Tag: Pen and Ink

Categories
Drawing Life in general Sketchbook Pages

My messy coat rack

coatrack

Ink in small Moleskine sketchbook
(To enlarge, click image, select “All Sizes”)

I was debating whether to draw something, go to bed, or watch TV. I drew something AND watched TV:  last night’s America’s Next Top Model that I’d TiVo’d (a bit of mental junk food is an important part of a healthy diet).

This messy coat rack was hanging in my living room by the front door when I bought my house and it’s always been handy, so it’s still there, five years later. It’s not something I would have intentionally bought or hung in my living room though. It always looks messy, whether it’s summer and hanging with hoodies, (when did sweatshirts become “hoodies”?) hats and visors, or in the winter, laden with raincoat, fleece jacket, down vest, umbrella and knit scarves. These things belong in the closet, not by the front door, the first thing visitors see.

Of course the people who come to my house are not “visitors.” They’re people who know me and won’t judge me for my housekeeping or home decor. They know I care more for function than appearances. It’s very functional to have my jacket by the door and makes it easy to grab or put away.

And most importantly, a messy coat rack is fun to draw. If it wasn’t there, the blank wall wouldn’t have inspired me to draw, and then I wouldn’t have had something to post today.

Categories
Still Life Watercolor

Kiwis

Kiwis

Drawn first with Lamy Safari pen and Noodlers Ink then
Watercolor in 5.5″ square Hand Book Co. journal
To enlarge, click image, select “All Sizes”

I was too sleepy tonight to get back to my oil painting, so I decided to do a little watercolor of these kiwis who have been waiting patiently for me to paint them. I was pleasantly surprised how well the Hand+Book Co. journal stood up to lifting out paint with a wet brush. It’s just as nice a book as the Moleskine but the paper seems a little sturdier and the square format is fun. The notebooks have more pages than the Moleskines so they’re thicker and heavier to cart around. I guess it’s like diet food–you pay more to get less. Go figure.

I always think of these little Pyrex custard cups as “Grandma’s” because even though they came from Bed Bath and Beyond, they always remind me of the ones she handed me, filled with pudding or ice cream.

I’ve heard the best way to eat kiwis is the scoop them out with a spoon…so I’m off to give that a try.

Categories
Drawing People Sketchbook Pages

What I should have done first

Value study of M.

Pentel GFKP Pocket Brush Pen and Pentel #101 Brush Pen in Raffine 6×9″ Sketchbook
(To enlarge click image, select “All Sizes”)

More about the drawing in a minute, but first…

Tonight my painting group met to celebrate Susie’s birthday at Saul’s Jewish Deli in Berkeley. It was pretty funny that all five of us ordered exactly the same thing and thoroughly enjoyed it: grilled trout, veges and a big crispy potato latke with applesauce. Then we talked about getting older, aging parents, Susie’s adventures last week going to see the aging Rolling Stones, the pros and cons of dementia, and of course, art.

There’s a wonderful used bookstore, Black Oak Books, next door to the restaurant so after chocolate birthday cake, complete with candle, singing waiters and applauding restaurant patrons, we went to the bookstore where I was excited to find a book on Janet Fish. Her watercolors and oils of glass and other transparent objects have always been a huge inspiration to me. I bought that one and put an amazing book on Viennese Watercolors of the 19th century on hold until I can bring in a couple boxes of books I’m ready to part with in trade.

Now back to the drawing/painting:

Before I started the oil painting yesterday I should have taken some time to do thumbnail sketches to develop the composition, done a value study, and some drawings to become more familiar with the structure and characteristics of the face and torso. In watercolor it’s pretty important to do this first. But I was so antsy to get my brush in the slippery oil paint that I just went for it. Now while I’m waiting for the paint to dry I’ll work backwards, doing the preliminary sketches.

I thoroughly enjoyed doing this drawing with the very sensual and expressive Pentel Pocket Brush Pen (waterproof ink) and the Pentel Brush Pen (not waterproof). I added a little water with a regular brush to get a light ink wash for the gray areas from the non-waterproof ink that I’d applied.

Meanwhile I’m reading lots of library books on oil painting to refresh my feeble memory in oil painting technique. What’s interesting is that there seems to be about 26 watercolor how-to books published for every 1 oil painting book and most of the oil painting books were published a long time ago. There isn’t even an “oil painting” category in the library’s card catalogue (but there is for watercolor and acrylic painting). Is it because oils simply don’t require so many technical skills? Or are watercolor painters a better market, more likely to buy books?

Categories
Outdoors/Landscape Plein Air Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Painting Palms in the Dark

Painting Palms in the Dark

Ink and watercolor in large Moleskine watercolor notebook
(To enlarge, click image and select “All Sizes”)

The other night Michael and I were driving down Santa Fe Ave near Gilman in Berkeley and he pointed out these two palm trees that were lit up and glowing in the dark. Tonight I returned to paint them in the dark from the front seat of my car. I couldn’t exactly see what I was doing or what colors I was getting. The light in my car was fairly dim and my paper looked brownish instead of white. I was excited to get home and see it under the light, where it looks completely different. I’m really starting to enjoy letting things just happen with my art instead of trying to control it so much. That’s a wall  covered with ivy in front of some small trees in front of the palms, in case you can’t tell.

I’ve been noticing palm trees lately and wondering….why do they exist? Why did they evolve to be so tall and skinny, with the leaves/fronds and fruit up so high up?

Categories
Still Life Watercolor

Persimmon in Spoon Holder

Persimmon

Ink & Watercolor in Large Moleskine Watercolor Notebook
(To enlarge, click image, select “All Sizes”)

It felt like time to get back to some color tonight and this persimmon was a willing victim for a quick little study.

I stopped at the art store on the way home from work tonight and ended up spending too long (and too much money), gathering oil painting supplies and learning from a knowledgeable employee about improvements in oil painting materials since I last used them 20 years ago, and how to work with the new safer mediums and solvents–no more turpentine. I remember being in an oil painting class at SF City College in a room without special ventilation, with 30 students all having open containers of turpentine and paint thinner. By the end of class I’d feel like I was drunk–just one of the many reasons I seem to have so few functioning brain cells these days, I’m sure!

It felt weird buying white paint, since in watercolor one tries to save the white of the paper for areas that are to remain white. With oils you can add a highlight or a light area at the end of the painting, which rarely is successful with watercolor, unless you don’t mind opaque paint on top of a transparent watercolor.

My plan is to try to use the oils like watercolors, glazing in layers. I’m certainly not planning to give up watercolor, but every now and then there’s something I’m painting that seems to want to be more opaque and have greater depth.

Categories
Drawing Sketchbook Pages

Compassion on Election Eve

Compassion

Sepia Ink (Memory Brush Pen) in Raffine Sketchbook

I was listening to the early election returns while I was drawing this little statue of Kwan Yin or Kanzeon, the Buddhist bodhisattva (saint/goddess) of compassion for self and others. It seemed an appropriate image for election eve.

I received my order today from Jerry’s Artarama and I’m not happy with it. The box of 10 mat boards was supposed to be white Strathmore Museum Board that I can no longer get around here, but instead is a box of random off-white mat boards in mediocre condition, with fingerprints, dents or tears.  I drew this with what looked in the catalogue like a brush pen but is really a floppy-tipped felt pen–not terrible, but not great. The Liquin oil painting medium that was supposed to be a good substitute for turpentine smells worse than turps. I’d also ordered a whole bunch of aluminum frame kits which still haven’t arrived. I hope they be in better shape than the mat board, which I now have to deal with returning.

Categories
Animals Drawing Sketchbook Pages

New Kittie Tree: Great Customer Service

Ink in Raffine sketchbook
To enlarge, click image, select “All Sizes”

About a year and a half ago I bought a used kitty play structure for my new rescue kittens. Then they both came down with ringworm (probably from the shelter), which is very contagious and very hard to cure. I had to throw away everything they’d touched (including their play structure) that couldn’t be severely bleached. I had to isolate them for about three months, give them serious medicine that had to be specially compounded, bathe them in nasty smelling stuff, bleach every surface in the house they’d touched and every day vacuum and bleach every surface in their two rooms (spare bedroom/exercise room and bath). I had to wash my clothes after each visit to them in their isolation rooms. It was really sad having new kittens locked up like that so I spent as much time with them as I could. Finally they were declared cured and could return to the rest of the house.

I searched for another kitty tree like the one they loved. Nobody carried it around here anymore so I ordered it online about a year ago. Even though it was made by the same company, Green Duck, it wasn’t quite as sturdy as the original. A couple weeks ago I realized the top shelf was slipping and spinning on it’s pole and when the kitties jumped up on it, it kept swinging around and hitting the window. The whole top shelf was starting to tilt downhill and I could tell it would eventually fall off. I called the online merchant I bought it from and they said that Green Duck was no longer doing business with them; they said to call Green Duck directly.

Green Duck apologized and said they’d send me another one the next day (no questions asked about price, purchase date, shipping the behemoth, etc.). They were no longer making the original one so we selected this one as a replacement (and an upgrade) and it arrived two days later. This was the best customer service I’ve experienced in a very long time. They’re a great company and stand behind their products. As you can see from the drawing, Busby approves. I haven’t figured out what to do with the old one yet so I feel like a crazy cat woman now, with two kitty trees. (as if I wasn’t before!)

Categories
Drawing Sketchbook Pages Still Life

Lantern in the dark for Daddy

Lantern

UniBall Signo white pen on 9×12″ top sheet from an Arches watercolor block
(To enlarge, click on image and select “All Sizes”)

On the fifth anniversary of my father’s death, I drew this candle lantern that was given to me by my son. I’m going to light the candle now and spend some time reflecting on my father’s life. Lighting a candle to mourn a loved one on the anniversary of their death is part of the Jewish tradition known as Yahrzeit and there are special candles that burn for 24 hours for that purpose. Since my father was both Jewish and an artist, I think it’s OK that I’m commemorating his passing with a drawing and a tea candle in a little lantern instead. I remember my grandmother lighting these little candles for her family members who had passed and thinking them full of mystery.

As part of Yahrzeit, the mourner is supposed to recite the Kaddish or “Mourner’s Prayer.” In reading about this (since I know so little of the Jewish religion) I found this excerpt from the last line of the prayer that I liked:

May He who makes peace in high places make peace for us  and for all…

(To comment go back to top of this post)

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

Subway Drawings (BART)

Subway Drawing - BART 7

Ink in Moleskine (click image, select All Sizes to enlarge) 

He was sitting two seats up from me this morning and his profile was irresistible. He was a perfect model for the whole 13 minute ride. When I got off he gave me a knowing look. He couldn’t see me drawing him (the seat between us hid my notebook on my lap) so maybe he thought the times he caught me looking at him were because I found him irresistible.

Bart-Susie
Ink in Moleskine (click image, select All Sizes to enlarge)

The drawings above (Susie) and below (Sharon) were done last Thursday night on BART when we were returning from the art show in San Francisco. Neither of the pictures capture their likenesses though they do capture something of them.

Bart-Sharon

Ink in Moleskine (click image, select All Sizes to enlarge)

Categories
Drawing Sketchbook Pages

Tired View

Tired View

Ink in HandBook Co. square sketchbook
Drawn laying down, looking out the window since that was all I had energy for today.

Usually this “fall-back day” is my favorite day of the year because we get an extra hour. I like to wait until an hour in the day that I’m enjoying and want another of and THEN set my clock back. That way I really get to enjoy and experience that extra hour. But I was feeling so wiped out today that I’ve decided to wait until tomorrow to grab the extra hour. I’m working from home a half-day tomorrow, so I can wait until I’m done working and then get a whole new hour back.I was feeling so funky and in a slump today that I decided to call in sick to my internal boss and play hooky. It was nice not pushing myself to accomplish anything other than a walk (to the store for milk and donuts which cancelled out the walk) . I’m recovering from a busy week and a super-busy and headachey day yesterday.

I taught my watercolor class in the morning followed by a birthday party for Cody who is turning 26 tomorrow. The party was on my ex’s new yacht (it’s truly a yacht, not just a sailboat — it’s quite big and beautiful with seating for 10 inside and outside, two bedrooms and two bathrooms and even a freezer to hold the ice cream cake that I brought). It’s berthed in Sausalito at the very end of the dock, so that sitting on it you have a view of the bay, the seals and sea birds sunning themselves on the dock and the hills of Tiburon across the water. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect, just enough wind for the sails and high 70s temperatures. The 10 of us (including my wonderful sons, niece, sister ex-husband, and most of their significant others) sailed out past Alcatraz, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Bay Bridge towards San Francisco and then enjoying the sunset, we feasted on sushi, salad, ribs, potato salad and birthday cake.

The only downside was my headache (not made better by the boat’s great sound system, with satelite radio pumping 80s rock through multiple speakers inside and outside the boat). By the time I returned home I was so exhausted that the idea of posting to the blog was absolutely impossible, which is rare. Normally I can eke out something, but I didn’t even want to see a computer, just a nice plump pillow.