Sweet Pears and a Buzz with Busby

Pears on a Blue Plate, Pentel Pocket Brush Pen and gouache, 7x5"

In the week and half since I gave up sugar and Splenda, pears have become my new treat. Not only are they crispy, sweet and delicious but they come in such pretty colors too. This sketch is a celebration of their gifts.

But meanwhile, giving up coffee didn’t go as well….

Busby and the Coffee Buzz

After five days of feeling wiped out, depressed, listless and witless I couldn’t take it anymore and finally had half a cup of coffee.  That’s all it took: within a few minutes I was back to my old inspired self again and the blues were gone. Yay!

Maybe I’ll try to quit caffeine when I’m retired in a few years, but for now, each day is too precious to spend feeling like a zombie.

Becoming Begonias (third painting for the book)

Becoming Begonias, Watercolor, 9x12"

I finished my third painting for the book Must Paint Watercolor Flowers (above). This one was fun and not a struggle like the orchid painting. Since the lighting in the photo reference was flat with no obvious source of light I pretended there was one coming from the upper right and tried to exaggerate it a bit in my painting to give it some life.

Now I just have to write up my process and the materials and techniques I used for the publisher and I’ve completed my three-painting commitment. There are some really fine artists contributing to the book and I am honored to be included with them.

Below are my steps in getting to the final version.

Tracing the photo print-out onto watercolor paper using blue Saral Transfer Paper

I printed the photo on my printer and sandwiched the Saral Transfer paper between the print and the watercolor paper.

The transfered drawing on Arches 140 lb watercolor

Normally I would use a much lighter line, but the publisher requests we make the drawing dark so that it photographs well. At least the blue Saral transfer erases easily with a kneaded eraser.

Painting the first layer of yellows, oranges and reds

First layer of flowers painted

I like the sort of botanical illustration look of this phase.

Beginning to paint the blues and greens in the leaves

When this brightly painted leaf dried I glazed over it with Viridian so it would stay in the background but I enjoyed these pretty colors together.

First layers of flowers and leaves painted

After adding the darks between leaves and additional glazing on leaves

Adding details to the flowers

I had a good time glazing on the lines and shadows on the flowers. Then it was just a matter of adding a few more shadows here and there and signing my name.

Waiting in Line for Avatar

Waiting in Line for Avatar, Ink & watercolor

I think we picked the craziest day to go see Avatar at a shopping center theater: the day after Christmas when shoppers were out in force, filled with pent-up shopping frenzy after a whole day of closed stores.

I purchased  tickets online the day before and we left two hours early for the theater which was a good thing because we got stuck in an Emeryville traffic/parking nightmare for about 45 minutes.

Only two cars at a time were making it through each light change to turn left into the street leading to the parking lot at Emeryville’s Bay Street 16 AMC Theater. After sitting through at least 10 light changes we finally made it into the next line-up-and-wait scenario on the narrow road leading to the garage. Then when we’d finally crawled our way close to the garage entry we saw a sign saying “Garage Full” blocking the entry to the garage. The only option was for cars to exit back on to main the street we’d just come from.

I decided to just move the sign and the rubbery barriers and go in anyway, since we could see people leaving the garage and we knew they were letting people in at the other end of the shopping complex.  Jessica was smart enough to run over and try out the ticketing button to see if it would raise the arm and allow entrance. Of course they’d programmed it so that it wouldn’t.

So back out into the awful traffic we went. A few blocks away we saw parking spaces by an old boarded up restaurant, parked, and speed-walked through the outdoor shopping center to the theater since it was starting to rain. I picked up our tickets from the ticketing machine and we entered the theater. We were still an hour early and only the 10th people in line. We were warm, dry and comfortable and I got to sketch some of my fellow waiters-in-line.

Our seats were great and the 3-D glasses were comfortable and worked well, even over my glasses. The Imax theater filled completely, even down in the front rows where you’d be looking up at the screen the whole time.

And the movie was fantastic—so beautiful and transporting. I still feel like I am in the incredible world Cameron created for Avatar. I had objections to a couple bits in the movie but overall, it is truly a masterpiece of filmmaking, a gorgeous work of art and imagination, and a feat of technological brilliance as well.

Insipid Cuppa

Insipid Cuppa, ink & watercolor 7x5

I like to use my winter holiday vacation as a time to review my past year and sort out what I did well and what needs work. Since this is also the end and beginning of a whole decade, this process felt even more important this year. One thing that really stood out was that I needed to kick  my caffeine habit and its evil companion, sugar (both fake and real).

So, after a week of being foggy-brained, sleepy and witless, I’m now free of caffeine, sugar, and Splenda* and finally starting to feel good and my inspiration is returning.

Without the sweeteners, decaf coffee and tea were tasting pretty vile to me so I began the search for a flavorful herbal tea with at least a hint of sweetness. I finally found a couple that I like but in the meantime spent a fortune buying seductively-named but ultimately insipid teas that taste like something you might use to clean windows.

Case in point: the tin of “Hot Apple Cider Tea” pictured above. It looks and tastes like hot apple cider about as much as a picture of an apple tastes like an apple. If I’d painted a cup of that tea, it would look like a cup of water. The tea in the cup above is Good Earth Tea and warm milk. It’s not bad. But it sure isn’t a latte. 

*UPDATE: Just looked up “What is Splenda” and here’s what I found:

Splenda is made from cane sugar by replacing three hydroxyl groups on the sugar molecule with chlorine. The resulting molecule is not recognized as sugar or a carbohydrate by the body and as such, is not digested. Some refer to Sucralose as Chlorinated Sugar. Sucralose does not occur in nature.

Eek! I’m embarrassed to admit how much of that stuff I was consuming!

A Sketchy Christmas

Sketching at the Claremont Hotel, ink & watercolor

The Claremont Hotel in Berkeley is all decked out for the holidays and a good place to sketch when it’s cold outside. We met there Tuesday night and had our choice of comfy places to sketch. That’s Sonia in the sketch above, drawing a piano that is just off to her left.

I found a spot near their fancier bar and restaurant with another grand piano where (I thought) a talented jazzy piano player was entertaining the diners. I really liked the way he riffed on holiday music (although his repertoire seemed not too extensive as he began repeating the songs after about an hour).

Outside the bar at the Claremont

At the end of the evening I walked into the bar  to thank the piano player, having imagined what it must be like playing holiday music in a bar, night after night, the same tunes over and over, while people celebrated. The bench was empty! The piano was playing itself, the keys popping up and down on their own.

I liked both of these sketches more as ink drawings before I overworked them with paint. I’ve been really tired this week which often leads to mucking around when I should be moving on to the next page.

Quickie Dinner at Whole Foods, Oakland

Dinner at Whole Foods, Ink & watercolor, 8x5"

Last night I needed to grab a quickie dinner between work and a 7:00 meeting so I stopped at the nearby Oakland Whole Foods. I looked over the salad bar,  passed up the make your own trail munch bar (?!) and the soul food bar with pulled pork, black-eyed peas and greens, seriously considered the Indian and Chinese bars but settled on some pretty, steamed organic veges and some Mexican items.

The dining area was hopping with activity, filled with a perfect sampling of Oakland’s demographics, with people of all ages, races, preferences, and functionality. I ate quickly so I’d have a few minutes to sketch the view from my table. Then I ran out of time and had to leave, so I added watercolor at home.

And now I’m on vacation! Yay

Sketching at Berkeley Bowl Market

Berkeley Bowl Soup Counter, Ink & watercolor

My Tuesday night sketch buddies and I met at the old Berkeley Bowl (named for its former location in a converted bowling alley). We didn’t realize when we made our plans that they closed at 8:00 so we only had a little over an hour to sketch (and shop). It was cold inside the store so the soup counter seemed like it would be a warm spot to sketch (it wasn’t, being right between the front door and an open refrigeration area).

Potatoes and Xmas Wreaths, ink & watercolor

I was amused by the juxtaposition of Christmas wreaths with bagged and loose potatoes piled high in ex-banana boxes but I didn’t enjoy the spot where I was drawing. The florescent light overhead kept flickering and a small, yappy dog just outside the door barked furiously non-stop.

Although there were at least 40 kinds of citrus fruit and nearly as many varieties and sizes of apples on display, this visit made me feel better about shopping at the stores in my neighborhood. Since I don’t like shopping to begin with, I would rather have fewer, higher quality choices in a more peaceful setting.  (I’ve heard tales of grocery-cart road rage at Berkeley Bowl on Saturdays but everyone seemed reasonable tonight).

At my favorite produce market, Colusa Foods in Kensington, there is enough variety and everything is hand selected by the Japanese family that owns the store, and the prices are great. At El Cerrito Natural Grocery, everything is organic, it’s very clean, they play classical music, and the staff and shoppers are all super-nice and polite.

Magnified Teensy Flowers

Magnified teensy flowers, ink & watercolor 8x6

The teensy bouquet was still holding up and the complicated shapes in these flowers intrigued me. So I stuck them under my magnifying lamp and drew them again in sketchbook opposite the bouquet side. The California poppy had opened up and wanted to play too so I stuck him in behind the little flowers after I painted them. It’s fun drawing what’s under the magnifying glass and getting to see all the neat details.

Then it was back to work on the third painting I’ve been asked to do for the book, Must Paint Watercolor Flowers. This time it’s a peach colored begonia with really interesting veiny leaves.

Begonia leaf color tests

My first step was to test colors and try to find the pigments that will mix to the right values, colors and textures. On the tests above I experimented with glazing with different yellows, blues and greens, and tried lifting color for the veins in the leaves to see which worked best for that.

Begonia petal test colors

I found just the right mixture of colors for the petals with a color I’ve rarely ever used because it is more opaque than I usually prefer: Naples Yellow. When mixed with combinations of Cadmium Orange, Permanent rose, and Quinacridone gold, it looks like it will give me perfect petals. But now it’s back to “day job” work for the rest of the week. That will give me time to focus more on how I will approach the painting so once I have brush in hand I’m ready to go.

I don’t always plan things out so carefully, but it can help prevent wasted time and do-overs which becomes more important when I’m also photographing each step and writing about it for the book.

Teensy Bouquet of Tiny Winter Flowers

Tiny Bouquet, ink and watercolor, 9x6"

I was surprised to find a variety of colorful teensy flowers growing along the sidewalks on my walk this afternoon in the cool misty weather. It felt so great to be out walking without the icy cold and then pouring rain of the past week and the bright colors were a great bonus.

I felt a little sheepish about picking flowers that didn’t belong to me, but the they were so tiny and since I only took a sprig or two a few inches in length I didn’t think anyone would mind. Some might even have been volunteers (aka weeds?).

When I got home I stuck them in this little glass container some pricey French yogurt had come in (that I bought for the container). Then I got back to working on my website. When I’d finished it was bedtime but I knew these flowers probably wouldn’t last until tomorrow. And I really needed a little fun so I put on a CD and so enjoyed drawing them and painting them.

If you’d like to take a look at my rebuilt website, I’d love your feedback. Although it’s now cleaner and easier to update, I’m disappointed in a couple of features that really bug me. I’ll either get over my perfectionism or sometime later I’ll rebuild it again.

The problem with technology is that by the time you’ve researched the best gizmo, bought it and learned to use it, it’s already obsolete. Aren’t you glad that not everything in life is like that?

Don’t Replace, Reface: Dealing with a “Bad” Sketchbook Page

Fresh : Luck, collaged spread in 6x9 Fabriano Venezia sketchbook

Are you tempted to tear out the page in your sketchbook when a sketch goes bad? I used to do that.

When we were sharing sketchbooks Tuesday night, I pointed proudly to three pages that had terrible drawings on them of an object that simply wasn’t draw-able (or nameable–more about that in a minute). I said, “Look! I wasted three pages and they’re really ugly and I’m OK with letting them just be there.” Cathy the graphic designer, said, “Well, you know, you could just paste stuff over them.”

Is It Luck? Ink & gouache lottery tickets and business card (click to enlarge)

So when I visited my local donut shop in a moment of weakness (apple fritter: my drug of choice) I collected some random stuff they had on the counter: a postcard advertising a Tibet Day, some California lottery slips, the proprietor’s card, and the bag my fritter came in. I thought the picture they chose for the card— an Italian-looking chef—was funny since the store is owned and run by an Asian family. I cut stuff up and pasted it down (the bag was already sticky!), wrote and drew on them, colored with crayons, and painted on some gouache. You see a bit of the bad drawing/writing about it coming through the bag/blue paint.

Fresh Daily, collaged page: post card pieces on bakery bag pasted over bad sketch, and crayons and paint

When I wrote “Is it luck?” I was referring both to the lottery tickets and getting a good drawing. Is it luck when a drawing turns out well? Sometimes it feels like a sketch or painting can’t fail—it seems to paint or draw itself—a total gift. Other times it’s just the opposite and I have the feeling from the very start that the project will be a big FAIL. I try to recognize those negative thoughts and make them stop when I do, but sometimes they just won’t go away.

Oh… and the undrawable thing I was trying to draw? It’s something I found in a “Free” box on a neighborhood walk. A cute little wooden sorting device with numbered slots for 31 days on a sliding thingee, with three little  drawers that could hold paperclips or other small stuff. It looks like a funky version of  this only in oak color and without the clock.

Sorter, sort of

I thought I might be able to use it for drying paintings on panels, but the slots were too narrow. It was way too boring and complicated to draw so after three tries I put it in the garage to take to the thrift shop with some other donations. I thought about returning it to the neighbor’s “Free” box but that seemed like cheating.

So when the sketch turns into a big mess, now I know what to do: don’t rip it out, don’t just leave it there glaring in its butt ugliness; just do what those TV commercials for kitchen cabinets advertise: “Don’t replace, reface!” And when the subject isn’t fun and/or interesting to draw, stop. Life is too short to waste what is meant to be fun time not having fun!

Macaroon Marathon

Macaroon Take-Out Page 1

After struggling with sketching a coconut macaroon at Saul’s last night, I brought it home in a take-out container and then sketched it eight more times, in a duet with the takeout box.

Macaroon Take-Out Page 2

Then I had my way with the sketches I didn’t like that I’d done at the restaurant (below).

Macaroon with note to self

Before I’d started the sketch above,  I used the edge of the page to make a bunch of little thumbnails to play with composition ideas. This was inspired by a conversation I had with my sketch buddy Cathy. She’s a graphic designer with years of experience. Her sketches are wonderful with exciting line and great composition.

I asked Cathy what she thinks about when she starts a sketch. She said the first thing she considers is how the subject will interact with the edge of the page (or the border she sometimes draws first). She said she never “floats” a subject in the middle of the page; subjects are always cut off on one or more edges. Despite my thumbnails I ended up with way too much table and plate compared to macaroon and was mad at the sketch. So I used the space to write a note to myself about making better use of the page.

Macaroon mountain (Grammercy Park)

Then I went back to the second macaroon sketch from Saul’s and started doodling around with it. My doodles reminded me of the fence around Gramercy Park that was just outside the hotel I stayed in on a trip to New York a long time ago. With the fence, the scale of the macaroon seemed mountainous (or at least boulder-like).

Two other discoveries I noted on the page: 1) I’d divided the page almost perfectly in half (a design no-no), and 2) that I don’t like cropping things because I don’t want to miss out on a single detail or insult the object by lopping off some of it. How silly is that? I’d like to overcome this quirk and learn to put more focus on design, not just detail.

Sketching at Saul’s Restaurant and Deli, Berkeley

Saul's Diner, Ink & watercolor

My sketchcrawl buddies and I met at Saul’s Restaurant to sketch tonight. Saul’s was really nice about letting us hang out for 3 hours and the food was delicious. It takes such discipline to draw it before eating it! The owner of the restaurant does wonderful drawings herself, as can be seen on their menus and website.

Pickles, Ink & watercolorPickles, Ink & watercolor

Except for breakfast, a meal at Saul’s always starts with their dill pickles.

Trout, Kale and Colorful Cauliflower

I had a plate of grilled trout with a bright green sauces and very colorful veges: kale and purple cauliflower.

Then I got into a fight with a macaroon. I drew it, painted it, messed it up, and started over. Cathy and Sonia were ready to leave, having both done some really nice sketches, but I wanted to keep fighting with the macaroon, feeling like a flop. So I asked for a take-out container and brought the  macaroon home. After drawing it several more times at home I finally won the battle with the macaroon which I’ll post next time.

Still Working on my Website

Hiking Trail above El Cerrito Recycling Center

I wish I was out walking and sketching again on this trail near my house instead of working on rebuilding my website all weekend. I was determined to finish tonight but I still have a few more hours of work and it’s time for bed.

I spent several hours this morning looking at the Squarespace web hosting platform and it’s so much more customizable and comprehensive (and complex) than the system I’ve been working with on Network Solutions. I came so close to chucking everything and starting over on Squarespace. But with only the last 10 percent left to do I decided to just finish even though it won’t be perfect.

At the same time I’ve been adding pictures and descriptions to my website, I’ve been entering the same data in an artist’s database called eArtist. It’s a fantastic program and works beautifully. You can track everything about each artwork, which then links to any exhibitions, sales, collectors, print editions and more. It’s easy and quick to use and the proprietor provides excellent support. I only wish I’d started doing that a long time ago.

I really appreciate those of you who said you’d be willing to look over my website when it’s ready and give me feedback. I’ll be in touch very soon (I hope!)

Geranium Getting Going (Except it’s a Camellia)

Camelia Buds, ink & watercolor

In a momentary memory lapse I wrote “Geranium Getting Going” in large letters in my sketchbook under this image. Then I thought, “Wait a minute, aren’t geraniums those red, ruffled, bitter smelling flowers often found in window boxes or untended and leggy in sad little gardens that someone has given up?”

And then it came back to me, DUH! This is a Camellia, not a Geranium. From a Camellia bush that I planted and that lives right outside my studio door and always blooms in the winter. It’s full of buds now and soon will be blooming madly.

I’ll just blame the memory lapse on the 4 hours of sleep I got last night as a result of working into the wee hours rebuilding my website, which is nearly done. I’m a bit disappointed that after all my work I’m finding some design issues that may be limitations of the platform I chose after much research last summer. I’m even tempted to start over on the system I would have chosen if I knew then what I know now. But this service comp’d me several years of hosting for free (because of all their system screw ups when I first started the build last summer) and I’ve already done so much work that starting over, when I’d rather be painting anyway, seems pointless.

If you would be willing to visit the new site and “beta-test” it a bit before I make it my official webs site, I’d love to have a few extra eyes on it. Just leave me a note if you’re willing to go there and click around a bit. It helps to know whether it looks ok on various computers and monitors or if there are any problems I’ve missed. Thanks!

Sketchcrawl at Shattuck Plaza Hotel

Shattuck Plaza Hotel, ink & watercolor

(Updated) We met at the newly remodeled Shattuck Plaza Hotel in Berkeley to sketch on Tuesday night. The lobby of the historic building has been transformed from an old-fashioned residential hotel with good”bones” to something entirely different.  The walls are covered in a variety of black and white patterned wall paper from florals to paisley to stripes that seems to vibrate. The floors are a patchwork of checkerboard marble in between sections of rug the designer describes as “red and mauve 1960s flower-power pattern”. There are two huge crystal chandeliers, a red one that was newly created and the other, an original, that is 100-years old.

I was going to try drawing all of the different patterns on the walls, floors and furniture, but couldn’t stand looking at them, as reminded me of watching the patterns behind my eyelids during my migraine of only a few days prior. So I sketched a few of the lamps, sconces and furniture I could see from where I sat. Then we headed out into the cold for our next stop.

Monks at Peets Coffee, ink & watercolor

We went to Peets Coffee across the street and relaxed to the classical music while we sketched people. The monk knew we were drawing him and when they were leaving, came over and asked to see our sketches. I told him he had a beautiful smile.

He looked a bit embarrassed by my comment, but said thank you, and told us he doesn’t usually get out much, that he was here visiting  with his grandmother and brother after living the past ten years in Thailand.  He seemed so genuinely happy and at peace and made me want to return to my long-neglected Zen meditation practice