Creaky

10/6/16 Pentel Color Brush, Kuretake Brush Writer (2-minute poses)

I know I say this every time I go back to life drawing after a long absence, but I sure felt creaky Thursday. According to my punch card, I hadn’t been to a life drawing session since March. (I’m basically a foul-weather life drawer – I never go when the sun shines!)

I wasn’t even prepared in terms of materials. Usually before I head out for Gage, I go through the tote I use only for life drawing (larger sketchbooks and different materials from my typical urban sketching supplies), sharpen my pencils, fill my waterbrushes, and generally get mentally and physically prepared. Thursday I decided to go on the spur of the moment when I saw that rain was scheduled for the rest of the day, so I just grabbed my bag and went. The model struck her first one-minute pose, and I grabbed the first thing my hand touched – a brown Pentel Color Brush. It turned out to be just right for my creaky session.

10/6/16 Pentel Color Brush (1-minute poses)

After having some explosive results at high altitudes with reservoir-type brush pens several years ago, I decided to put them into my life-drawing bag where I knew they’d stay safely at sea level. The Pentel and a Kuretake Brush Writer are both really juicy brush pens, and although it wasn’t a conscious choice, I see now that the fluidity of the pens helped me get my hand moving.

10/6/16 Pentel Color Brush, Kuretake Brush Writer (2-minute poses)

#InkTober2016 and the Creative Process

10/5/16 brush pen (inspired by photo)

We’re a week into InkTober, and I’m enjoying the challenge more as I get into it! I’m still on my plan to make a coloring book of sorts – line drawings in black ink only. I’m mixing it up by using a variety of pens – my Sailor fude fountain pen and both hairy and non-hairy brush pens.

The hard part is pushing myself not to fall back on my usual comfortable habits – drawing from life in a realistic way. On the one hand, allowing myself to draw from Internet photos or imagination is easier in that I don’t have to leave the house or look around it for something to draw. And making line drawings means I don’t have to think about color or shading. But pulling stuff directly out of my brain and putting it into my sketchbook is not easy for me.

10/6/16 brush pen (from imagination)

The bunny I sketched on Day 5 (above) was a good compromise that was still challenging. I chose a photo of a rabbit online to start with, and then I used a brush pen to interpret the image rather than my usual tactic of simply trying to copy what I see. The next day I tried another bunny (right), this time completely from imagination. Making the sketches with minimal lines seems to help. (You can see all my InkTober sketches on Instagram.)

The Artists Network recently published an article by Jake Parker, the initiator of the InkTober movement, about how participating in the initiative can change one’s life. It’s not really about whether you use ink in the month of October, he says; it’s more about developing a regular drawing habit (that part I already know about). What I found most interesting was that in his own experience, he tends to do the same ol’ thing for the first 10 days, falling back on comfortable habits. By Day 11, he runs out of old ideas, and “It’s usually around this time that I start doing really off-the-wall stuff that sparks a new flavor of creativity in me and sets me off in a new, more exciting direction. The first 10 days is all my old tricks, the last 21 days are exciting and invigorating because I’m covering new ground.” As a huge fan of studying the creative process, I found his experience fascinating and exciting. 

10/2/16 brush pen (manga-inspired selfie pulled from my brain
while looking at other manga images online)

How about you? How’s InkTober going?

The Cairns of Green Lake

10/5/16 brush pen, ink, colored pencils

When a friend and I were walking around Green Lake yesterday morning, we spotted a series of slender cairns built at various park locations. Closer to the lake’s shore, the artist himself was still at work, carefully balancing one stone atop another.

10/5/16 inks, colored pencils

Thinking that those relatively precarious, fragile cairns wouldn’t be standing for long, I went back in the afternoon to sketch some of them.

Despite the drizzle earlier in the day, the afternoon turned out beautiful. Walking back to my car, a busker caught my eye. What a treat to be sketching a busker in the October sunshine! 

Squash Season

10/4/16 water-soluble colored pencils

Greg and I both like squash. It can be sweet or savory, it comes in many varieties, it’s easy to bake, and it’s comfort food on a cold evening. But let’s face it: The main reason we eat squash frequently in the fall and winter is so that I can sketch them!

Last winter I sketched a carnival squash in various media. We had a kabocha in the spring so that I could paint it with watercolors. Last week it was a sweet dumpling squash, and this week it’s an acorn, both in colored pencils. In case you haven’t guessed, I shop for them by color and shape, not taste, but that sweet dumpling squash was very tasty!

9/28/16 colored pencils

Fall Traffic Circles

9/29/16 water-soluble colored pencils, inks

Most of the year I don’t pay much attention to the trees growing in the traffic circles in Seattle neighborhoods. In the fall, though, they are among my favorite places to look for trees in their brilliant colors.

Just a few blocks from home is a bright yellow aspen that I try to sketch every year (here it is last year, in 2014 and in 2013). I like to catch it when it’s still half green, but I was too late this year – it has a lot more yellow than green, and the top is already getting sparse (below). Though it was raining Saturday, I stopped to sketch it anyway because I was afraid most of the leaves would be gone if I waited until the next dry day.

A favorite traffic circle is in the Greenwood neighborhood (at right) – not one but three slender maples together, and one is always much redder than the others. Last Thursday afternoon was mostly sunny, and I liked the way the power lines and their shadows framed those dazzling trees. (I think I say this every year, but I have to remember to go back in a few weeks when the two mostly-green trees finally turn.) Here’s what they looked like in 2015 and 2014.

10/1/16 water-soluble colored pencils, ink

Our Turn for a New Roof

9/30/16 inks, colored pencil

Just about a year ago, our neighbors next door got a new roof, which meant I had a front-and-center view of all the action. Then a couple weeks ago, I had another opportunity to catch some roofers at work on the house up the street.

Now it’s our turn. Roofers showed up on Thursday and Friday for the bulk of the work – tearing off all the old shingles and prepping for the new. Singing and bantering among themselves, the large team of roofers went about their work more cheerfully than I would have expected, given the precarious and difficult work they have to do. Even though the temperatures were only in the low-60s, I’m sure it was still hot up there in the blazing sun.

I set my up stool across the street to sketch as much of the action as I could, but they moved fast. I also caught a worker (at least his feet) reinstalling our kitchen skylight while Greg watched. I preferred sketching outdoors, where it was quieter!

9/30/16 inks

9/30/16 ink

9/30/16 ink

9/30/16 ink, colored pencil

9/30/16 brush pen, Gelly Roll pen

9/30/16 inks, colored pencils

#InkTober2016: DIY Coloring Book

10/1/16 ink

I’ve jumped on the “adult coloring book” bandwagon – in a DIY way! For InkTober this year, I’ve decided to make small, coloring book-style drawings using black ink only. One of these days, I might even color them, but for InkTober 2016, I’ll be happy if I just get the drawings done.

Initiated by Jake Parker in 2009, InkTober is an annual challenge to make one ink drawing a day during the month of October. Last year I heard about InkTober only days before it began and then impulsively decided to commit to participating on Oct. 1. As you can see from the sketches that resulted (I put them all in an InkTober 2015 Flickr album), my efforts were all over the map – no consistency in subject, materials or format. Nothing wrong with that (and I might revert to that freestyle method by mid-month – we’ll see!), but this year I thought I’d give myself the added challenge of a consistent format. As in actual coloring books, the subject matter will probably vary, but I’m keeping the sketches small by using a Field Notes pocket notebook. I won’t limit myself to urban sketches, either – some might be from photos, still lifes, imaginary, abstract – who knows!

I probably won’t blog about all my InkTober sketches, but you can follow my participation on Instagram and Flickr. It’s not too late to join me! The InkTober site offers daily prompts (such as “fast” or “battle”) if they are helpful to you. I don’t do well with prompts, especially when they are abstract concepts, but using the prompts is optional. Pick up a pen and go for it!