End of 2020

It is almost last day of the year and I am looking back. 

All that was planned, what happened, what did not, how the year started with travel and guests and how my work and personal plans have changed but then when I look at this stack of sketchbooks (and the red sketchbook is 5.5 x 8.5 - so number 128 is a bit of a giant) I see that despite everything or because of everything this was another full year of sketching!

Here are some quick highlights of 2020 that I snapped while flipping through the pages: talking to family and friends in person and online, the times when mask wearing was not a normal thing, making zines, going on bike rides and walks, experimenting with printmaking, endless experiments with cooking and growing plants, blind contour portraits, horrible fires and smog, elections, more plants and more cooking and more video calls. 

 

Kitchen essentials

I dropped my favorite salad serving fork, and it broke into two pieces. While I am contemplating all the pluses and minuses of attempting a fix, the logical solution is to sketch the spoon in its current state and some thoughts on wooden spoons and ladles, too. 

Drawing people on zoom

It's been a year of drawing people while talking to them on video. I drew strangers posing, people I was having drinks with, friends and family during regular conversations. 

But this Sunday was different - everyone on this call (and there were more than 40 people) were drawing! Hosted by Rama Hughes this was a version of the portrait parties that he started many years ago - you can learn more on this blog! 

I prepared some waterbrushes filled with diluted inks and watercolors and a modified Pilot Parallel Pen with extra cartridge. Having these ready was very helpful because people were posing for 1 min and 4 min and there was not much time to think about materials because all the faces were so interesting to draw! 

A lot of participants were kids and it was a lot of fun to see all the art! But my favorite part was drawing :)

Making Candied Fruits

I made and drew some candied fruits, also known as succade, zitronat, fruit confit, fruit glace, fruta confitada, цукати, цукаты - let me know about other names for this beautiful treat! 

I went for a walk and found a bunch of red things to draw.

 

Let’s Iterate

 

Drawing things in seasons and drawing things in series are both my favorite things to draw. And when I get to make an illustration for a client doing both - it's a special treat!