More sketchcrawling
Saturday night, after an afternoon at Descanso Gardens we had a quick sushi stop (yesterday’s scan), had a latte at Starbucks and went to see Memoirs of a Geisha. These are some of the people I saw along the way.
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, by the way. I had read the book earlier this year and although much detail had to be left out, it was essentially the way I visualized it. In fact, the author was so descriptive in his prose, and the director so faithful to the book that the scenes were exactly as I had “seen” them when I was reading.
Cuecard man
Last week we made some cue cards for on-camera talent and brought them back with us when the project was over. I was about to throw them out when I realized that the back side could still be used for drawing practice. So I did.
Those blue specks showing through aren’t the paper texture … they’re the bleed-thru of the Sharpie on the other side.
I kind of like the effect, actually.
Blue Hat
I’ve been reading a book this week called Mastering Glazing Techniques in Watercolor (Rankin) which has been affecting my thinking about other kinds of painting. Perhaps you’ve seen a watercolor painting in which the colors seemed to glow from within, or one that had an ethereal feeling to it. How do they do that? The author says that effect can be achieved by using thin layers of transparent color over white paper and using glazes in the right order and of the right value. The author is particularly fond of glazing with Winsor Blue, Winsor red and aureolin yellow (or new gamboge.) Although watercolor painting and digital painting use completely different processes to achieve different hues (one subtractive, with pigment and one additive, with light) I thought it would be interesting to try ‘glazing’ in Photoshop by building up the color on multiple layers. This was just a quick experimental sketch on a piece of scrap paper, scanned and then painted, to see how it would work.
Long Hair
I had wanted to get to the Doodah parade this weekend, but work called so we had to pass. So, to make up for the people drawing opportunity I drew this person instead from a photo reference. She’s not the doodah type – a bit reserved and contemplative for that, but had an interesting face all the same.
This was drawn with a dip pen and brush with a water soluble ink which bled a bit when I ran clean water over it. The head was sort of hanging there in the white of the page so I scanned it with a frame around so it wouldn’t look so … disembodied.
More folding
I’ve been continuing with the folds challenge. The more I look around my daily environment, the more I am aware that folds are everywhere. Fabric is only a fraction of the picture. On my desktop I see a folded plastic bag, Kleenex coming out of a box, several pieces of crumpled paper. Out the window leaves are bent and folded. Even mountain ranges are folded. People are practically seas of folds, from their garments to their flesh to the things they carry. So here’s another one …
Fall hiatus
These past weeks we have been in the throes of work-related moving. Today there was no time for drawing, so I pulled something out of my journal from a month or two ago so that this space wouldn’t go wanting.
I probably could/should have taken a few minutes to draw some of the things we are moving, but in the heat of the moment, with the gaping maw of the U-Haul calling and surrounded by cleaning people, and piled high boxes, it was not high on my list of things to do. It probably should have been, in retrospect, because if today wasn’t a “carpe sketchum” moment, I don’t know what would be.
Tomorrow will be better, and perhaps even a little more relaxed. Maybe I’ll tell you the story of how I made lox in my refrigerator with some good salmon, kosher salt and vodka, and how I got the recipe from my ophthalmologist, who knows his lox.
Until tomorrow, then.
blue
First, some acrylic paint on paper, then a rough sketch with a graphite stick. Later, some whiting from a caran d’ache crayon.
Big Mike is home safely from his European trip. He was supposed to have landed at LAX at the same time that yesterday’s Jet Blue Airbus was making its emergency landing and took over all the runways. However, he was unable to make his connection in Newark due to plane delays so he came in five or six hours later. You should see his journal – it is stuffed to overflowing with text and ephemera, and he has even more stories to write. I am so glad he decided to take it along with him and was so devoted to keeping it up. More about the trip later.
