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Cartoon art Digital art Dreams Life in general People Sketchbook Pages

Still Dreaming…

Dream-Movies

Dreamt I was at the movies with my blind husband (don’t have one) and another blind man and they were showing off by walking from side to side on the stage being tricky and funny.

Dream-ShoulderFix

Dreamt I created a company called “Subsidiary” that makes devices to make shoulders more comfortable while sleeping.

Dream-Cereal

Dreamt Cody was a kid again and a funny old grandpa was in the kitchen showing him how to eat cereal from those little fold-open cereal boxes.

Dream-Mom

Dreamt my mom wanted to come live with me but I remembered I had a husband I had to ask first. Then I remembered I wasn’t married anymore but had a roommate (a former friend I don’t see anymore). I asked if she minded and she said she’d inherited a fortune and was going to be buying houses for 13 friends and I wasn’t one of them. Mom was sorting through papers in an envelope marked “Dec 06” that she’d found in her piles of junk stacked around her on her bed.

These are all drawn in ink in my sketchbook, then scanned and colored in Painter.

Categories
Other Art Blogs I Read Outdoors/Landscape Painting Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Ten Minute Trees on Memorial Day

10 Minute Tree-Memorial Day

Click here to enlarge

All images ink and watercolor in Moleskine Watercolor Notebook

I got inspired to get back to sketchbooking after looking at Pete Scully’s watercolor sketches (scroll down on his site to see entries from May 9-13) from his recent trip to Santa Monica, where I was born. They reminded me how sketches of even the most ordinary sights of daily life can make exciting sketches when seen through fresh eyes (and with some talent and skill like Pete’s). I decided to just go around my neighborhood, doing 10 minute sketches of trees, trying to capture their various personalities and gestures.

The one above is viewed past the flag on my next door neighbor’s house looking across the street to a little house and its very big tree.

10 Minute Tree-Bay Laurel

Click here to enlarge
Above is my little Bay Laurel tree in front of my house. I thought it would be nice to have bay leaves at my disposal but it’s a weird tree that stays green all year but grows sort of clumpy and doesn’t really seem that tree-like. My drawing doesn’t either–I think I made the trunk to wide for the leafy part. I guess I should have added a little background to give a sense of size but my 10 minutes was up. (I gave myself up to 10 minutes to sketch and 10 minutes to paint and used the timer on my watch.)

Tree-plum

Click here to enlarge
Above is my other next door neighbor’s tree–some sort of non-fruiting plum tree that really is this color and while it was planted a year after my Bay Laurel it’s twice as big.

I didn’t get any further than my own front yard but thoroughly enjoyed myself, listening to the birds chirping and neighbor’s music playing through their windows on this first sunny day in a week.

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Cartoon art Drawing Dreams Sketchbook Pages

Dreams Illustrated

Dream-GirlBand

Dreamt I started a Japanese all-girl band as a way to promote a baseball team.

Dream-Lawnchair

Dreamt I invented a combination yoga mat/lawn chair. In the same dream something was tickling me and it was big banner that said “Big Banner” tucked behind my pillow.

Dream-Cabbage-lady

Dreamt there was an old lady who kept coming to my door every month trying to sell me food made from cabbage like coleslaw and kimchee. She always carried one worn out old brochure for the American Cancer Society, and the money she made from cabbage was supposedly donated to them. I was skeptical so I visited the ACS and was given a tour. (see next)

Dream-ACSparty

(immediately above) They had a room where they helped people quit smoking by letting them smoke one last cigarette. The woman showing me around sat on a weight bench while smoking a cigarette and suddenly fell asleep and fell on the floor. Later (above previous) all the employees were having a party and were all happily smoking marijuana.

Dream-Horsecart

Dreamt there was a horse pulling a cart with a horse in it and another horse behind that and they all turned out to be fraternity guys wearing horse suits.

***

The best part of remembering my dreams is discovering the goofy stuff my mind cooks up when I’m not looking.

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People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Subway Drawing

Subway to Sketchcrawl

Ink in Moleskine sketchbook
To enlarge, click image, select All Sizes

Just a few people on BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) —  our version of the subway — on the way to the Sketchcrawl Saturday.  This is being another killer week at work, leaving little energy for much else. I’m determined to get in some drawing tonight and I’m looking forward to a long weekend and my annual one week birthday vacation next month.

I have an idea for a personal sketchcrawl while I’m on vacation — an hourly drawing, no matter what I’m doing or where I am. I’d set my watch to chime on the hour and every time it chimes, do a drawing of something I’m seeing or doing…for 12 hours straight. And maybe I’ll use a pre-determined different drawing technique or implement each time. So 7:00 a.m. might be a blind contour sketch, 8:00 might be using a fat felt pen, 9:00 might be using a brush and ink, 10:00 could be cross-hatching with ink or shading with a soft pencil…. It sounds like fun and gives me something to look forward to while slaving away until then.

Categories
Other Art Blogs I Read Outdoors/Landscape Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Worldwide Sketchcrawl 14 – San Francisco

SketchcrawlSF3

Ink and watercolor in small Moleskine watercolor notebook
To enlarge images, click picture then select All Sizes

Saturday was the 14th Worldwide Sketchcrawl and I attended the one in San Francisco. We met at the Ferry Building around elevenish (people straggled in for about an hour and then we finally left to walk up the Filbert Steps (straight up a huge hill with cute, old, little multi-million dollar cottages perched on it). This is the same area where the movie The Parrots of Telegraph Hill was filmed. The picture above is looking up at the porch on one of those cottages.

SketchcrawlSF2

Next we hiked further uphill to Coit Tower where I drew the view above, looking down at the Ferry Building (the clock tower) in the distance and the Bay Bridge behind that. I was starving–lunch had gotten pushed back a couple hours since people didn’t seem to be trying to follow the planned schedule so I bought an “Its It” ice cream sandwich in the gift shop at Coit Tower. Unfortunately a big piece of chocolate fell off and melted all over my favorite green t-shirt, which I didn’t notice until later.

SketchcrawlSF4

From there we walked to North Beach and met in Washington Square Park. I drew the bell tower on top of the cathedral across from the park (above) while laying on my back in the grass, listening to blasting 70s disco music and the generator powering the loudspeakers. A Communist Party group (mostly clean-cut college kids) were having a May Day celebration with red banners, red shirts, red cups for their drinks. On the other corner of the park a Jesus group set up their own stage and speakers and made random religious announcements.

This was a great day in San Francisco, perfect sunny weather and a festive atmosphere everywhere. One of the highlights of my day was finally meeting the wonderful Martha of Trumpetvine Travels. It was a delight seeing her drawings in person in her custom made sketchbook (that she gives directions how to make on her blog). I had so much fun hanging out, chatting, drawing and hiking with her. We had lunch in a deli near Washington Square and when we learned that people were going to stay at the noisy park another half hour, we decided to move on to Chinatown (next stop on the crawl) where I drew the building below.

SketchcrawlSF5

I know it’s wonky. I started with the part that interested me and just kept drawing with ink until I ran out of space. While I drew one corner of the building Martha drew the whole interesting street with hanging lanterns, and all the different shaped buildings. It should be interesting to compare our drawings since we did all the same subjects, but in our own styles. Chinatown was packed with amazing sights, sounds, smells, and way too many people to find a spot to sketch until we reached the outskirts and found a bench to rest on. We hiked back to the Ferry Building to do one more sketch but once we were there realized we were too tired and called it a day. A very good day!

Categories
Cartoon art Drawing Illustration Friday People Sketchbook Pages

Illustration Friday (redux): Citrus (Juggler)

Citrus-juggler2

Ink in sketchbook then digitally painted in Painter

My Illustration Friday post yesterday was lame. I didn’t have a single interesting idea of what to do with citrus other than a literal drawing of a lemon. But today I had another idea and quickly sketched it and then spent an hour or so coloring it in Painter. Now I feel better.

Actually, I feel better about my IF post and my back is feeling 50% better today. The work my physical therapist did on me yesterday and the exercises she gave me that I did today seem to be helping. I do miss being able to lay in bed with my laptop looking at blogs but she warned me that it’s about the worst thing I can do for my back. I’ve had lower back problems forever and know how to care for it but never had upper back pain until I started reclining with my laptop.

Yippee! Getting better…makes me want to jump for joy and dance and juggle citrus!

Categories
Drawing Dreams People Sketchbook Pages

You’d think all I do is dream…

…it’s just that it’s been an exhausting few weeks at work and I haven’t had the energy or brain power to do much more with art at night than color in dream drawings (and sleep). Here’s a few more from the past week or two that I colored with Photoshop (though I prefer Painter for digital painting). At the end I’ll explain what I do to remember my dreams since people have asked.

Dream-May10

(left) Dreamt I visited a kindly doctor who pinched my hand to test for something.
(right) Dreamt I kept dropping stuff and knocking things over in a store. (not too far from reality…I can be a real klutz sometimes)

Dream-May8

All in one night
2. I was at some sort of spa/camp and people had to share beds. It was too crowded so I complained to the manager who told me to go find some other bed and climb in with those people. (maybe my 2 cats were crowding me off the bed?)

3. Also at the camp/spa the toilet tank was leaking and I kept trying to tighten the gasket but it just kept spinning and wouldn’t tighten

4. Walking down a dark street I saw a spinning lawn sprinkler that was shooting out fire instead of water and it was glowing beautifully in the dark, along with pretty blue lights on a police car blinking on and off. There was a weird gas leak in the house and danger of explosion so I ran in and rescued a cute, scared little dog.

Dream-May6 Dream-May7

(left) I was at a workshop and people were all talking and I couldn’t understand what they were saying and I kept telling them I couldn’t hear so they kept repeating but I still couldn’t understand them.
(right) My house and garage were leaking and flooding in the rain and my old gardener was trying to solve the problem and I was sitting with him like he was my sweetheart.

Dream-May9

Dreamt Marcy and I were jogging on a beach alongside a cliff when a huge wave hit us and pulled out to sea and I was waving my arms and yelling and a strong, handsome guy pushed us back to shore.

How I remember dreams
The only way I’m able to remember my dreams is to stay in a half asleep state when I wake up in the morning without opening my eyes for a few minutes. At that point I can usually remember the dream I was just in and as soon as it comes back to me I quickly jot it down. As I’m writing the dream it will often segue into the dream before it, and the one before that so I just keep writing. Also, while I’m asleep and an interesting dream ends and I realize it’s just a dream, I’m conscious enough to tell myself to remember it. Once they’re written down I usually will draw them right then if there’s time and if not, I’ll draw them that evening. Often while I’m drawing more pieces of the dream comes back to me too. One other thing is that I don’t use an alarm clock to wake up (I have two cats instead).

By the way, I wanted to say thanks for commenting–it’s so great to know you’ve stopped by for a visit. I’ve not been able to visit others blogs much the past few weeks or respond to comments the way I’d like to because of back pain that is aggravated by sitting at a computer. I’m trying to get better fast and am learning to work smarter — no more using a laptop while reclining in bed, it’s definitely not ergonomic and ignoring a little ache led to a great big one!

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Dreams Painting People Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Drawing dreams: Like being a kid again

Dream-Shirley & Curious George

(above) I dreamt that Shirley (from Everyday Matters) was a graphic designer who had done the covers for some Curious George books that were being published by the organization I work for. I thought of her in the dream as Shirley hemend (the last name is actually part of her email address and it was lower case in the dream too).

Drawing dreams is so much fun. It’s just like being a kid again, sitting around like I used to with crayons and scrap paper drawing whatever came to mind next, like the people in the picture below. Except for me and the singer, the rest of the people just appeared randomly: a guy with a bozo haircut behind the singer, the old lady beside her, a guy with a beret and lady with a big hat, all just random people floating around in my subconscious waiting for a chance to come hang out for awhile.

Dream - Goofy singer

(above) Dreamt I was in a big meeting room at work where a young goofy looking singer-songwriter guy was singing a song so beautiful and heartbreaking that it brought tears to my eyes and I fell in love with him — until I realized he was too young. I’m always 25 in my dreams and then at the end I remember I’m more than twice that.

Dream-Butterflies

(above) Dreamt that Leah and I were on the hike we took Saturday where we saw so many beautiful butterflies, but this time there were hundreds instead of dozens.

All images ink & watercolor in Handbook Company Journal.
To enlarge, click images, select “All Sizes”

Categories
Drawing Every Day Matters Life in general Sketchbook Pages

COOL: EDM 28 & 77 (Appliance & Something Cool)

Air Conditioner - EDM #28

Lamy Safari pen, Noodlers Ink, Aquabee 6×9 sketchbook
To enlarge, click image, select “All Sizes”
(EDM = Everyday Matters art group)

We’re having a record breaking heat wave this week. My neighborhood used to be foggy and cool 90% of the time, being directly in line with the Golden Gate Bridge and a few blocks from the San Francisco Bay. The past month has been uncharacteristically sunny and warm and this week the temperature is in the high 80s to 90. I spent last night tossing and turning like a roterissie chickens roasting on a spit. I lay there muttering over and over, “Tomorrow I’m buying an air conditioner!” I called Home Depot when they opened at 7:00 a.m. and they said they had a good supply of portable air conditioners, having just put them on display.

When I arrived at 8:30 a.m. they were nearly sold out and I got the last name-brand one, a Sharp portable air conditioner. I LOVE IT! It rolls on casters and is nice and quiet. I put it in the studio today because I was working from home half the day and planned to paint the rest of the day. It was really easy to hook up (you just plug it in, attach the hose to a plastic sliding thingy that goes in the window). And then blissful cool…..ahhh.

Making an effort to be more comfortable, or to just make life more satisfying has become a focus for me since it really hit me how finite my life is. Little things like a comfortable bed or desk, pleasant temperature, cutting the stupid itchy tags off the back of clothes…can make such a difference. Why suffer?

(P.S…I know…ACs aren’t good for global warming…but I promise to only use it when it gets ridiculously hot….)

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Cartoon art Life in general People Sketchbook Pages

More Dream Sketches

These are all sketched in ink in my morning dream journal in ink and then colored in Photoshop. They can be seen larger by clicking image and selecting “All Sizes.”

Dreams-May-4

Dreamt I was hanging out with Michael and a lovey-dovey hippie woman who was handing out crocheted flowers and I realized I was wearing ugly sweats.

Dreams-May-3

Dreamt I was in the hospital and all I wanted was someone to bring my my toothbrush.

Dreams-May-2

Dreamt I was painting and someone told me I should take out insurance on my paintings in case of fire.

Dreams-May-1
1. Dreamt my mom was visiting and Marcy planned a hike but invited her friends and the hike was too hard for my old mom.

2. Really bad icky dream about people stealing from homeless bums.
Dream-May11

Dreamt my mom called to tell me she heard on TV that if you go to a “Big 3” (?) college you make more money the rest of your life. She often reports random information (usually about celebrities) that she hears on the TVs that are contantly on in every room of her house.

Dream-May1

1. Dreamt I was visiting my bubby (Jewish grandma) only she was Mexican and named Rosita and illiterate so I was reading a letter to her from a friend in Mexico. I was trying to translate it into Spanish but she told me to just read it in English.

2. Marcy and I were going to LA to visit our mother and I was packing and telling myself to pack light for once but I realized none of my pants fit and we had to hurry and leave and Marcy was still sleeping.
——–
Hmmm, seems like my dreams are reminding me that it’s been too long since I’ve visited my mother and that I need to buy a plane ticket and go see her soon.