Postcard #106

Another sketch from my urban adventures yesterday

 

Looking back at Inktober

Friends added me into their Inktober challenge this year. I did a variation on it. For those of you unfamiliar with it, Inktober is organized with prompts for drawing and some basic rules (try this link). I decided that it fit my life better to just draw something in ink every day. I would take a photo of the one drawing I did in my sketchbook, or the best of the lot if I did more than one, maybe adjust the lighting (since I am pretty crappy at taking photos), and post them in a shared album so that my friends could view them. This also allowed us to make comments. 

These are a few of my favorites. The rest can be seen here. Overall I found it fun. I was pretty burnt out by the 27th. I don't think I've drawn all that much since then. I prefer my usual sketchbook approach. I aim for one drawing a week. When weeks are stressful - work, kids, house repairs - I draw less. I don't berate myself when this happens. I continue to carry my sketchbook everywhere. I remind myself to slow down and look. Eventually the lighting or a series of shapes grabs me, and then I grab a pen.

Sketches from a hike....

Went on a lovely hike last weekend to Point Isabel in Richmond. There were dogs everywhere at the beginning. I missed my own pooches. The Path soon led onto part of the Bay Trail. The sky began overcast with a brisk wind off of the bay.

GOATS!!!!!

Ever since the flames that swept the Oakland hills in 1991, destroying homes and causing mass evacuations, folks around here have been less enamored of Eucalyptus trees and brush. The oil from the Eucalyptus leaves and bark (which they shed constantly) is an amazing accelerant. The brittle grass and drought browned brush is excellent tinder. Many of the lands most prone to fire are either too inaccessible or too costly to trim by machine. This is why, I believe, nature gave us goats.

another week of sketches

While I put the finishing touches on my current painting, I offer another handful of sketches.

Across from one of the bus stops I stand at, is an Oakland landmark.

I had a little help from V on this one. :)

This one reminds me of Edward Gorey.....

What are you reading?

random sketches from the week.

If a bear sighs in the woods, does anyone hear?

I have started trying to bike part of my daily commute. Fun!

The one sketch I managed during a fun day out with my brother & his wife in Muir Woods. For a monochrome sketch I feel I did okay capturing the trees. Must go back for more practice.

I am not fond of grocery shopping.

tumbling into indoor safaris

Life changes us all. 

I used to spend time planning outdoor adventures to better study the changes in nature, to witness migrations and annual events. Now I work too much, spend my time indoors and plan excursions to the grocery store. The nature side of my sketchbook suffers (while the snarky cartoons are often on the rise).

Enter social media.

Inspired by the students I work with at the university reference desk, I set up a tumblr account. While I have yet to post anything (I'm not that organized), I have subscribed to many threads that feature some awesome nature photography. When I need to sketch, to feel connected to the world out there, but have 5 more hours to go on a desk shift, I start scrolling. When an image captures my imagination, I'm off and sketching.

Fun with a ball point pen

Lately, the only pen in my pocket has been a seven-year ball point (supposedly the ink will last for seven years, but I'll likely lose it long before 2019). I have been having great fun working on a full range of grays using just the one implement. Fun!

This dog is made up from my memory of dogs while sitting in one of the many waiting rooms I get to enjoy on a regular basis. :)

today's bear sketch..

Camouflage is a wonderful thing....

Ursine surprise

I got a new journal/sketchbook thingy. Most of the pages have pre-printed patterns on them, which I usually avoid. Drawing on plain white paper is usually my preference. But I think one or two of these pages might just work out fine. For now, I'll grin and bear it!

Let's hear a cheer for friends.

If you look closely at the right side of the second photo, you will see the statue sketched here - though I drew it from the other side...

Today I am thankful for friends and the way they keep me sane when all else seems to be falling apart; for friends who remind me I have something to give; for friends who surprise me with the unexpected.

One of the better visual examples of an unexpected surprise are the following photos my friend, Stephanie, took during our visit to the Legion of Honor last June. 

The photos are shown here....

ballpoint bears

For all of the fancy pens I own, I still like drawing with a ballpoint pen. If I haven't used one for a while I get surprised all over by the range of grays possible. 

I just like the way these two different sketches seem to work together.

I come Bear-ing sketches...

When I got the latest scientific name for the Illustration Smackdown, I spent some time staring at the ceiling trying to remember a class I took nearly two years ago. The class was on wildlife illustration, and while I knew we had covered bears, I couldn't remember for a while if I had previously drawn Ursus arctos, the American Brown Bear. Once I got home from work, I was able to go through...

Back to School Night

It's that time of year again. School has begun for my urchins and I got to spend most of yesterday evening in an over-crowded, unventilated auditorium listening to a lot of things I already know (and some I didn't). This, of course, was the perfect opportunity....

Vacation sketches

It doesn't seem to matter how much I want to use my vacation time to draw the new surroundings, or bring back a sense of place. I am the only driver of the rental car. I spent a good deal of time talking and catching up with folks. Which left time on the plane, or when waiting for food at restaurants for me to crack open the sketchbook. The following...

Staff meetings are like that

Just once I want to be the mouse on the top of the pile, rather than the one on the bottom. If only to get a different view.

Waiting at the bus stop

My car is in the shop, so I've been taking public transit to and from work. I only had 20 pages left in my hardback reading book, so I left it at home. Waiting for the bus, I pulled out my sketchbook to capture the odd roof of the dentist office across the street. I got the basic outlines done before the bus came. On the bus I did some detailing and started to lay down the color.

I use a brush pen - a watercolor brush with the water in the pen handle - and a miniature kiddie paint box with dabs of Windsor Newton watercolors squeezed from the tube. The paints are pretty muddy from years of mixing, but they get the job done. A quick transfer to BART at twelfth and Broadway. Again I managed to get a seat, and was able to finish laying down the color before switching to Muni for my last transit leg. And all before my "working day" began!

Sketching as a way of seeing

I suppose it is not surprising to any of my long-term art followers that when I start to feel comfortable with a subject I begin drawing cartoons of it. Today's case in point being the above spiny lobster. Quick sketches like this are my way of seeing what I have learned, and what I still need to know. For example, I know that spiny lobsters have four pairs of walking legs and roughly how long they are in relation to the body. How many segments are there on each leg? What shape are the final segments? More research is needed!

Good Grief

Went with my kids to the Charles Schulz Museum last weekend. We spent the most time in the "education" room, drawing pictures and watching an endless loop of Peanuts t.v. specials. Fun! I hope to channel some of that calm fun tomorrow night during my live drawing demo at Nightlife. I'll be on display from 7-9pm. Come by and say hello!

Smackdown sketches

I have begun my research on the wild boar, Sus scofa, for the upcoming Illustration Smackdown. Here are two of the better sketches.

Copic marker sketch of adult head

Watercolor sketch of juvenile in "stripey pajamas", rooting in the mud