Every Day in May, Days 1-2: A Favorite Sound (Purrr) & Bubbles

Bubbles: Dirty Dishes, Every Day in May, ink & watercolor in 8×11″ Moleskine

What better way to improve drawing skills than to practice every day! I committed to the Every Day in May (Facebook, Flickr) challenge and have been really enjoying the practice, discipline and creativity the daily cues inspire. The first cue was: “Draw something bubbly.”

I had a sink full of dirty dishes awaiting me…a perfect excuse for bubbles. I got a little carried away and didn’t realize I’d drawn the cutting board on the counter floating in space instead. Oops. Under the pasted on list of sketching cues is a failed drawing of my cat that I wanted to hide and do over (below).

Draw A Favorite Sound: Purrrr. Every Day in May, ink & watercolor, 8 x 11″

Next up was “Draw a Favorite Sound.” I cheated a bit since my cats weren’t actually purring when I sketched this. Fiona was annoyed at having her nap disturbed and Busby wouldn’t even turn around, too busy looking out the window. I sketched this one in pencil first because after the failed drawing I pasted over above, I needed a bit of success to boost my confidence.

Warm up cat sketches to study them, ink, 8×11″

I did some warm-up sketches of the cats in ink first, trying to learn more about their basic shapes. It’s amazing how little I really see and know a subject until I draw it. I see my cats constantly but drawing them is almost like seeing them for the first time.

Teddy Bear Fountain, Berkeley

Teddy Bear Fountain, Berkeley, ink & watercolor, 8×11″

I was excited to sketch Berkeley’s 100-year-old Teddy Bear Fountain again. We found the perfect viewpoint, I sat down on the carved stone bench, pulled out my pen, opened my bag and discovered I’d forgotten my sketchbook! DUH! Fortunately Cristina had a 9×12 watercolor block with her and she let me use it.

When I sketched the fountain before I wasn’t happy with the results so I decided to start with pencil on the complicated scene this time. There was an odd optical illusion; it appeared that the water was only falling behind the fountain so that’s how I painted it. I also intentionally shrunk the width of the base of the fountain.

The sun was setting when I finished drawing so I added paint at home. Please check out Cristina’s comprehensive sketch of the scene and Cathy’s previous sketch that is now featured on Berkeley Library cards. Below is the photo I took before I started drawing.

Teddy Bear Fountain Photo

My Junkyard Garden

Old Car Parts in the Spring Garden, ink & watercolor 8×11″

I inherited a bunch of rusty old car parts when I converted the garage (formerly used by my son to restore a 1970 muscle car) into my studio. I thought they were interesting looking “sculptures” and stuck them in my garden, planning to draw them.

It took me a year to get around to it but I finally spent a fun morning sketching them amidst sprouting irises. When I finished, I gave most of them to the my gardener who also collects scrap metal for recycling. I kept the two most interesting pieces as possible oil painting still life subjects in the future.

El Volado, The Mexican Bus; plus 3 Museums in 1 day: Rembrandt, Vermeer and Wiley

El Volado the Mexican Bus, ink & watercolor, 8×11″

There’s a non-residential street a couple blocks from my house where this bus and its two colorful sisters are often parked. I sat on the corner and sketched my favorite, named “El Volado, The Mexican Bus” (as is written on the bus) on the first page of my giant Moleskine. I did a little preliminary work in pencil to get the basic dimensions and then continued in ink and watercolor.

After spending yesterday traveling around on public transit, a bus seemed a good subject to post today. I took the subway and then a streetcar to visit a friend and her toddler in San Francisco. We walked from her house to the California Academy of Science in Golden Gate Park. It was fun seeing penguins and beautiful fish in the huge coral reef aquarium through the eyes of a delighted 20 month old. At nap time I walked them home and then back to the park.

I ate lunch in the more peaceful atmosphere of the De Young Museum cafe across the plaza from the Academy which had been crammed with hundreds of noisy school kids on field trips. After lunch I visited the “blockbuster” Girl With a Pearl Earring: Dutch Painting from the Mauritshuis and Rembrandt’s Century shows. The museum was fairly empty, with easy access to close-up views of all the amazing work.

After a brief, failed attempt at sketching in the plaza (just too tired) I walked back to the streetcar, stopping for a coffee for fortification along the way. My next stop was the Jewish Contemporary Museum downtown to see a show of portraits by Kehinde Wiley, who is known for his grand portraits of black urban men from around the world. This show, The World Stage: Israel features Israeli Jews, Ethiopian Jews, and Israeli Arabs and elaborate religious Jewish designs.

Kehinde Wiley, Portrait of Alios Itzhak

I had looked forward to seeing this show but was disappointed by how much the oil paintings looked like slick digital art, with no sign of the artist’s hand. That was validated when I found this article that says, “…his actual paintings are created by teams of assistants in China…But great portraits are not about formulae; they are about expressing something about an individual.” And hopefully there is something in them of the artist too, like the Rembrandt and Vermeer portraits I saw earlier in the day!

Earth Day Sketchcrawl in Healdsburg

Mother Earth on Earth Day in Healdsburg, ink & watercolor, 6.5×4″

Our sketch group traveled up to the wine country for a sketchcrawl in Healdsburg. We discovered an Earth Day festival setting up in the town square, complete with Mother Earth, above. Covered in flowers and pink and green gauzy fabric, she gave a talk about saving the earth, played her ukulele and sang a few children’s songs.

Healdsburg Home, Formerly a 7th Day Adventist Church Camp, ink & watercolor5.5″x6″

While we sketched this house a block from town square, the owner came out and told us it was built in 1887 by the 7th Day Adventists as a church camp. They still have the original kitchen except for the stove, which they updated to a 1940s model. He apologized we’d missed the flowering of the wisteria vine across the front of the porch.

Gazebo in Healdsburg Town Square, ink & watercolor, 5.5″ x 6.5″

A variety of speakers lectured and bands performed under the gazebo in the beautiful Healdsburg town square. When the speakers got too strident or the bands too screechy, I walked a couple blocks away to find something else to draw.

Bear Republic Brewing Company, Healdsburg, ink & watercolor, 7×4.5″

As the temperature rose into the 80s I found a shady spot under a tree and drew the Bear Republic Brewing Company’s outdoor patio. Later we sat under those umbrellas and had our lunch. We shared journals with the other sketchcrawlers and at 4 :00 we headed back home.

Below are the full pages as they appear in my Moleskine A4 size journal (about 9×12″ per page).

Healdsburg, left page in Moleskine 9×12″ watercolor journal

Healdsburg Right Hand Page in Moleksine A4

You can see the pictures from some of the other sketchers on our Urban Sketchers blog.

Computer Chaos Before and After Sketches

Before & After Sketches of my computer desk, ink & watercolor, 5×16″

Back in January I got a new iMac to replace my aging PC. I hadn’t left my job yet so still needed my PC monitor and my work laptop to complete my last project. That meant I had 3 computers, a 27″ monitor and the iMac on my desk.

 

Computer desk: Before, ink & watercolor, 5×8″

What a mess! Along with 3 computers I also had two keyboards, a trackball, a track pad, an old Wacom tablet, telephone and router, notebook, glasses, pencil holder and a huge stack of files and file folders I was working on.

Computer Desk After, ink & watercolor, 5×8″

It felt so good to finish the work, put away the work laptop, give the PC to my son, and clear my desk. I mostly love the iMac and especially appreciate how few wires there are now.

I’m also happy to finally post these last sketches from my last journal so that I can start posting some fun stuff in my current giant Moleskine.

A Flowering Gift: Anthurium; plus Camellias Old and New

Anthurium 1, ink & watercolor, 5×8″

My friend Amy gave me the lovely gift of an Anthurium plant. I couldn’t wait to sketch its interesting shapes and colors.

Anthurium 2, ink & watercolor, 5×8″

I keep it in the studio because my cats eat house plants and then give them back partially digested. The plant held up well during the week and a half I was too sick to go out to the studio. It just wanted a little water and repotting.

Camellia in Blue Bowl, ink & watercolor, 5×8″

I can never remember the name of this large flowering bush in my yard. I have to go through the same stupid chain of thoughts to get to it, always starting with “It’s not a gardenia it’s a….” which always leads to remembering when I moved to New York City at the age of 19 with one suitcase, a few hundred dollars in savings, and lots of dreams.

When I arrived and opened my suitcase, my bottle of (cheap, intense) Jungle Gardenia perfume had spilled all over everything. I still hate the scent of gardenia. Camellias have no scent and are a wonderful vibrant pink color, but are challenging to sketch. I did this large watercolor of a camellia (below) several years ago.

Ruffled Camellia, watercolor on paper, 16×19.5″

Seeing my earlier watercolor work makes me want to go back to doing large watercolors. My process was so different when painting rather than sketching with watercolor. I worked slowly and with control, section by section, on very exact drawings or tracings from photos. You can see more of my watercolor flowers on my website JanaBouc.com here.