Tag: People

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Animals Ink and watercolor wash Life in general People Sketchbook Pages

Dogs and their People at PetVet, Part I

Pomeranian Lady at PetVet, ink and watercolor
Wonderful Pomeranian Lady at PetVet, ink and watercolor

A couple miles south of my house, is a high-priced pet shop that sells cashmere sweaters and designer collars for dogs. I don’t shop there. PetVet is a mile or two north of my house, in Richmond. They offer discounted food, medicine and vet services and draw a much less affluent clientele.

I shop there because they sell  the prescription cat food Busby needs, but I usually try to avoid going during their weekend low-cost vet clinic. I don’t like seeing  pets with people who seem unlikely to be responsible pet owners such as this group of young men and their pit bull puppies with cropped ears (a style from dogs used in fighting.)

Tough Dudes and their Pitbulls, Ink and watercolor
Tough Dudes and their Pit Bulls, Ink and watercolor

When I arrived, the parking lot was full and people were waiting inside and outside for the first-come, first-served vet visits. After I stocked up on cat food I was intrigued by all of the interesting characters and dogs and wanted to stay and sketch. But I couldn’t find a way to do it surreptitiously.

I decided to be brave and ask if I could take photos of pe0ple with their dogs; surprisingly everyone was happy to pose. The dudes above dropped their tough guy stance and smiled nicely for me. I’d much rather be drawing from life, but it was still fun sketching from my photos.

Treats while waiting, ink and watercolor
Treats while waiting, ink and watercolor

I’d like to work on my dog drawing skills so that I’d have enough confidence to go back there and sketch the waiting dogs and owners directly.

Not a Pitbull? Ink & watercolor
Not a Pit Bull? Ink & watercolor

This young lady was quite a character. As she walked past me, she turned to a guy with a really wide pitbull and said to him “Your dog is FAT!” Then she told me her puppy wasn’t a pit bull, it was a brindle and would be bigger than a pitbull. [Except brindle is a mixture of color in a dog’s coat, not a breed.]

There were so many people there with puppies, and many of those puppies were pit bulls or pit mixes. It breaks my heart to think about how that will turn out. I know how much work it is to responsibly raise a good, healthy dog and that the shelters are full of pit bulls surrendered when the cute little puppy grew up and got to be too much trouble.

I will just try to hope that all of those people and their pets have what they need for happy, healthy lives. Meanwhile, I still have another half dozen pictures to make from the day.

Categories
Drawing Faces People Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Subway Sketching: People on BART

BART People - Profiles
BART People - Profiles

When I’m sketching on BART on my way to work in the morning I’m always so delighted by how different each person’s features are. Yes they all have the same features but so many different nose tips, foreheads, lips. Some days everyone I can see is in profile like above.

BART People 2
BART People 2

Other days I can only see lots of backs of heads and a foot or two.

BART People 3
BART People 3

And then it’s all about the hair style (or lack thereof…hair…or style).

Categories
Ink and watercolor wash People Places Sketchbook Pages

Sketching at Bridges Rock Gym

Sunflowers by Tin Roof Yoga, ink & watercolor
Sunflowers by Tin Roof Yoga, ink & watercolor

For last Tuesday night’s sketchcrawl, we went to Bridges Rock Gym to sketch people climbing on the rock structures and practicing “slack lining” (like tight-rope walking). When I arrived I sketched these sunflowers growing on a little garden plot besides Tin  Roof Yoga, attached to the gym. The Assistant Manager, Jeffie, told me that the sunflowers were “volunteers” that sprouted up in the dirt they obtained for the plot by Annie’s Annuals.

Climbers at Bridges Rock Gym, ink and watercolor
Climbers at Bridges Rock Gym, ink and watercolor

Since I was hungry and we were sketching from the cafe on the loft’s balcony I enjoyed a plate of homemade hummos, veges and pita bread, and sketched the salt shaker while I waited for my food. The cafe was offering free samples of their homemade ginger cookies — best I’ve had! Then I tried to draw the moving targets of people climbing rocks (above).

Cathy worked quickly and did a great job capturing so much of the movement and action of the climbers and the balance of the slackline (like a tightrope only springy) walkers. Here are two of Cathy’s sketches:

Rock Gym Climbers by Cathy McAullife
Rock Gym Climbers by Cathy McAuliffe
Climbers and Slackliners by Cathy McAuliffe
Climbers and Slackliners by Cathy McAuliffe

If you have a chance to visit the gym, be sure to look at their amazing photobook of the gym’s owner slacklining high atop peaks in Yosemite, from tree to tree in the Berkeley hills, and several floors above a Polish shopping mall. Visiting the gym made me wish I wasn’t scared of heights — it’s such a beautiful place, with great amenities and very friendly staff. Everyone is welcomed and the night we there we saw absolute beginners, a small group of children, and some very advanced climbers with amazing muscles.

When it was time to go, I was just starting to get the hang (no pun intended) of how to approach sketching the climbers, noticing that as they climbed or balanced on the rope, the movements were in patterns that kept repeating so it was just a matter of waiting a couple seconds and they’d be back in that frog-like position, for example. I’ll come back to sketch again and to try out their yoga studio.

Categories
Cartoon art Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Life in general People Plants Sketchbook Pages Sketchercize

Sketchercizing My Errands

Walking with my dust mop, ink & colored pencil
Walking with my dust mop, ink & colored pencil

I needed a new dust mop, a tube of silicon adhesive and some exercise, so I put them together and walked to Pastime Hardware, a large family-owned hardware store that has everything, including  their famously helpful employees.

The sketch above actually closely resembles me when I’m out walking, with my green backpack  that is so comfy, even when loaded with junk, my nifty purple cap, and old green shorts.

On the way to the store I called my mom on my iPhone, getting that task done as well. As she told me tales of her adventures with her new, and first computer, I stopped to draw some cacti I spotted along the way.

Cacti, ink and watercolor
Cacti, ink and watercolor

My last stop was at the video store to pick up a copy of Local Color which never came out in theaters in Northern California and is finally available on DVD. Then I walked home with the mop over my shoulder feeling like I should be whistling a little tune.

Categories
Animals Berkeley Gouache People Places Sketchbook Pages

Waiting: For a Fire, a Subway Stop, a Book Shopper…

Waiting guy, waiting dog, ink and gouache
Waiting for his stop; waiting for her owner; ink and gouache

He was waiting for his stop on the subway ride and she was waiting for her owner to come out of the book store on Solano. I used the gouache to hide the guy’s nose that I added by mistake. (It wasn’t visible at this angle but he turned his head and I said, “Oh, there’s his nose,” and sketched it in, and immediately saw it was wrong.) The gouache also nicely hides the false start of the dog and the waiter (see last picture below) too.

North Berkeley Fire Station, copic sepia ink
North Berkeley Fire Station, copic sepia ink

The North Berkeley Fire Station is round. The fire truck barn is a large round concrete building with pillars and attached round buildings where the firemen (and women) live when they’re on duty. At the bottom left of the sketch is the very back of the waiting fire truck, with flag flying, just returned from one call and ready and waiting for the next.

Waiting waiter, ink and gouache
Waiting waiter, ink and gouache

This waiter was on a break from the Inidan restaurant in front of which I was sketching. Although he was only about 20 feet away, he was so engaged in his phone call that he didn’t seem to notice me sitting on my little sketching stool, frantically trying to catch his gesture before he walked away. There’s another quickie of the waiting dog on this page too.

These were all from last Tuesday night’s sketchcrawl. I sketched in pen on site and then added the gouache at home.

Categories
Art theory Colored pencil art Drawing Life in general Outdoors/Landscape People Places Sketchbook Pages Sketchercize

Sketchercizing My Grocery Shopping

El Cerrito Natural Grocery, Copic cobalt multiliner & Polychromos colored pencils
El Cerrito Natural Grocery, cobalt Copic multiliner and colored pencils

I had to make my morning coffee with the last drops of non-fat milk (yuck, 1% is OK but non-fat in coffee just doesn’t cut it) and there were no peaches or milk for my Cheerios. A trip to the market couldn’t be put off. But I had a full day of experiments in the studio planned and I needed some exercise. Easy solution:

  1. take the long way around, up and down big hills, to my favorite grocery store, El Cerrito Natural Grocery (cardio)
  2. sketch the market using the cobalt Copic Multiliner I wanted to experiment with (I think I prefer the sepia)
  3. shop
  4. carry groceries home in a loaded backpack plus another full bag (weight lifting)
  5. add colored pencil to the sketches to try out the new Polychromos colored pencils (LOVE THEM!)
BART riders, cobalt Copic Multiliner and colored pencils
Quick subway sketches with the cobalt Copic Multiliner and colored pencils

I’m trying to simplify my choices with my art supplies, wanting to narrow down the pens, ink, pencils and colored pencils to keep handy and those I’ll give away. I did tests today on drawing pencils, sepia liquid inks and sepia pens and will post them and my preferences tomorrow.

I’m also working on painting a grid of 16 different acrylic painting techniques to improve my understanding of acrylic techniques and possibilities. It became clear this was needed when I started a series of paintings in acrylic and realized I didn’t have the “chops” to accomplish what I wanted. I was trying to use oil painting techniques and was getting nowhere fast (and ruining brushes with all the scrubbing I was doing with them which seemed the only way to get the smooth transitions I wanted).

Each medium has its own capabilities and pitfalls. Why not make good use of the characteristics of the media instead of trying to force it to be something it’s not? Despite people claiming acrylic can be used like oils and like watercolor,  I’m going to try to learn to use it like acrylics instead and have fun with all the crazy stuff it can do. This series of large paintings wants to be in acrylic and so it shall, and soon I hope.

Categories
Drawing People Photos Places Sketchbook Pages Subway drawings

Sketching the Week Away

Palace Hotel Garden Court detail, Copic Multiliner
Palace Hotel Garden Court detail, Copic Multiliner

After an all day meeting in San Francisco on Wednesday I met art buddy Sonia for some sketching at the Palace Hotel’s Garden Court atrium. It’s a stunning and historical room but detail lover that I am, I chose one tiny spot across the room to draw and then spent an hour on it, while Sonia did 4 or 5 sketches.

Palace Hotel Garden Court
Palace Hotel Garden Court

I started with the furthest chandelier and the clock on the wall and just kept discovering more and more fun things to draw. If we weren’t so hungry and tired we could have stayed there all night sketching.

Chatting Over Coffee, ink
Two Ladies Chatting Over Coffee

The first lady just slid right off my pen, perfectly drawn (as I saw her) but her friend kept moving and I couldn’t get close to a  likeness.

Random subway sketches
Random BART Subway Sketches

More commuter sketches (and one eagle who adorns the top of the Oakland City Hall). My co-workers and I took advantage of a sunny and surprisingly quiet day at the office to walk to Oakland City Center for lunch (ergo the Bean and Cheese sticker) and I even had a moment to pull out my sketchbook.

That messy little boy top right was on a field trip but looked like he should have still been home in bed. And that’s where I should be too. It’s been a rocky week. Glad it’s over.

Categories
Animals Bay Area Parks Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Outdoors/Landscape Painting People Places Sketchbook Pages

Goose (Poop) Park and Subway Sketches

Snow Park (Goose Park), ink & watercolor
Snow Park (Goose Park), ink & watercolor

I meant to take a walk at lunch today but when I saw this old lady feeding the geese I had to stop and sketch. This is a little park near my office in downtown Oakland called “Snow Park” but a better name would be “Goose Poop Park” since it’s home to the many Canadian geese who don’t seem to feel the need to head north or south any longer.

Bart faces and feet, ink & watercolor
Bart faces and feet, ink & watercolor

I drew the faces of these subway riders on my way to work this morning. I drew the feet on the way home. That guy was holding his juice on the floor with his feet.

Categories
Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Painting People Sketchbook Pages

I’m Not a Party Girl but She Is

The Party Girl #1, ink & watercolor in sketchbook
The Party Girl #1, ink & watercolor in sketchbook

I am so not a party girl. But my son’s fiancée is and loves any opportunity to play dress up. I was invited to her birthday party, designated (tongue in cheek) as a swanky cocktail party. I said I’d come but since I don’t own anything swanky and I firmly believe in Thoreau’s wise words, “Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes” I wouldn’t be too swanky. As it turned out, I wasn’t alone, and it was fun to see the variety of outfits people were decked out in. (My wine-colored blouse and long black skirt turned out to be perfect, as strangely enough nearly everyone was wearing combinations of black and wine or plum).

The Party Girl, ink & watercolor in sketchbook
The Party Girl, ink & watercolor in sketchbook

The birthday girl was the epitomy of swank, with a skin-tight, teensy, black satin dress, long-sleeved black satin gloves, stilettos and lots of chunky bling. She is a beautiful girl, a lithe formal model and dancer, and so pulled it off elegantly and magestically, truly the princess of her party. (Sorry E, that my sketch added 20 pounds at least to your perfect figure).

Several people chose interesting hats to accompany their outfits: from a funky straw rodeo-style cowboy hat accompanying a chiffon party dress, high heels and sun glasses to a young man wearing a strange winter cap with ear flaps and Buddy Holly style glasses. (This was a Berkeley party, after all!)

Most of the people at the party were friends and family of the birthday girl so nobody seemed to mind my sitting on the couch sketching. When the cowboy-hatted drama teacher asked to see my sketchbook and I said I was embarrased at how badly I’d drawn her she gave me a big lecture on not putting down my work and never saying, “Just” as in I was “just sketching”! I could see why her students love her and are inspired by her.

It was a lovely party and yet, in my usual reclusive style, I was happy to depart after two hours and return home to a painting I was working on.

Categories
Animals Bay Area Parks Drawing Ink and watercolor wash Life in general Outdoors/Landscape People Places Sketchbook Pages Sketchercize

Pt. Isabel Sketchercize

Pt. Isabel Sights, ink & watercolor
Pt. Isabel Sights, ink & watercolor

No those aren’t circus dogs stacked up in a doggie pyramid, I just drew them that way as dogs came and went, begging for scraps at the table where the couple was eating lunch.

I’d planned to spend the day in the studio today, but when Barbara called to invite me for a walk at Pt. Isabel, I couldn’t resist. Since it was sunny and not too windy (or so I thought) I also brought along my plein air gear, thinking I might set up to paint there after our walk.  But we took a L-O-N-G walk on the Bay Trail with an equally long walk back, and then had a late lunch at the Sit Stay Cafe in the dog park.

The wind had picked up and I was getting cold and didn’t really feel like spending 3 hours standing in the wind (see top left picture with poor bent over tree from the constant ocean winds). So while I was trying to decide, Barbara took out her sketchbook and I decided to do the same. By the time I finished it was already 4:00 and another weekend was nearly over.

But a day with good solid exercise and a little sketching is a good day and it counts. (Unlike some days that just suck and don’t count.)