“Da Group”(Benicia Plein Air Painters) met to paint at 3:30 today at a private boatyard in Benicia. The owner of the boatyard is a professional house mover so along with the numerous old boats docked there, his property also contains two wonderful old Victorian houses that he moved by barge to his property and will [...]
Archive for the ‘Sketchbook Pages’ Category
Blowin’ in the Wind in Benicia
Posted in Birds, Drawing, Ink and watercolor wash, Painting, Pen and Ink, Photos, Plein Air, Sketchbook Pages, tagged Ink and watercolor wash, Plein Air, Sketchbook Pages on July 5, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Agapantha Fireworks over Hydrangeas
Posted in Cats, Flower art, Life in general, Painting, Sketchbook Pages, Still Life, Watercolor, tagged 4th of July, Fireworks, Independence Day, Sketchbook Pages, Still Life, Watercolor on July 4, 2009 | 4 Comments »
In honor of Independence Day I spent the day quite independently, doing a little gardening, a little cooking, and then starting the first of a series of autobiographical paintings in acrylic on canvas.
I skipped the picnics and fireworks (except for hearing them boom in the distance and having to comfort my stressed out cats, and [...]
Healing Garden at Christ the Light Cathedral: Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Posted in Ink and watercolor wash, Life in general, Pen and Ink, People, Sketchbook Pages, tagged Ink and watercolor wash, Sketchbook Pages on July 3, 2009 | 6 Comments »
Hidden away behind the new, massive Oakland Cathedral of Christ the Light is a “Healing Garden” for the victims of sexual abuse by priests. I knew it was there because I’d read about it when the cathedral was opened to the public, but had a hard time finding it.
I was having a stressful day at [...]
Sketching at Peets Coffee Pinole
Posted in Ink and watercolor wash, Life in general, Pen and Ink, People, Sketchbook Pages, tagged Ink and watercolor wash, Peets Coffee, Sketchbook Pages on July 1, 2009 | 2 Comments »
It was 86 degrees but quite comfortable in the shade of an umbrella, on the patio at Peets Coffee in Pinole, where I sipped my iced latte and sketched this view of the parking lot and hills behind it. I’d dropped off a key at my son’s house nearby and then done my grocery shopping [...]
Girls Just Wanna Be…. (Dredging the Past for New Series)
Posted in Drawing, Faces, Life in general, Pen and Ink, People, Sketchbook Pages, artists, tagged Ink, Micron Pigma, Sketchbook Pages, sketches on June 30, 2009 | 10 Comments »
I was sketching and looking at my high school yearbook in preparation for a series of paintings I’m starting. I was surprised by the low expectations so many of the girls in the yearbook had for themselves compared to today’s young women. I started counting how many “hoped to eventually” to become beauticians, secretaries and [...]
Monday Night Sketchcrawl: Shattuck and Vine, Berkeley
Posted in Art theory, Berkeley, Drawing, Ink, Ink and watercolor wash, Outdoors/Landscape, Painting, Places, Sketchbook Pages, tagged Art theory, Drawing, Ink and watercolor wash, Sketchbook Pages, sketchcrawl, sketching, thai restaurant berkeley on June 27, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Cathy and I met at Shattuck and Vine to sketch, and started with this historic building, now a wine shop called Vintage Berkeley, converted from the former utility district’s Vine Street Pumping Station. Actually we’d started a little further up the street, but my sketch was terrible so no point in posting it.
By the time [...]
Succulent Birthday Gift
Posted in Flower art, Gardening, Plants, Sketchbook Pages, Still Life, Watercolor, tagged Flower art on June 26, 2009 | 2 Comments »
My wonderful sister Marcy and niece Sophie gave me this little succulent garden in a bowl for my birthday, wrapped with twine with a little ticket for a card. When the plants outgrow the bowl she said I could just stick them in the ground and break off little pieces to stick back in the [...]
Baby Bird Steps Out
Posted in Animals, Birds, Drawing, Ink, Sketchbook Pages, tagged Birds, Drawing, Ink, ink sketch, Micron Pigma, Sketchbook Pages, sketching birds on June 25, 2009 | 4 Comments »
The day before the baby bird in the nest outside my window left the nest for the first time, his entire extended family of California Towhees chirped loudly all day, making a metallic “chip” sound, calling to him and to each other. The next day there he was, sitting in the tree on a branch [...]
FIGuratively Speaking
Posted in Pencil drawing, Sketchbook Pages, Still Life, Watercolor, photoshop, tagged Drawing, figs, fruit, Photoshop CS4, Sketchbook Pages, Still Life, Watercolor on June 20, 2009 | 8 Comments »
These organic figs were disappointingly tasteless and so they became still life subjects instead of eating objects. I’ve been using the heavy Photoshop manual (seen under the figs) as a weight on top of the the Fabriano Venezia sketchbook when I scan it. My new copy of Photoshop CS4 doesn’t come with a manual, although [...]
Happy Bird-Day to Me
Posted in Animals, Birds, Drawing, El Cerrito, Pencil drawing, Sketchbook Pages, Watercolor, photoshop, tagged Birds, Ink and watercolor wash, Photoshop CS4, Sketchbook Pages, Watercolor on June 19, 2009 | 6 Comments »
This morning I made my annual birthday pilgrimage to Fat Apples for a Baked Apple Pancake along with dear friends and family. Then I sketched this little family of California Towhees [update: not robins!] who are living in the small tree outside my bedroom window.
Mom and Pop Towhee take turns guarding the nest, feeding the [...]
Sketching Berkeley’s Northbrae Neighborhood
Posted in Berkeley, Drawing, Gardening, Ink and watercolor wash, Pen and Ink, Sketchbook Pages, tagged Ink and watercolor wash, ink sketch, Micron Pigma, Sketchbook Pages on June 16, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Cathy and I met at Monterey Market on Hopkins Street in Berkeley’s Northbrae neighborhood for our Monday night sketchcrawl. The scent of ripe fruit was heavenly in their screened fruit patio, but the store was closing so we were soon out on the street.
I stood behind Cathy while she leaned on a bike rack to [...]
Sketching the NBA Basketball Finals
Posted in Drawing, Pen and Ink, Pencil drawing, People, Sketchbook Pages, tagged Ink, ink sketch, NBA Finals, Sketchbook Pages, sketching on June 13, 2009 | 7 Comments »
Except for doing these sketches while watching the NBA Basketball Finals last week, it was a pretty rough week, with no energy for art or blogging. I kept putting the TiVo on pause to sketch, enjoying drawing with a Pilot fountain pen and then adding a bit of water to make the line bleed and [...]
Nature Hike: Sketchercize
Posted in Bay Area Parks, El Cerrito, Ink and watercolor wash, Landscape, Outdoors/Landscape, Pen and Ink, Places, Sketchbook Pages, Sketchercize, tagged Ink and watercolor wash, Landscape, Plein Air, Sketchbook Pages, Sketchercize on June 8, 2009 | 15 Comments »
Sunday was a glorious day in the Bay Area; sunny, breezy and in the 70s. A perfect day for some “Sketchercize.” I packed up my sketching gear and hiking poles and headed on foot through my hilly neighborhood and up to the El Cerrito Memorial Grove and the Hillside Natural Area above it; nearly 80 [...]
Hydrangeas: More Testing Fabriano Venezia Sketchbook
Posted in Art supplies, Drawing, Flower art, Ink and watercolor wash, Painting, Pen and Ink, Photos, Sketchbook Pages, Still Life, Watercolor, photoshop, tagged Art supplies, Drawing, Flower art, Ink and watercolor wash, Micron Pigma, Oil Painting, Sketchbook Pages, Watercolor on June 6, 2009 | 7 Comments »
The first hydrangeas of the season provided an opportunity to try out ink and watercolor in the Fabriano Venezzia sketchbook I posted about yesterday. First I drew directly in ink and then tried painting the flower on the right by wetting the paper there, and painting into it. I didn’t like the results and tried [...]
Celebrating 3 Years, 600 Blog Posts… and a winning book cover
Posted in Berkeley, Flower art, Ink and watercolor wash, Interiors, Moleskine, Pen and Ink, People, Places, Sketchbook Pages, Watercolor, tagged art bloggers, Blogging, Flower art, Ink and watercolor wash, Moleskine, Sketchbook Pages, Watercolor on June 3, 2009 | 12 Comments »
On Monday night I completed another sketchbook and three years of sketch-blogging. Cathy and I had dinner at Cactus Taqueria on Solano Avenue in Berkeley and sketched the other diners. Then we started walking to see what else looked like fun to draw.
It was cold and foggy outside, and the lobby of the old Oaks [...]
Tilden Botanical Garden Sketches
Posted in Bay Area Parks, Cats, Drawing, Flower art, Ink and watercolor wash, Landscape, Moleskine, Outdoors/Landscape, Painting, Pen and Ink, Places, Plants, Plein Air, Sketchbook Pages, tagged Flower art, Ink and watercolor wash, Landscape, Micron Pigma, Moleskine, Plein Air, Sketchbook Pages, Tilden Park, Watercolor on May 30, 2009 | 14 Comments »
My plein air group met at Tilden Regional Parks Botanical Garden this cold and foggy morning. Since I wasn’t familiar with the park I explored a bit and then decided to sketch instead of trying to drag my painting gear around the hilly, pebbly paths. Since I only had my large Moleskine and a Micron [...]
Thank You Roz & Boris the Dragonly Critic
Posted in Animals, Birds, Cartoon art, Drawing, Gouache, Illustration, Ink and watercolor wash, International Fake Journal Month, Life in general, Moleskine, Other Art Blogs I Read, Painting, Pen and Ink, People, Sketchbook Pages, artists, tagged Gouache, Ink and watercolor wash, Micron Pigma, Moleskine, self-portrait, Sketchbook Pages on May 26, 2009 | 8 Comments »
As second place winner in the International Fake Journal Month contest, I won this amazing t-shirt from Roz Stendahl, the inventor of IFJM. I tried to sketch myself sketching myself myself wearing it. I didn’t do the t-shirt (or myself) justice, but I do like the way the bird and I both seem to have [...]
At the Christopher Schinck Demo
Posted in Art theory, Ink and watercolor wash, Life in general, Moleskine, Pen and Ink, People, Sketchbook Pages, artists, tagged Art theory, Christopher Schinck, Ink and watercolor wash, ink sketch, Sketchbook Pages on May 21, 2009 | 5 Comments »
Last week the El Cerrito Art Association hosted an excellent watercolor painting demonstration by Christopher Schinck. Mr. Schink has a unique way of painting with watercolor and a wonderful sense of humor. He both entertained and amazed the group with his bold use of color, thick paint applied opaquely using large china bristle brushes and [...]
Jana and Casey Do Berkeley
Posted in Berkeley, Drawing, Ink and watercolor wash, Moleskine, Other Art Blogs I Read, Painting, Pen and Ink, People, Photos, Places, Sketchbook Pages, tagged Ink and watercolor wash, Oil Painting, Peets Coffee, Sketchbook Pages on May 18, 2009 | 13 Comments »
Casey Toussaint and her son Paul are visiting from France and I had the pleasure of spending Sunday with them. After a quick visit to my house and studio, we headed down to the Berkeley Marina to cool off on an unseasonably hot day.
We walked to the end of Berkeley’s long pier on San Francisco [...]
Bouquet of Mothers’ Day Roses
Posted in Flower art, Ink and watercolor wash, Moleskine, Painting, Sketchbook Pages, Still Life, Watercolor, tagged Flower art, Ink and watercolor wash, Moleskine, roses, Sketchbook Pages, Still Life, Watercolor on May 12, 2009 | 5 Comments »
On Mothers’s Day my wonderful neighbors brought me this lovely bouquet of roses in a crystal vase. Then all three sweet kids wished me Happy Mothers’ Day and gave me hugs. I have the best neighbors. I took the flowers outside and sketched them twice, sitting on my studio porch steps.
The sketch above was done [...]
I Feel Like a Snapping Turtle
Posted in Animals, Art supplies, Ink and watercolor wash, Life in general, Moleskine, Pen and Ink, Sketchbook Pages, tagged Ink and watercolor wash, Moleskine, Sketchbook Pages on May 8, 2009 | 3 Comments »
It was one of those days. It started full of possibilities and ended with me feeling like a snapping turtle looking for someone to bite. So I drew how I was feeling and it made me laugh.
And now I’m officially giving up and heading to bed with a good book and a cup of cocoa.
Update: [...]
Sketchcrawling at the Pub
Posted in Art supplies, Drawing, Ink and watercolor wash, Moleskine, Pen and Ink, Sketchbook Pages, tagged Moleskine, Micron Pigma, Still Life, Ink, Sketchbook Pages, Ink and watercolor wash on May 5, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Two of my favorite sketchers, Martha and Cathy, joined me for an evening of sketching and dinner at Kensington Circus Pub. The image above was my view out the window just after sunset. Next I sketched a window across the street (below), and then used the page to total my portion of the bill. When [...]
Word Play: Hubris Meets Hirsute; Labial goes Labile
Posted in Cartoon art, Definitions, Illustration, Ink and watercolor wash, Life in general, Pen and Ink, Sketchbook Pages, Word Play, tagged Micron Pigma, Sketchbook Pages, Ink and watercolor wash, hubris, hirsute, wordplay, Definitions, Illustration, Cartoon on May 1, 2009 | 5 Comments »
Lying on the table, stuck full of needles in a room painted soft peach, with monks softly chanting in the background, my mind wandered to the acupuncturist’s use of the word “labile” in our pre-treatment conversation and the realization that labile and labial were not the same word. While the needles worked (or didn’t) their [...]
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