Sketching, Illustration, Design and Everyday Life.
Copyright by © Nina Khashchina except where noted.
There was quite a bit of in-between during the last couple of weeks - between getting ready for the trip, traveling, and doing all the things we had to do during the trip, and the road home. And this is a collection of little things that I drew while waiting.
One of my recent outings to paint on location did not go as I expected. My mind was not on the page and not on the subject, neither was it in my gouache palette or on the perspective plane - and as a result, the page was falling apart on many levels.
I thought that this was another learning experience and I could just move on. I rarely finish on-location drawings after I leave the place where I paint so it would become a spread in my sketchbook which would either be a "flip faster" point or a good conversation starter. But it somehow kept calling me back - so I added some lines here and there, then more gouache, and then some more crayons. And I think it is now in a better place - so I am posting it here as a reminder to myself that:
A. It is ok to continue working on things for some time. I can go back and revisit things - after a little distance. It is a strategy I often use when working on illustration projects - why not here?!
B. Not everything can be fixed but some things can be improved and there is joy in both the process and the result and in just making things to be better.
Here are some process photos and at the very bottom - the resulting image.
I had a chance to sit and sketch one of my favorite oak trees in the Bay Area. It is sandwiched between some lovely Eichler homes. And it was a bright, cheerful day when kids went back to school and parents were walking past me exchanging all kinds of sentiments about the season. I thought about a need to refill my pentel pocket brush pen and how time is experienced differently by different beings. Feel the feels - whatever is the season.
Oh - and these olive trees were a beautiful addition to that outing! Photos of the process - below.
This tree captured my interest from afar - it is a rare sight to see such a grand blooming one in August. This is a Crepe Myrtle also known as Lagerstroemia. July and August are a blooming season for these trees - usually covered in beautiful foliage in addition to flowers that range from dark burgundy to almost white pink.
But this one either by nature or nurture has fewer leaves than flowers, and instead of one trunk, there are many - dancing with each other - creating support for a wide canopy. I used my watercolor and gouache set and some Neocolor II crayons from Carand'ache.
An update on my parents - who are refugees from Kharkiv, Ukraine, and have been living in California for over 6 months now.
My parents counted the number of humans they interact with in person here in California and the number of dogs and decided that the ratio is 1 to 18. I have some plans to change it a little :) Being away from their home is very hard. Still, they are living a life without constant russian bombing on their city and away from the everyday problems of war (like getting food, medicine, and general support) and that is what we all are very grateful for. Of course, we all dream about the time when the war will be over.
The big event this month was the painting of a little mural for them. The story of the project is very typical for my Dad - there was a part of the patio border that was falling apart and when he decided to fix it, it fell with dramatic results. So after a few foraging expeditions on the streets where stuff with the "free" signs could be obtained Dad fixed the fence somehow. However, the new part was white and looked odd and boring. And a request was placed to paint something on it. When we showed up with paints my parents art-directed the whole thing - Dad was explaining the concept and Mom was encouraging us to stop early and "not overwork it". There request was for typical Ukrainian flowers: Mallows and Sunflowers, a rainbow over Ukrainian flags and two owls.
Here are some photos of the results of this family project:
I recently had a chance to visit two museums and below are some of the notes and sketches I did there.
The first exhibition was "Japanese Prints in Transition: From the Floating World to the Modern World" at the Legion of Honor Museum of San Francisco centered around 250 years of the history of Japan seen through many woodblock prints by many artists. Some of these were pieces I knew and there were many discoveries. I had a lot of fun tracking down different patterns, plants, cats, and facial expressions! A very interesting part about propaganda and pop-culture too. If you get a chance to visit this art show I would highly recommend it!
I am now on the hook: getting books on Japanese folklore and art books filled with more woodblock prints!
The second museum was Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University where I split my time between In Dialogue: African Arts and Auguste Rodin: The Shock of the Modern Body. Rodin's exhibit nicely segues to the outdoors where sculptures were available in a park setting with lots of live people around them. A lovely experience!
p.s. an idea of a fantasy coffin sent me down the rabbit hole of exploring this amazing part of culture of Ghana. (This is how I found out about existence of The National Museum of Funeral History).
First of August had too many things in it to take a photo but here is what was on my table by the third:
I am still figuring out how my workspace will function in the new studio. Quite a few materials were unpacked and some got lost after I thought that unpacking was completed. I am figuring out video set-up and light for different parts of the day and just waiting for the deeper feeling of the space.
But I am busy working on several commissions and this is the exciting stage when lots of sketching is happening (you can find a hint of three different projects here). I try to go paint on locations as often as possible, enjoy tomatoes and stone fruits from farmer's market, read new garden-related mysteries (more about it soon), and look for opportunities to insert frozen yogurt breaks in my summer life. And how is your summer going?
We planted a fig tree! In the short three weeks since that day, we went from having a bushy little tree with ten little figs on it to a beautiful stick with a few leaves (most of which are still green) and five fruits. Some of them are growing by the hour and getting darker and darker - so not all is lost (I think :)
Here is how it went:
