This lady carefully marked up her cheesy crime novel, “Guns Before Butter” with her pencil as she read. The train ride was really bumpy and so my ink line got pretty squiggly. I switched to drawing her after a big guy with a bike got on and completely blocked my view of the man above her.
Two guys in green, ink & colored pencil
I experimented some more with the brown craft paper sketchbook, drawing with a black brush pen on BART and (above) adding white pen and colored pencil at home.
More Brown Paper People
And below, some ink drawings done on BART with watercolor added at home later.
Waiting patiently, ink & watercolorElderly Asian couple, ink & watercolor
Fishing & Strolling Berkeley Pier at Sunset, ink & watercolor
It was the hottest August day in the history of San Francisco, smack in the middle of the coldest summer since 1975. So for our Tuesday night sketch-out we headed for the cooling breezes coming in off the Pacific Ocean through the Golden Gate Bridge (in the center of the picture above, to the right of the San Francisco skyline). We weren’t alone. The pier was full of people strolling and fishing and enjoying the rare warm evening.
Men's Bathroom on the Pier at Sunset, ink & watercolor
Although my sketch buddies selected a more scenic perspective from the same vantage point (which you can see on our Urban Sketchers Bay Area blog here), the men’s bathroom and shoreline rocks glowing pink and orange in the sunset attracted me instead. Apparently I was holding my sketchbook at a strange angle as I was drawing and painting (or else the world temporarily tilted) causing the wonky slanted horizon and bridge.
The sky turned indigo blue as we walked back down the pier towards land, and a huge full moon rose over the hills. Then a group of half a dozen kayakers with little headlights on their boats paddled right under the pier and out the other side below us. It is special sights like this that make getting out in the world to sketch so special.
District 12 at Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore, Ink & watercolor
Since I’d read, and surprisingly enjoyed, The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins’ first book in her dystopian futuristic trilogy, I understood why this display was in the Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore window: it was advertising the third book in the series, Mockingjay.
The Hunger Games trilogy is about a boy and a girl struggling to survive an annual contest where teenagers from 12 impoverished districts are forced to fight for their lives in the ultimate televised reality show, with the winner bringing honor to her district. When a reliable friend recommended this young adult novel, I was highly skeptical on so many levels. But I found it to be a good read (or listen really–I borrowed the book on CD from the library).
Goorin Hats, Berkeley
Before sketching Mrs. Dalloways, this little brown craft-paper sketchbook from the UC Davis college bookstore (a gift from my friend Pete Scully) was perfect for warm-up sketches with a brush pen. College Avenue is full of interesting, upscale little shops like this hat shop.
This previous sketch of Mrs. Dalloway’s is one of my favorites. It’s a wonderful bookstore with a special focus on books about gardens.
Self Portrait with Sketchbooks and Tea, ink & watercolor
When I set up my old mirror to sketch the self-portrait I end each journal with, I could see my sketchbooks on the shelf behind me in the mirror, along with the cup of tea behind the mirror. When I finished the sketch I pasted this photo of my Lady Gaga Makeover on the opposite page:
Me with Lady Gaga Hair
I found Instyle’s Hollywood Makeover website when I was looking for new hairstyle ideas. You upload a photo of your face, line it up, and select a hairstyle (from a huge collection of celebrity photos) which then appears on your face. I haven’t laughed so hard in a long time!
Once you select a hairstyle (and even change the hair color) you can choose face and eye makeup, creating a complete makeover, which I did. If you register on their site you can save and download your makeover photos and it’s all free.
Jennifer Garner Hair Makeover
I brought this more reasonable makeover photo to my hairdresser, who rolled her eyes since the original model (Jennifer Garner) has thick, straight hair and mine isn’t. But with the help of her scissors and blow dryer, I did get something close.
Of course now my hair has gone native again, back to curly, since that’s so much easier than trying to turn it into something it isn’t with gels and blow driers and clips and pins and staying out of the wind and fog.
If you try the makeover site, please share the results! Or at least enjoy the laugh!
Peet's Coffee after Manet, Graphite, ink & watercolor
When I walked up to the woman at the counter at Peet’s to order my coffee I started babbling that she looked just like someone in an Impressionist painting. She humored me and asked for my order. I ordered my latte, went back to my table, and Googled “Impressionist Bar Painting” on my iPhone. It didn’t take long before I found it.
Manet, Bar at Folies Bergère
I showed her the image on my phone and asked if she’d pose for me like the woman in the painting and she agreed. I don’t have permission to post her photo so all I can show you is my sketch, which is a study for a larger painting.
Needless to say, I left a good tip for my coffee (and modeling services). And fortunately there wasn’t a line of people waiting for their coffees.
I can see that I need to go back to Peet’s to sketch and take more photos so that I can replace the computer monitor on her left with something more beautiful. Or maybe it’s appropriate to be there? But it sure isn’t as pretty as Manet’s oranges and flowers in crystal.
I dreamed that Bob Dylan was having dinner with my friend Michael and he invited me to tag along. They talked seriously about music trivia for hours in the old wood-paneled café. I was surprised at how much better Dylan looked in person. I was going to tell him but decided it sounded too dumb. So I just sat there silently, trying to inconspicuously flirt with him.
Then my calico cat Fiona woke me up, making those telltale, pre-puking sounds cats make. I pushed her off the bed and tried to go back to sleep since it was still dark. Just as I’d finally fallen back asleep she started licking my eyebrow. I gave up trying to sleep and spent the day feeling dopey and too tired to do the oil painting I had planned.
Instead it seemed like a really good idea to wash off the entire background of the Big Tulip painting I thought I’d “finished.” More about that later…now off to get some sleep!
After Barbara and I took a walk, she picked up her car at the Smog Zone (behind Gilman Auto in Berkeley) and I sketched the car repair shop. I got tricked by the angle of the overhanging roof on the right but I drew it in ink so there it is, wonky as can be.
While drawing I sat in the middle of a planting bed on something not meant as a seat in front of the fancy new McDonalds across the street. I wanted to hurry since I kept expecting to be asked to get out of there (plus the scent of their burgers frying always reminds me of the smell of the boys’ locker room at the high school gym).
So instead of messing with watercolor I used the watercolor pencils I’ve started carrying for quick getaways when it’s not convenient to use water. I was surprised how much brighter and more saturated the color was after I added the water later at home and so wiped some of it off.
Pyramid Brewery, ink & watercolor
That evening Sonia and I met at Pyramid Brewery for Tuesday night sketching. We were both a little out of sorts so it was great to unwind, chat over dinner and a beer, and of course, draw. These guys (above) were wonderful models. They barely changed position and didn’t leave until I finished them. When Pyramid turned the lights down at 9:00 we headed home feeling much better than when we arrived.
Sketches from visit to Birth of Impression, ink & colored pencil
I’m not a fan of crowds, blockbusters or standing in line, but I put up with all the above to visit the Birth of Impressionism show in San Francisco’s De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park. I had planned to sketch in the park after the show but various delays only left time for these done while traveling there and back on BART and SF Muni.
I made a number of discoveries at the show and am looking forward to seeing it again, hopefully at a time when it will be less crowded. I really enjoyed many of the exquisite pre-impressionist paintings, and especially loved seeing the quite large “Whistler’s Mother” in person. Although the mother’s face appears soft and doughy, I could see in her eyes the universal worries, hope, dreams and sorrow all mothers experience.
Whistler's Mother (click to enlarge)
I liked the detail of the little foot stool her son provided for her comfort but my niece and I chuckled about the ugly shower curtain hanging to her left. (Seriously, it looks just like a plastic shower curtain I saw on sale recently.)
I was also struck by how unskillfully made some of the early impressionist paintings appeared to me. I found myself thinking that if I’d painted them I wouldn’t have been satisfied with them. That made me consider what a harsh judge I must be of my own work. Then I wondered whether all the paintings in the show (and in museums generally) are considered fine works of art or are included in collections simply because they are historical records of work by famous artists?
And now for an abrupt change of topic….
Have you ever seen a gopher close up?
As we left the museum I saw a gopher pop his head out of a hole in the grass. He continued popping up and down, busy pushing dirt out of his hole. I thought he was so cute until I saw the close up (below) on the screen.
Gopher Close Up (click to enlarge if you dare)
Yikes! We had gophers in my first San Francisco house. I kept planting things in the garden and the next morning they’d be gone, pulled under ground by a network of gophers. I finally gave up gardening at that house. Between the fog and the gophers it was hopeless.
Bad Mood! Ink, watercolor, marked up kitty handout from pastel demo
Sometimes I get grouchy. For no reason. Or for good reason. I don’t like to be grumpy so I try to do things to cheer up: take a walk, go dance it off at Jazzercize, write and sketch in my journal over a latte at Peet’s Coffee or all of the above. Today, after trying all, it was the surprise of seeing my sister walk into my neighborhood Peet’s (surprise because she lives 5 towns away) that did the trick.
Before she arrived, while I was sipping and sketching, I was horribly annoyed by the woman sitting beside me at her computer who made dozens of phone calls. She was trying to reach “important” people like “Mr. Spike Lee” about his New Orleans film because she had “ideas” he would be interested in. She left message after message for others about her trip to Ireland, various parties and meetings, and how she was working out in preparation for her trip to Ireland next week…”so call me…kiss, kiss…ciao.”
SHHH - cards to handout to rude cell phone users
My sister told me about a funny little card she’d seen for handing to loud or rude cell phone users. I looked for one online and found that designers Aaron Draplin and Jim Coudal created the hilarious “Society for Handheld Hushing” page where you can download and print this 3-page pdf file containing a variety of cards and little handouts like the one above.
I’m not sure I’d have the nerve but perhaps if it could be done surreptitiously…
At the end of each journal I like to do a self portrait or two and write a little wrap up about my life during the period that journal was active. I blurred some of the writing so I could say what I wanted without worrying about “over sharing” personal stuff.
Self Portrait with Froggie Journal B-2, ink & watercolor
I was inspired by Raena’s wonderful self-portraits to try sketching standing in front of a mirror instead of just sitting down and drawing my face. While I didn’t get a real likeness I did get two images that capture how I felt and saw myself that day. And even better, I was willing to take a chance, draw in ink, leaving the “mistakes” and accept that while my sketches weren’t as “good” as I wanted them to be, I was OK with letting them exist as a point on a journey.
Jana Bouc, Artist 