Apple-Pine: August 2012

Sitka Yesterday

Sitka Yesterday, a photo by apple-pine on Flickr.

August 2012: Pre-Trip Check-Up :)

August 2012: Ready., a photo by apple-pine on Flickr.

Getting ready for my Alaska adventure - I will be part of artist-in-residence program in South Baranof Wilderness.

August 2012: Choosing Tools for Alaska

August 2012: Choosing Tools for Alaska, a photo by apple-pine on Flickr.

I collected a whole bunch of supplies on my working table and tried to find a "short list" of what will travel with me to Alaska... This is already a very short list - I will see if I can make it even shorter...

August 2012: Trip to Roatan at a Glance

August 2012: Trip to Roatan at a Glance, a photo by apple-pine on Flickr.

I just finished uploading all my sketched from a week on Roatan. It was Kunst & Papier Soft Cover Sketchbook 5x6, Red and I filled it's 36 pages with quite a few layered with more than one layer of images (taping in "flaps").

It was a great trip and a good book though when I flip through it I feel that I did not capture enough color! Tropics offer so much vibrancy - and I captured so little... next time I will try to bring more treasures too :)

I placed a few sketches below - or you can view whole set here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23173190@N07/sets/72157631117108520/

Roatan 2012: Hurricane Season

August 2012: Hurricane Season by apple-pine

August 2012: Hurricane Season, a photo by apple-pine on Flickr.

August is hurricane season and we knew it. So when tropical depression was named Ernesto we were moved to a concrete building on the other side of the island - for one night as Ernesto turned North as a good boy and we ended up back to normal in just 2 days.

What did we do? Well, rain was warm so we did some walking - to look at waves, got some groceries, drew foreign money, made paper airplanes, read books and watched movies. I drew rain from the balcony looking down. I drew a short pause between two downpour. And all that happened in between :)

And then we were back to normal:

Sketching While Scuba Diving: Roatan 2012

On my recent trip to Roatan, Honduras I decided to try sketching underwater - meaning sketching while scuba diving.

During my preparation for upcoming Alaska Adventure I learned about Rite-in-the-Rain papers - and ordered their large spiral bound sketchbook (by the way - great people - ready with recommendations and excited about their products!).

After trying out all my Alaska gear I realized that 8.5 x 11 is too large for my purposes (drawing in a kayak) and me and my e-xacto knife quickly made two books out of one :)

So my main secret is half of the Blank Polydura 8.5 x 11 Sketchbook from Rite-in-the-Rain.
Other equipment included pocket on my belt and pencils: I tried regular #2 as well as 4B carpenter's pencil.

I sketched on total of 6 dives and learned a lot!

First: drawing required better buoyancy control and awareness of environment. I got better but I need more :)
Spare pencil was very handy - I managed to break one - not sure how :)
I attached a string to my pencil - it's still underwater somewhere :( But pencil surfaced with me :)
Sketching fish and underwater life is FUN!!!
You can get close to your subjects!
Many of them are like kids though - moving all the time ;)
Hence some pages were built gradually - adding bits and pieces or making one page out of several pieces of the reef.
Carpenter's pencil was good for drawing motion - but too fat for details or notes (see below).
It's good to have everything ready for the large subject (meaning turtle or eagle ray are not going to wait for you to get your sketchbook out. OK - may be turtle will :)
I added more and more notes as I continued my experiment but I should add even more - about depth, subjects, time etc.
I WANT COLOR!!! (so next time I am taking a couple of color pencils with me ;)

I think this is it :)

One of my scuba-buddies took a photo of my while working under water - I will add it here as soon as I have it ;)

This is first dive: carpenter's pencil.