Happy Holidays!


Its a miracle - to have flowers under your window for this time of the year (at least in my book of miracles!:) and it's a miracle - how many viruses are around us (cough-cough:)... getting better though :)

Below is a portrait of one of the babysitters I met in the park - Halina from Poland. A very nice lady with a hat matching her costume - even if it's a trainers and t-shirt! ;)

Teachers and students


A few weeks ago i had a chance to visit one color class briefly. Mostly to secretly draw teacher and students while they were doing the same. Why that class was "color class" - I do not know - we all were using black pens ;)

"Little Things" for Illustration Friday


I got some art supplies from the Japanese store (just a brush) - but it came in a wonderful black envelope - so hence the temptation to draw on black ;) Taped the paper into my sketchbook and made some pockets this way - to store notes and such. Little things like this make life... more dimensional ;)
here is a second part of the envelope:

Click on the image to see larger version.

Waiting at the car service


people react differently when you draw them - some are ok, with some you have to switch ti drawing their shoes right away...

;)

trying new pen


What are your most common doodling subjects? What appears in your sketchbook when you get a new pen?
Crazy monsters? People? Your feet? Your pens? Stack of books on your table Lunch (or other meal)?
Let me know!

My News Digest and Flowers


I've been working on getting more sketching in my day and also on developing a warming-up daily routine - you know - to get some rough lines out of your system before you start working on main things? So while re-visiting Danny Gregory's CREATIVE LICENSE, THE: GIVING YOURSELF PERMISSION TO BE THE ARTIST YOU TRULY ARE I found a passage about Tommy Kane who starts his day by making one drawing about news he reads in new york times.
I read a few online newspapers - so why not make my news digestion more creative and productive time? And I am giving it a try for a while. Actually I started over a month ago - I am just a little behind on posts here :)


And here are some occupants of my patio :)

Trees


Pentel Brush Pen above and Pilot V5 below - I never used it before and having fun now trying different marks for shading :)

Illustration Friday: Hats

I was hoping to get to the hat party in the nearby elementary school today but it did not happen - so here is another hat for you - it's a brand new addition to little guy's wardrobe :)

Sketches with color (red ;) pencil - trying to add more color to my daily sketches and not sure it really is working - but in this case it wasn't bad I think ;)

Illustration Friday: Trick or Treat



I am a little late with the IF post this week but want to share these Halloween monsters anyway.

Which one is the scariest?

In preparation for the Cat Book


I am working on a book - it's about a cat ;) And here is one of the sketches that has a chance to make it to the cover...

People at the playground




It's never been a problem for me - to remember a name of a person.
But lately I noticed that I meet many people at playgrounds, parks, stores, etc. and we start a conversation pretty often (that's an essential part of life if you have a kid) but I keep forgetting names...
Is it because my attention is on other things (like why the sand is being poured inside the t-shirt or how did that car fit in the mouth?) Or may be I am not feeling personal connection with people there - same discussion topics with everyone, rarely someone actually is listening to what you are saying? Or am I getting old?
Well, to see how I may embrace this problem better I decided to sketch people I meet and write something about them (or about their kids). This is one of the new lines that you will see in my sketchbooks - I am starting a new batch ;)


This girl's name is Kanti. She speaks Gujarati and she is in a second grade. She rarely wears anything warmer than t-shirt and shorts, even on a relatively cold day - she likes goos bumps :) Oh - and she just got a new bike - it's blue :)

And I have no clue who that lady on my sketches at the beginning of the post is - but I might get a chance to find out one day ;)

Sketchbook Run - last post about Summer ;)


Playground sketches - this is a funny shaped hat but works very well as ear flops protect neck and ears from the sun which is a murder in California!


Right sketch above and a sketch below are from the visit to Stanford University Campus. Top one is done by my mom and bottom one - by me - we enjoyed a few great hours of sketching together when she was visiting this summer - I wish we had more time to sketch! (but we did LOTS of other great things - so I this is not a regret - just a wish for her next visit ;)


This was the only time when we woke up before our son did - peaceful moment - just for a minute - as soon as I finished this sketch - we started grunting and turning and waking up:)