Alexis

12/15/20 Alexis, 15-min. pose

Life Drawing + continues its series of life-drawing sessions featuring models from the LGBT community. Alexis (who prefers she/her) wore some fantastic boots that were fun and challenging to draw (and must be challenging to walk in)!

Like the previous sessions when Hattie and Raven Mandella modeled, this session gave me an opportunity to learn more about gender and racial issues. During the break, moderator Agata interviewed two representatives of the Black Trans Foundation. When the Black Lives Matter movement first began to raise greater awareness of racial issues, the term “white privilege” was often heard. But many of us are less aware of all the many other ways in which we are privileged – having a college education, for example. Simply being able to walk down a street without having to fear for one’s life due to one’s gender identity is a privilege.

When the floor was opened to questions from participants, one artist asked the Black Trans Foundation representatives what one thing they would change if they could. The response was startlingly simple (and easy): Many people who do not identify with being either biologically male or female indicate their preferred pronouns along with their name, such as “Tina (she/her).” The simple suggestion was this: Everyone, not just transgender people, could add their preferred pronoun to their email signature line. When we stop assuming that everyone identifies with either one or the other gender, we are helping to normalize people who identify with their genders in a different way.

On Dec. 22, Life Drawing+ will sponsor a holiday party and fundraiser for the Black Trans Foundation.

12/15/20 5- and 2-min. poses

12/15/20 2-min. poses

15-min. pose

12/15/20 10-min. pose (Look at those fantastic boots!)

More Lights in Maple Leaf

12/14/20 Our livingroom, 6 a.m.

For the first time in 30-plus years, we decided not to put up a Christmas tree. It’s always been our tradition to pick out a tree at the lot sponsored by a Boy Scout troop in our neighborhood every year. We both miss the scent of pine in the house, but I’m not sad about it (especially sweeping and vacuuming all the needles afterwards). It just seemed like a good time to simplify.

Instead, Greg hung strings of blue lights around our front-facing windows. In addition to being visible from the street, they illuminate the livingroom in a cheerful, festive way. During these shortest of days when dusk seems to begin around 3 p.m., we need all the light we can get.

The morning after he put them up, I was downstairs by 6 a.m. We had left them on all night, and the lights gave off a soft, cool shimmer. If we had put up a tree, it would have blocked that very same window where I have been making my sketches in the dark (I lower the shade and perch on the arm of that chair). I sketched this from the couch across from the chair, the livingroom warm and quiet.

Sometimes losing one thing means gaining another.

Drawing Jam Goes Virtual

 

12/12/20 Model Shawna at virtual Drawing Jam (I did this
15-or-so-minute pose without any shorter warm-ups... ooof!
It's never a good idea to suddenly sprint without at least
stretching.)

In the Before Times, I looked forward to Gage Academy’s Drawing Jam all year long. I’ve been attending annually since 2012. The event included life drawing of all types, instructor demos, studio tours, art and craft for sale, live music, and free art supplies donated by local stores. When the day of the Jam finally came, I would try to arrive an hour before opening time to compete for parking and then stand in line so I could storm the doors for a good space in my favorite life-drawing studio. (One year I did that even though it was 20 degrees! But that was preferable to the time it poured.) I didn’t mind waiting because it was fun to chat with other participants in line who were equally enthusiastic. I would stay until I was exhausted but exhilarated by the high energy of Gage’s lively, supportive community.

Last Saturday, I was happy not to stand outdoors for an hour – it was 36 degrees. I simply carried my coffee upstairs, turned on my laptop, and I was “there.” Sigh. I sure miss the Before Times.

Nonetheless, there was one distinct advantage to Jammin’ on Zoom: The instructor demos were so much easier to view compared to crowding around an easel, peeking between other attendees’ shoulders. Typically, I spend most of my Jam time in various life-drawing studios and only catch demos when I happen to get a good spot. This year it was the other way around: I popped my head into one life-drawing session for a few minutes, but the majority of time was spent taking advantage of the better viewing opportunities in demos.

I was dazzled by Kristin Frost's demo as this cardinal emerged with colored pencils
over a 2-hour period. Her excellent video quality and detailed, informative 
explanations made the demo especially worthwhile.

One was especially impressive and a medium of interest – Kristin Frost’s demo of drawing a cardinal with colored pencils. I appreciated how thoroughly and clearly she described every step as she worked. She also had good video and audio equipment, which made viewing her two-hour demo enjoyable as well as informative. I would have paid for that demo – it was that good. (Instead, I made a donation to Gage, which put on Drawing Jam free this year.)

Although virtual Drawing Jam wasn’t nearly as much fun as the real thing, we’re all making do as well as possible. I continue to support Gage in whatever way I can because I want it to be there when we emerge on the other side – safe to attend Drawing Jam in person again.

Kathleen Moore's still life demo

Patricia Watwood's demo of drawing a hand (Ya think I might be interested in that one?)

Gabi Campanario demos his ink and wash technique during a virtual sketch walk at the Fremont Troll. (It was fun to "see" several Seattle urban sketchers in attendance at this demo.)

Gabi invited attendees to sketch the image of the troll, found on Google Street View, along with him.

In 2013, Peggy (magenta jacket) and I froze our toes in 20-degree weather, happily waiting to storm the doors at Drawing Jam. Ah, the good ol' days.

Pre-dawn Fog

 

12/10/20 Foggy in Maple Leaf

Thinking I had probably exhausted all the pre-dawn sketching possibilities from our livingroom window, I still open the shades every morning with some anticipation, just in case. On this morning, I was delighted by fog, which diffuses light but also seems to reflect it softly.

My plan was to focus on that diffused light above the rooftops and between two houses across the street. Just then, around 6:45 a.m., a porch light came on, and our neighbor came out with his trash can. That’s when I noticed that they had put up a string of lights on their mantle.

By 7:05 a.m., the fog suddenly thinned, and the misty moment was over.

My Rainy-Day Sketch Kit

 

A simple kit for inclement weather.

A while back I mentioned that I had been refining my rainy-day sketch kit. It’s so simple that it’s hardly a “kit” (would that my entire sketch kit were this simple!) – it’s just a subset that I carry with the rest of the kit in case of drizzle.

The sketchbook is a pocket-size Field Notes Expedition made of waterproof Yupo paper. When I was reviewing this notebook a few years ago, I discovered that my favorite drawing material on it is a super-soft graphite pencil. It glides like butter on a hot pan (but nearly soundlessly!), and the marks come out looking as dark and rich as a marker. The graphite pencil changes according to whim (I have many to choose from); currently it’s a Tombow Mono KM-KKS in 6B. Usually graphite is all I need and want for a hasty, inclement-weather sketch.

Not insoluble after all.

Every now and then, however, it would be nice to have a touch of color, even in the rain, and that can be trickier. Most markers and other inks will work on Yupo paper when it’s dry, but even a waterproof or indelible marker like a Sharpie will wash away if used on a wet page (see my review of the Expedition for the full test results). The only material I’ve found to work on wet pages is colored pencil – but of course, not water-soluble colored pencil! You’ll recall from that previous post that a bicolor pencil I thought was insoluble turned out to be less so in the drizzle (at left). Better research was necessary!

I still wanted the compactness of bicolor pencils, so I went through my better non-soluble bicolor sets to test for solubility and refresh my memory on their softness and pigment quality. The set that made the cut was DOMS Zap Bicolour Pencils (unfortunately, I couldn’t find them on Amazon anymore, where I bought them a couple of years ago inexpensively). Made in India, probably for children, these bicolors are not what I would choose as my only colored pencils, but they are among the best of the bicolors, which are typically seen as novelty pencils and not of the highest quality. Like some DOMS graphite pencils I’ve used, Zap bicolors look well-made and are an excellent value. They are softer than bicolors from Staedtler and an India-made set from Faber-Castell. (Here are a few other bicolor sets I would recommend.) I tested the Zap pencils for solubility, and they hardly budged when I applied water. They also applied just fine on a sopping wet Expedition page.

DOMS Zap Bicolours

Expedition page was sprayed with water, then Zap
bicolor pencils were applied.

I picked out two pencils containing red/blue and orange/green, which would cover most of my quick coloring needs when I don’t want to get drenched. On the morning that I sketched the blow-up lion spotted on my neighborhood walk (below), the drizzle had mostly stopped, so perhaps it wasn’t a thorough field test. As you can see, it’s not possible to get deep, rich color on Yupo paper using colored pencils, but I don’t expect drizzle sketches to be among my best works. In any case, this combination of graphite, colored pencil and waterproof paper gets the job done.

By the way, you’ll be seeing this sketch of the blow-up lion again later on a different topic. (Editorial comment: These inflatables are my least favorite holiday decorations! But the lion served its purpose of being a colorful subject for this test.)

12/9/20 Maple Leaf neighborhood

Snowy Evening

 

No two alike!

This is not so much a review of Field Notes Brand’s latest limited-edition notebook, Snowy Evening, as it is a note of appreciation. I don’t necessarily like every notebook design the Chicago company makes (Clandestine did nothing for me in either theme or appearance, and the only thing I liked about Utility was its hilarious promotional video). What I love, though, even when I’m not a fan of a specific product, is Field Notes’ desire and commitment to try something innovative. (My review at the Well-Appointed Desk shows how I appreciated the previous Field Notes edition.) 

Snowy Evening may have topped them all in terms of a simple pocket notebook concept that has not been attempted (as far as I know) by any other notebook maker: Every single one of the 99,999 books produced in this edition has a unique, digitally printed design of a snowflake on its cover, and each is also uniquely numbered. (This article explains how it was done.) I do happen to love both the theme (based on Robert Frost’s poem, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”) and the lovely design, but even more, I love the sheer audacity of executing such a product. 

Bonus: A few weeks before the product launched, Field Notes put out a call to its subscribers to submit photos showing how they use their notebooks. I was tickled to discover that one of my images was used in the promotional video! It appears at 1:13, but don’t blink or you’ll miss it!

Hope at Last

 

With news every day about COVID-19 vaccines moving closer to being approved and available soon, I feel truly hopeful for the first time since March. Even as infection, hospitalization and death rates continue to spiral higher locally and nationally, an end is in sight to the uncertainty and vague anxiety of these past nine months. Perhaps in three or four months, we’ll all feel safe again.

Meanwhile, Toni’s family is optimistic that she has finally turned the corner toward recovery. Intubation was replaced with a tracheotomy, which has helped immensely. Although she can’t talk, she can now communicate by mouthing words to her family on Facetime with the help of nurses (who are so accustomed to working with patients who have had a tracheotomy that they have learned to lip-read). When Toni can breathe on her own again, she will finally be out of the woods (followed by a long rehabilitation, including physical and speech therapy).

Every day since March, the CDC has released local and national statistics on the number of cases and deaths to date (on Dec. 11 in the US, it was 15,474,800 total cases and 291,522 total deaths). These numbers are an abstract, meaningless blur to me. By contrast, even though I do not know Toni personally, tracking her experience through her sister’s reports has driven this disease home to me in a concrete, personal, very meaningful way. She is not a statistic; she is one of those 15,474,800 cases.

The day these statistics stop cannot come soon enough. The day we are all safe again cannot come soon enough.