Tag: Pen and Ink

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Gouache Other Art Blogs I Read Sketchbook Pages

Waiting for the doctor

Ink in Moleskine sketchbook

Just a quick sketch while waiting in the doctor’s office (after studying all the charts of spines and wrists and skeletons). I was really enjoying drawing and hoping he’d be delayed but he wasn’t and then I had to return to the office. Nobody could focus this afternoon after an all-morning meeting and then a holiday gourmet pizza lunch complete with first visits from two co-workers who are out on maternity leave and their beautiful new babies.

We all took turns holding and rocking these little miracles while we played “Dirty Santa” (Everyone brings a gift, then we all draw numbers and pick gifts in order of our numbers. Each consecutive person can choose to “steal” the gift a previous person has opened until every gift has been opened and everyone has one.)

I brought as a gift Maira Kalman‘s wonderful new book of illustrations in gouache of her every day life and thoughts (always quirky and unique), The Principles of Uncertainty. I love Maira Kalman and highly recommend the book. Last year the hit of the party was my gift of her previous book, the The Elements of Style Illustrated (Strunk & White).

Not much work got done when the party ended at 3:00. Everyone was in a daze from the fun, pizza and desserts (including fudge–hadn’t seen any of that for years!).

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Cartoon art Drawing Dreams Life in general Other Art Blogs I Read Painting People Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Dream Journal: Film Crew Dinner & Sleepless Sleep Over with Laundry

Film crew dinner with Amazon Indians

Ink and watercolor in sketchbook (Larger)

I did these dream drawings right after I woke up, sitting in bed with a special SAD light (see previous post) propped up on my lap, shining on my face. My friend loaned me her spare light to see if it helped. I’m not sure if it was the lights, the sunny day, the hour at the gym and walk in the sun afterwards, but I’ve definitely been in a much better mood today than I’ve been in weeks.

Last night’s dreams were quite strange. The one illustrated above was about a dinner party with a film crew, including the director (at the head of the table) and two Amazonian Indian women who had just participated in a ritual that the crew filmed for a documentary.

One woman was displaying the scratches/lashes on her back she proudly received during the ritual. The other was mostly just displaying her boobs.

Maybe I’ve been watching too much of the TV show Bones on DVD about a forensic anthropologist? Or maybe it’s from listening to the National Public Radio series about the Ganges River (that I converted into the Amazon) and combined it with the interview on NPR’s Fresh Air with film director Jason Reitman and scriptwriter Diablo Cody.

Sleepless sleepover with pile of laundry

Ink and watercolor in sketchbook (Larger)

In this dream I invited Martha over for a little slumber party (huh?) and then remembered that I needed to vacuum because there was cat hair everywhere. I was still cleaning when she arrived so she hung out downstairs helping my mom plan some wonderful menus involving roasted pork. (I have no upstairs, my mom doesn’t live here, and she doesn’t cook, especially not pork.)

I still hadn’t finished vacuuming but realized there was laundry everywhere and so started piling it up on the spare bed to get it out of the way. Finally we said goodnight and Martha went right to sleep. I didn’t.

This dream happened right after Kate and I talked about meeting in person the next time she comes out to San Francisco (Kate turned into Martha in my dream). Having guests always seems to bring up those darn insecurities about not having a fancy home and other general unworthiness (that I can usually overcome with a little pep talk to myself).

In reality, my house is usually tidy, organized and there are no piles of laundry. There is the cat fur problem though, which I tend to ignore longer than I should…but I just warn people not to wear black to my house since it’s a cat-fur magnet.

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Flower Art Life in general Outdoors/Landscape Painting Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Flower Stand at Night

Ink & Watercolor in Canson 7″x10″ Sketchbook (Larger)

This little flower stand looked inviting and yet so forlorn all by itself on a dark, lonely corner in downtown Oakland the night before Thanksgiving. On my way home from work I stopped to take a few photos using a postbox as a tripod and was lucky enough to get some good shots.

I did this quick ink sketch with watercolor from a photo as a study for an oil painting. I especially like the way this appears on the monitor since it enhances the feeling of light glowing out of the dark.

I’ve been feeling a bit of Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) lately — grumpy and craving light. I know that it’s a common affliction and just a physical reaction — that things are just as fine in my life as they were a couple weeks ago before SAD hit. A friend of mine recommends sitting in front of special lights designed for this purpose and says they really help her. I know exercise helps mood so I’ve been trying to do more of that, especially outdoors when it’s sunny, but I think it’s time to explore SAD lights.

As much as I love to occasionally spend a good rainy afternoon listening to Mozart’s Requiem and wallowing in melancholia, generally I prefer feeling cheery.

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Drawing People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Random Subway & Cafe Sketches



 Ink in Moleskine sketchbook (Larger)

Usually I sit in an inconspicuous spot when I sketch on BART but the only available seat was the kind where two passengers sit facing two others. This lady at first seemed annoyed at my sketching her — since our knees were nearly touching I couldn’t hide what I was doing — so I tried sketching the guy below a few feet to my left who had a big nose ring like you’d put in a cow. But he got off so I went back to her. She eventually ignored me and I was able to draw for another few minutes until I reached my stop. (5 minute drawing),

 

BART Rider with Hat and Nosering

Ladies having coffee at Peets

Sepia Memory Brush Pen (felt pen with a brush-like tip) in Moleskine sketchbook.

I took a walk to the Peets Coffee in my neighborhood and forced myself to slow down and draw for a little while. I’m also in such a rush to get to the next thing, which in this case was painting in the studio. This old felt tip brush pen was running out of ink.

Coffee drinkers at Peets

Veteran on Veteran's Day at Peets Coffee

Ink in Moleskine sketchbook on Veteran’s Day

I overheard him saying, “Today is a very sacred day. I’m glad to be alive and have survived Viet Nam and the military government.”

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Berkeley Drawing Life in general Other Art Blogs I Read Painting People Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Eavesdropping without consonants

Peet's Coffee Drinkers

Purple ink and watercolor in small Moleskine watercolor notebook (Larger)

I love overhearing snippets of other people’s conversations and how they flavor my sketches in cafes. I’ve drawn and scribbled overheard conversations at Peet’s Coffee’s 4th Street shop in Berkeley before. When I saw Pete Scully‘s fantastic sketches with conversation snippets I thought I’d try it his way with the words in little boxes. But I’m not as tidy at printing as he is.

Peet's Coffee - ...and I got my potatoes back

Purple ink and watercolor in small Moleskine watercolor notebook (Larger)

So on this one I wrote the words I overheard on the newspaper above. Maybe the passerby didn’t really say, “…and I got all my potatoes back, you know…” – my hearing isn’t what it used to be so sometimes my imagination fills in the blanks with things that make me laugh. I can hear the words but the consonants aren’t clear.

It’s amazing how one wrong consonant can change the meaning of a sentence. (He says, “Hey, guess what! I got a hog!”…so I’m thinking…he got a pig?! oh maybe he got a Harley motorcycle, they call those “hogs”….and then I realize as he goes on talking that he said he got a DOG, not a HOG and he said it was BIG not a PIG!)

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Drawing People Sketchbook Pages

Fishtank Ensemble at Freight & Salvage

Freight & Salvage

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Micron Pigma .005 pen in Moleskine sketchbook

One of my favorite musical groups —The Fishtank Ensemble — was playing at the Freight & Salvage tonight and Michael and I went to hear them. I’ve posted about them before so won’t go into details except to say they’re fabulous! You can hear some of their gypsy jazz/klemer/flamenco tunes on their website. I sketched while we waited for the show to start but was annoyed that I had the wrong pen–the extra extra fine point instead of the .01 I usually use.

Freight and Salvage started out as a Berkeley folk club/coffeehouse 39 years ago, and was originally located in a warehouse with that name. It’s a wonderful place to hear a variety of great music and I’ve had some very memorable nights there. But this night is nearly over and tomorrow is my painting class and I have to leave early in the morning, so…buenas noches, mis amigos.

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Animals Life in general People Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Cat Attack, Bomb Threat & Happy Birthday

90th Birthday Party

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Ink and watercolor in small Moleskine watercolor sketchbook

My mom’s visit started with a cat attack and ended with a bomb threat at the airport (which extended her stay an extra day). My sister picked her up at the airport and as they walked in her door, Marcy started to tell my mom not to touch her grouchy, unpredictable cat. She was a moment too late: mom reached out to pet him and Bob the Cat sunk his claws into her hand. Next stop was a visit to the hospital where the nurse there washed her finger and put a band-aid on it and gave my mom a tetanus shot. After that she proudly showed off her band-aid and told the story to anyone who would listen.

Today, my poor sister again did airport duty, since she lives near the airport. When they arrived at the airport it was shut down due to a bomb scare. Marcy brought Mom back home, where she decided to stay another night. Now she’ll have lots of exciting stories to tell when she gets home.

In between, we attended the 90th birthday party(pictured above) of my great aunt in a country club. There were about 75 people people who came to show their love and respect to this feisty, vivacious 90 year old. It was nice seeing my cousins for the first time in years and their grown kids and their 2 year old twin boys and all the lovely old ladies dressed to the teeth for this special day. I drew this surreptitiously at the table while people were making speeches about my aunt. The perspective is a little confusing as the man on the left was at my table and the ladies behind him were at the next table.

Reading this was probably about as interesting as watching someone else’s vacation slides. I’ve got lots of exciting art stuff to share too, but most of my energy the past week has been devoted to family. Now it’s back to regularly scheduled programming: painting!

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Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Cat Toys and Endings

Cat toys

Ink and watercolor in Aquabee sketchbook
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To preserve my sanity I squeezed in a quick sketch in the half hour before I had to leave for my great aunt’s 90th birthday party at her club. I should be primping and trying to make myself look like I belong at a fancy country club in an expensive suburb but this was more important.

I’m a pretty solitary person, needing at least as much alone time (if not more) than social time. Days of family events and spending time with extended family during my mom’s visit can get me pretty overwhelmed so I have to carve out moments like this one. I grabbed the first thing I could find to draw, put on a CD, and got to work.

Now I have to decide whether to wear my white pants since it looks like a summer day today (which no doubt will horrify all the ladies as it’s after the official deadline for white) or be nice and wear something more seasonally appropriate. And now I only have ten minutes to shower, makeup and dress before the hour-long drive so wish me luck.

Meanwhile, here’s a link to Ronell’s blog post, “Endings” where she writes exactly what I’m feeling about the end of summer, the end of peaches, and time marching on, made even more poignant by mother’s approaching 84th birthday and my great aunt’s 90th. I wish I could have written her beautiful post but instead I’ll just say, “What she said….”

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Drawing Faces Other Art Blogs I Read People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Subway Drawings & Mom Visit

Subway Drawing -bart41

Chubby cyclist. He was so stuffed into his clothes it must have been uncomfortable — but I give him lots of credit for riding his bike to and from the BART station instead of driving there like I do.
All drawings Micron Pigma pen in small Moleskine notebook

Subway Drawing -bart39

Sound asleep and resting comfortably after a long day.

Subway Drawing - bart40

She figured out I was drawing her and gave me a big smile as she got off. I didn’t have time to finish her bearded partner though I wished I did. He had a lovely gentle face.

It’s been a crazy week at work leaving me no energy to draw or paint in the evening. My mother ( see her artwork from the 50s here) arrives tonight for a nearly weeklong visit. I’m hoping to do some drawing while she’s here and I start a plein air painting workshop on Sunday with Elio Camacho.

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Art theory Painting Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Working on Cars in My Driveway

Car Repair 2
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Sharpie pen and watercolor in Aquabee sketchbook

Cody Car Repair 2
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Just as I finally was ready to start painting today, both my sons came over to work on their cars in my driveway (right outside the studio). It was a beautiful Indian summer day and I wanted the door open. But Cody was running a compressor and a power tool that made horrible noise as he removed the bolts holding all the wheels on the car. I made lemonade out of the lemon by drawing them (very quickly — they kept moving) and then turning up the stereo really loud.

I spent a lot of the weekend preparing for a new series of paintings  — sketching, making notes and digging up reference material and also thinking about next steps for a painting in progress. I’m trying to wait until I have a plan of action before I put brush to canvas so that I don’t spend half of my painting time dabbling and the other half wiping off the dabbles.

When I’m in that “between paintings” stage I can get very grumpy and frustrated. But for once I took advantage of the lull and cleaned up the studio; organized my cabinet full of glassware, fabrics and still life objects; and cleared off the studio kitchen counter which had been piled with random stuff waiting for a home. When I finished I was ready to start the sketch of the first of the new series and finally knew what I needed to do to the paint in progress (more about that tomorrow).