’s worth having a few days of awfulness to be reminded of just how good life is.

Categories
Drawing Faces Life in general People Photos Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Subway Drawings & Feeling Like a Zombie

Silly Pose on Bart, Graphite 8x6
Silly Pose on BART, Drawn later at home, Graphite 8x6

Riding our subway known as BART the other day, I sat down beside a young man who was talking to his  friend in the next seat. I asked if they wanted to sit together and they made a joke about not liking each other (actually it was a racist joke that shocked me  at first when I thought they were serious—they were of different races ). So I sat down and took out my sketchbook like I usually do. The guy beside me insisted I draw his friend and his friend immediately struck a crazy pose for me to draw.

I said I only had 5 minutes before I was getting off but they egged me on. I drew as fast as I could (in ink—what was I thinking!) and was making a pretty bad job of  it—talk about pressure! Then I had to get off and we all had a good laugh about the bad sketch (see below). I asked if I could take his picture and he agreed, continuing the pose as I quickly snapped a photo with my iPhone and then jumped off the train as the doors were closing. Here’s the photo that I put on my computer monitor across the room to draw the sketch above in my sketchbook last night:

Quick Photo of Silly Pose
Quick Photo of Silly Pose

And here’s the original sketch done on BART, along with a few others from this week:

Now, about feeling like a Zombie… I’ve been doing prep this week for a colonoscopy this afternoon. I’ve had nothing to eat since yesterday morning, except sugary clear liquids and the gallon of “Go-Litely” (hah! what false advertising!) and very  little sleep due to drinking the first half gallon last night and then “Go-ing” all nite, thus the only “Litely” was my sleeping! And for the three days prior, I was told to eat none of my usually healthy diet: no vegetables, no fruits, no whole grains. Just white bread and meat, basically. The procedure isn’t until 2:00 so until then, I’ll be under a pile of blankets in bed trying to get warm and watching a movie on my laptop.

Zombie signing out…

Categories
Drawing Flower Art Ink and watercolor wash Landscape Outdoors/Landscape Painting People Photos Sketchbook Pages

Can’t Stop the Seasons: Magnolias in Bloom

Magnolia Bloom, ink & watercolor wash
Magnolia Bloom, ink & watercolor wash

A new storm is on its way in but this morning was sunny so I took a walk in the neighborhood and discovered Spring had arrived overnight. The magnolias were blooming along with some other flowering trees.

Spring Trees, ink & watercolor wash
Spring Trees, ink & watercolor wash

The Jehovah’s Witnesses were also out in full bloom, a whole parade of them canvassing the neighborhood. These folks were waiting while their colleagues knocked on the door of a house on the top of the hill.

Witnesses on the Hill, Ink & watercolor wash
Witnesses on the Hill, Ink & watercolor wash

One of their team told me she liked to paint too, and then offered me some reading materials. “No thanks,” I said. “But it’s really, really small,” she said. It was a small pamphlet, but why would she think that would change my mind,  I wonder.

Can't Stop the Seasons
Can't Stop the Seasons, Photo

I thought about drawing this but decided a photo was good enough. Seeing the new season bursting forth in front of a sign saying “STOP” made me think about the ways we try to control things by making laws and rules and posting signs, and yet Mother Nature rolls along, no matter what we puny humans have to say about it.

I’m trying to use one sketchbook at a time and so, despite being tempted to switch to a Moleskine watercolor sketchbook, I continued on in my Strathmore Drawing sketchbook. It’s not watercolor paper but is great for ink, is my favorite size (6×8″) and is light for carrying because it only has 24 sheets. It does wrinkle a bit from the watercolor, and it’s not good for lifting out color or heavy application, but it’s a good compromise between quality of paper and size and weight.

Categories
Drawing Gouache Painting People Sketchbook Pages

“Freddy and Frederica,” a book review

Freddy and Fredericka, Gouache & ink, 8x6"
Freddy and Fredericka, Gouache & ink, 8x6"

I’ve been listening to a dumb book, Freddy and Fredericka, when I’m painting and I’m so glad I finally  finished it. I don’t know why I kept listening for all 26 hours. It’s a silly farce about a bumbling, imaginary Prince and Princess of Wales sent by the King and Queen to New Jersey on a quest to take back America (but really just to get the couple out of the country because they were embarassing fools).

The funniest part of the book was unintentional. It’s the way the book is read aloud. It’s narrated by a gentleman with an uppercrust English accent who  doesn’t even try to do American accents.  So all the Americans in the book, from southerners in Alabama to New Jersey motorcycle gang members speak with the same English accents as the Royals. The only laugh I got from the book was hearing the motorcycle tough guy talking with an English accent instead of with a New Joisey accent.

The book makes fun of the British monarchy as well as American politicians and culture. Maybe you have to be British to enjoy the book or maybe it’s just me.  I’ve never been a fan of farcical humor that uses silly names, misunderstandings and ridiculous plot lines to get laughs.