Tag: Pen and Ink

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Other Art Blogs I Read Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

We painted each other

Susie by Me

Susie by me (no risk of anyone recognizing her from this picture!)
(ink & watercolor in 9×12 Aquabee sketchbook)

Tonight my painting group had planned to take turns posing for each other for a life drawing session. Then life intervened and only Susie was able to come. We were both so tired we decided to just paint for half an hour or so. We sat across from each other at the table, and painted each other’s faces as we drew each other.

me-by-susie

Me by Susie (maybe recognizable with my new green glasses and red hair–love the way she did the hair!)
Watercolor on 4x 9.5″ block

While we painted Susie told me about the two huge, beautiful semi-ferral cats that she just adopted and some outrageous tales of blogger misdeeds that I won’t repeat here. It is an interesting subject though, what one choses to share on blogs for the world to see (as if the world is so interested) and how it can affect one’s life when it goes too far.

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Drawing Sketchbook Pages

Bird clock and table with orchid

Table-web

I’m so very tired tonight that I didn’t really want to draw but convinced myself to just do pen and ink of something I could see while sitting on the recliner in front of the TV. The bird clock on the wall used to be my father’s. It’s the only thing I asked for of his stuff when he died because he had it in his study where he wrote many books. It’s just an inexpensive thing from Walmart that his stepson gave him but I remember talking to him on the phone and hearing the bird calls, never knowing if they were the loons from the lake in Maine where he lived or from the clock in his study.

I took out the battery that powers the bird sounds because it was driving me crazy, always chirping to remind me that yet another hour had passed, never to be had again. Time seems to be flying by and to hang onto it I keep staying up too late, which is why I’m stupid-tired tonight.

After answering email and looking at my favorite blogs last night, I started watching the training videos that came with my copy of Painter (digital drawing/painting software). At midnight I tried to go to sleep but my mind wouldn’t switch into sleep mode and stayed alert all night, selecting colors from digital palettes, typing those stupid nonsense letter combinations into stupid Blogger verification screens, and thinking about painting and drawing. Hopefully tonight I’ll sleep!

Lamy Safari pen, Noodlers Ink, Raffine 6×9 Sketchbook.

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Drawing Every Day Matters Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

For Labor Day – My Office: EDM #82

Labor Day - My office

I drew this from a photo I took of my office when I was leaving work for the long weekend Thursday evening. Since this week’s Everyday Matters challenge #81 was “Draw your art workspace” and I’d already drawn my studio the week before, I decided to draw my work workspace instead.

I’m lucky to have a lovely view of Lake Merritt and Fairyland Park. But I’m unlucky to always have to keep my blinds closed and never see the view (unless it’s raining) because the glare from the lake makes it impossible to see my computer and the heat coming in the windows makes it feel like a sauna.

…and I’ll be seeing it all too soon tomorrow morning.

Noodlers Ink, watercolor in Raffine almost 6×9 sketchbook.

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Drawing Life in general Sketchbook Pages

To Jupiter for Dinner

Jupiter Pub Berkeley

[edit added November 06: If you are a fan of the duo that was playing the night I described in my original post and have arrived here via google search for the group, you don’t need to leave any more rude and personally insulting comments like several others have done as I will delete them.  Since people still seem to be getting here via Google search for the band’s name even though I’d already removed it at their manager’s request, I’m also going to remove my previous comments about the duo in my post, who were mostly enjoyable to listen to, especially the violin player. Please have some manners, folks!]

Tonight Michael and I went to Jupiter, a pub and pizza place near UC Berkeley Campus with a large outdoor courtyard and live music most nights. I selected it because I hadn’t gotten in any drawing today and knew it would be fun to sketch there. Usually it’s hard to get a seat because there’s no hostess. You have to stand around like sharks waiting for someone to leave but tonight we lucked out and got a table right away. These folks above were in the front row, listening to a folk duo. The pizza and Caesar salads were fabulous.

Violinist at Jupiter Pub Berkeley

Quick sketch of one of the musicians
(she was much prettier than my drawing) 

These were drawn with Micron pigma in my small Moleskine sketchbook. I started drawing the violinist when we sat down but they took a break after a minute. So I switched to drawing the courtyard and entrance to another cafe until the duo started playing again. I rushed a bit on both, since drawing time was limited (between courses and before a movie) and regretted having to do so, since I found so much to explore there.

I think I discovered something interesting about converting 3-D to 2-D tonight. For the first time I think I kind of got how to see a very complicated scene as flat, interlocking shapes (2-D) instead of layers of things in front and behind each other (3-D). I want to explore this idea more because I think it MIGHT be a key to understanding and drawing complex scenes.

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Animals Drawing Illustration Friday Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Illustration Friday: Safe (Safe Version)

Safe-bears-web

Nice and safe and cozy. Now scroll down to the Risky version of “Safe” or click here to see it.

I originally drew this as a little pencil sketch in a notebook on BART yesterday. Today I scanned and enlarged it, and printed it on a sheet of paper I pulled out of my Raffine sketchbook. Then I inked over the printed pencil lines and painted it with watercolor. (I don’t like working in this Raffine sketchbook because the spiral binding is too big and it annoys me but I’ve discovered I can put the pages back when I’m done painting them. I know this would be considered sketchbook heresy to some but it works for me.)

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Animals Drawing Illustration Friday Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Illustration Friday: Safe (Risky Version)

Snake-Unsafe-Safe
It’s best to use protection if you’re going to get close….

(I’m noticing from the comments that some people don’t get what the protection is…Is it my drawing that makes it hard to tell it’s a condom? Should I redraw to make it more obvious? Did you get it? )
I drew the snake on the left in ink in my sketchbook, painted it with watercolor, scanned it, and then in Photoshop, added a new layer and painted in the “protection.” I placed the two images side by side in a new Photoshop file.

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Drawing Every Day Matters Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Streetlights (Everyday Matters #81)

Streetlights

Ink & watercolor in 9×12 Aquabee Sketchbook (Lamy Safari pen, Noodlers Ink).

Last week’s Everyday Matters challenge was to draw streetlights. The one on the left is on the corner of Carlson by Nation’s Burgers in El Cerrito. I spotted the middle one while taking a lunch-break walk along Lake Merritt in Oakland. The lamp on the right is on the Albany end of Solano Ave.

I drew the one below in my little Moleskine sketchbook with a Micron Pigma this morning while I was on the elevated platform at the BART station waiting for the train. It was right at eye level.

lamp

Categories
Drawing Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Mom’s in the hospital

Mom and I

(Geez this is a terrible drawing–it gets worse every time I see it.)

Since I was thinking about my mom a lot this week, I decided to draw her from a photo we took at the beach on my last visit. I drew directly in ink, and strangely, my mom came out much bigger than I. I’m sure there’s all sorts of psychological reasons for this that I won’t go into here. Note to self: don’t draw wrinkles with a pen–they look like stitches. It’s a bad drawing, but it’s what’s in my sketchbook today so here it is.

My mother had a T.I.A. (trans ischemic attack — like a stroke but much briefer and less damaging though can be a precursor to a serious stroke) last Friday and my sister who lives near her took her to the Veterans Hospital in West L.A. She was in the Waves (the Women’s Navy) during WWII so she’s entitled to veterans benefits. Mom enjoys the special treatment she gets at the VA since she’s one of the few women in a hospital full of men. She was fortunate that there was no permanent damage and they’re giving her medication that should prevent future attacks.

My mother treats the hospital like it’s a fine hotel with room service. She didn’t like her bed and insisted they bring her a new mattress as she felt hers was too old and lumpy. The nurse said they’re all the same and mom said, “No, I’ve stayed her before and I had a better bed last time.” So they delivered a better mattress. They told her she could go home at 4:00 today but she said she was too tired and would go home tomorrow so they said OK. She told me it was because she knew they were serving pizza and cheese cake for dinner tonight and she didn’t want to miss it. She’s planning on staying at least through lunch tomorrow.

Lamy Safari pen, Noodlers Ink, Moleskine watercolor notebook.

Categories
Drawing Flower Art Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

What kind of tree am I?

Pink and Bright Orange Tree?

Please CLICK image then “All Sizes” to enlarge

I don’t know what kind of tree these came from, do you? Actually I drew the parts of two identical trees that are next to each other in my neighborhood. The only difference is that one has impossibly pink flowers and the other has impossibly bright orange flowers. I planned to draw both but discovered I was allergic to them and in order to finish more quickly combined their parts in one picture. Then I had to take a Claritin.

When I asked the neighbor if I could take a cutting from his tree to paint he said I could take the whole tree. He hates them because they bloom all year and constantly drop horrible stuff on his car: sticky sap, sticky little orange stringy parts of the flowers, and the hard seed pods (I know I’m using all the wrong names of the parts, sorry). He showed me the huge stump of the one he’d already cut down. Looking at the mess I had to clean up on my drawing table, I know what he’s talking about.

But the bees and hummingbirds love these trees. In the afternoon its swarming with bees and in the early evening it’s filled to capacity with chirping hummingbirds. I hope he doesn’t cut down the others. They’re stunningly beautiful and our neighborhood doesn’t have enough trees. Here’s some photos of the tree parts:
_DSC0189pink-DSC_0729pink tree

orange-DSC_0727 _DSC0187

Drawn with Lamy Safari Pen, Noodler’s Ink & watercolor in Aquabee Super Deluxe sketchbook

Categories
Drawing Flower Art Other Art Blogs I Read Sketchbook Pages Watercolor

Orchid cartoon

orchid

Non-artists, today’s post will probably be boring, sorry.

I’m reading two books about art right now, “The Unknown Matisse” (the first half of a 1,000 page biography) at the recommendation of Laura, and “Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art” by Scott McCloud at the recommendation of Nora, who’s studying to be a graphic designer.

I’ve been working on my drawing in two directions: One is to be very specific and really draw what I see, not using the symbol of the object. The other is to learn to simplify and find the essence of the thing/person/animal and exaggerate it to make it more interesting and to be able to do wonderful cartoony drawings like Mattias, Paula, and Sparky, for example. I was asking Nora lots of questions about how illustrators create the characters they draw and she recommended reading Understanding Comics.

It’s written in comic book format and inspired me to try drawing my orchid in cartoon panels. With it’s long spindly stem, flower at the top and big leaves at the bottom, the orchid is awkward to compose on a page, so drawing it in panels was ideal. Conveniently, a pretend Discover credit card arrived in the mail today–just the right size to use to outline the panels.

The orchid is painted in a Raffine sketchbook, which was recommended as having great paper for 1/3 the cost of Moleskines. I’m not thrilled with it. It’s wire binding is huge, making it difficult to scan (gets shadows), the cover is flimsy, and the pages are smaller than my preferred Aquabee 6×9 Super Deluxe sketchbook which is about the same price, has about the same quality paper and smaller binding. I did learn a cool Photoshop trick to get rid of the shadows though: I used the Dodge tool set to Highlights at 50% with a large sized brush and it erased all the shadows without changing anything else.

I traced the panels using my trusty old Sharpie, but didn’t like the way the ink spread on this paper so switched to the Lamy Safari fine point to draw with. I’m liking the Lamy more and more for drawing and the Sharpie less and less. Then I added watercolor, but before painting the dark background (Daniel Smith Indigo) I scanned the drawing and added dark backgrounds in Photoshop to see if I liked it. I did, so I went back and painted them.