My Running Watercolor Kit Fell Apart!

I took my tiny pocket watercolor kit on a trail, and when I was midway through my sketch, it fell apart! My search for a replacement turned up some results, and I can also fix this one with some duck tape (but the cute image on the cover will not be visible) or go towards a luxury option of demi part toolkit palette.

Virtual Traveling (with Street View World Tour) - Underwater!

On the first Thursday of each month, a bunch of people meet online to do some virtual traveling and sketching. It is called Street View World Tour and is hosted by @herbcoil and @ronkiponk, and sponsored by @gageacademy. I am a huge fan - and try to attend every month. And this month I was a presenting artist - for the second time! The first time I took everyone to draw the city where my family is from, Kharkiv in Ukraine. And this time I took everyone underwater! A fantastic group of people with whom I shared my enthusiasm for sketching while scuba diving visited Japan, Australia, and the Caribbean. 

Images below are from the demo I did: three takes with three different material sets to illustrate how my sketching might go underwater, and we did a warm-up sketch before and two longer sessions after - all the time chatting about different materials, challenges, and adventures that one might encounter while scuba diving and drawing!

A video recording of the demo part of this session is available here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JlewRopo1s&list=PLIKAXwrrOVN7rSLyFiWdSMXbbskNJ6ddc&index=1

My previous participations include a trip to Kharkiv, Ukraine where I was the guest artist, Drawing Sky Holes, Kenya, Boats, Night Life, Hawaiian Foliage, Light and Shadow, and Japan, Ohio, Arizona and Taipei, Convenience Stores Around the World, Castles, Urban Gardens, and People at Work, Carts and Kiosks. 

On My Table: Beginning of April 2026

This is a very honest photo of the top of my table - I did not try to make anything nice, more or less visible, I did not remove my tea and extra objects (there are three jars with paint water!). This is how it was - mess and all :) An unfinished spread with an experimental sketch for a series of works I would like to make. Lots and lots of materials one on top of another on that page. 

I am using lots of unusual materials to put my marks on the page (finger painting, anyone?) and trying to combine different surfaces on the same page. Can you see it in the results? I do not think it is visible, and it did not make it out to my work in truth - but I am having fun :)

Tips for Drawing at the Protest

Last Saturday, I participated in a peaceful No Kings protest in the Bay Area. There were many people, dogs, music, and of course, I drew there!

I found a nice corner with some shade, and because it was a corner, there were people coming from many sides, and there was a traffic light where they would stop for a little bit, so I had a few extra moments to draw. I took with me a minimum amount of tools - see my sketchbook with a little pen pouch attached to it with an elastic band. When drawing a crowd, I apply the following techniques: 

• drawing some of my subjects in whole, especially if they talk to someone near me (that duck suit with a lady who gave me a button);
• combining some people out of many looks at them as they stand, talk, and walk (three people who were actually waiting for the light to turn green - on the second sketch, or a group on the corner (first sketch, right side)
• putting together some figures out of several people (little humans near the tree), plus adding notes and taking a break to draw something else from time to time (like trees). 

My Radish-Growing Update

After devouring my first radish, I was looking forward to the continuation of the season. But it proved to be quite short! The second radish was pretty cool and deserves a few of portraits (I used thicker gouache with this one and tried different techniques of applying paint while waiting for lunch time). But since then, we had a heatwave, and I believe the rest of my plants promptly decided to "bolt" - meaning they now have beautiful flowers and no edible root. The Internet is full of ideas about why and what now, but I think I will enjoy drawing beautiful plants instead of beautiful roots.