Scarf pillow

Today’s post is inspired by the blog Sketchbook Warrior. Jason Pearlman draws quite often on the Washington metro, often capturing the interesting faces of DC that he sees on his way back and forth to work. I love his simple line drawings and his observations about people, especially the tidbits of conversation that he overhears.

Unfortunately I don’t ride the metro as often as I’d like to. I’d certainly get a lot more drawing done and spend a lot less on gas. But I did get to do a little drawing today after another museum visit with my students. I love this guy who sat across from me having a long nap inside his scarf.

Taking it on the road

In part two of beta testing my Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook, I took it on the road to try it out in my car studio. Once again it passed the test. I can pile on pigment and load up the washes, and the thick paper stays flat. I even tried some wet-in-wet on the distant trees. And the true test for watercolour: I can easily lift out areas that were too dark like in some of the far fence posts. So far so good with this book.

Beta testing

Last week I experimented with a bunch of small samples of Stillman & Birn sketchbook papers. My favourite was the Beta series so this week I am trying out a full sketchbook of 7″ x 10″ sheets. I haven’t changed my opinion. In fact, I love the paper even more now that I have a larger sheet to work on. It takes the washes beautifully and it’s a pleasure to paint on such thick white paper (180 lb). The surface is cold pressed but it’s not overly textured nor too smooth. Just right.

Threshold

Lots of wind last night — so intense that it shook the house, rattled the windows and woke me from sleep. Despite all that, the leaves are still on my oak tree. Most of them, anyway. When I opened the front door to pick up the newspaper these two were on the threshold. I love the tiny perfection of the small one.

Stargazer, again

Stargazer

Eternal optimist that I am, I hope that tomorrow I will be able to turn this sketch into a painting. There isn’t much detail in this but I have figured out the big shapes, the areas of light and dark, and the dominant colour (green). Working this size (smaller than a postcard) really helps me focus on the big decisions without getting lost in the details. Using a big brush helps as well. Stay tuned for part two.

Dirty shoes

Why are shoes so interesting to draw? For me they have almost as much character as the people who wear them and they often have a story to tell about where they’ve been, which in this case is within close proximity to a lawn mower. When I don’t have a chance to get outside to draw they are usually the most interesting objects in my house. I used three different pencils for this dirty shoe drawing: a carbon pencil for the deep blacks, a 9B Cretacolor for the rough textured bits and a mechanical pencil for the fine lines. The mix of all three seemed to suit the subject.

Quincy

Do you try to challenge yourself when you draw? For me, people drawing is something I need to work on. It took two years of daily sketching to work up the courage to ask one of my students to pose for me. During lunch hour students are always hanging around eating their sandwiches outside my office but I’ve always been a bit self-conscious to ask someone to be my model. It’s much easier to sit in a café and draw people at other tables even if you run the risk that they get up and leave. I picked Quincy because he’s a dancer who is used to being on stage and I figured he could hold a pose for a little while. The paper in my sketchbook doesn’t take well to layers of wash so I messed up the side of his face but I’m glad I challenged myself with this today. Hopefully next time I’ll have a cleaner result.

Fin de saison

The wind outside was bitter today but the little mall near my school was pretty warm and I found a bench near the shoe shop. I tried my Sharpie ultra fine in my handbook sketchbook — a good combo because the paper is absorbent and the Sharpie loves that. If you pause occasionally while drawing it creates those great little blobs that only Sharpies do.

Venn diagram

There wasn’t much planning that went into this sketch and that left me with compositional problem. The grapes were the first thing I drew and I went out from there. The bowl, the cutting board, the overlapping shadows… So it wasn’t until I scanned this that I realized that the grapes were right in the middle of the picture. I think this works better with a bit of the top and the left chopped off, but the original is below for you to see.

Here is the original uncroppped image with the grapes in the middle.