Apple-Pine: Hidden Villa

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A Little Trip to Hidden Villa

I had a wonderful time observing animals and humans interact at my favorite local farm. Pigs are my favorite subject there, and I can always count on a few meetings with them. And this time there were some amazing chickens and goats, and the sheep were great too. I used my flexible nib fountain pen and my pocket printmaking tool here. Very small kit - enjoyed it a lot!

Drawing pigs (and goats) with friends!

There are quite a few gems in the Bay area but some have a special place in my heart - one of them is Hidden Villa with its trails and animals. Somehow I feel like time runs on a different plane there and I can transcend all sorts of worrying thoughts while I listen to the sounds sleeping pigs and piglets make while I draw them - especially in good company :)

Thank you for making a trip, Suhita! I loved the colorful and fuzzy pig sketches you created so much that now I think we should go there again soon so that I can make more colorful observations!

And we got to see the goats! This time none of them were interested in chewing our sketchbooks - many were super small - but all had a character!

And this quick landscape is how we closed the sketch outing - by sitting under an olive tree and trying tempera sticks in a bunch of new ways:

You can see (and more importantly - HEAR) some of the process at these two links:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CxOqViKPxZ1/?img_index=1
https://www.instagram.com/p/CxQv2jFPUsS/?img_index=2

A trip to Hidden Villa

Hidden Villa sent an email with some pictures announcing baby animals, and Suhita and I decided to go sketch them. Our search for baby animals was futile, but we found some glorious adults to draw:

The grounds were calling for an exploration of greens yet I ignored it all and ended up working mostly with one color. I used sepia in Pentel Pocket Brush for the animals (some gouache on the sketch of the pig) and black and white ink for the landscape. Some of the photos will give you a glimpse into the February California spring.

Not pictured - soundtrack: snoring pigs, chewing goats, clucking chickens, and endless songbirds in a tree above us while we painted the barn. A great day!

Sketchbook #94: Hidden Villa Farm

I made myself a special flex-nib pen and was trying to work through some kinks while drawing chickens and gave up when I came to pigs. I learned a lot since then and re-made the pen anew - so I would not give up today for sure - but then I switched to something more predictable :)

Sketchbook #92: last two pages - apples and pigs

And just like that I am done with posting from Sketchbook #92 - and just a week or so behind my current drawings :)

August 2014: Hidden Villa

Hidden Villa is an amazing place where I can draw any time of the year my old friends - chickens and pigs! But I also find new things every time I visit - like this tree log on the side of the hiking trail.

Lilac in Hidden Villa

Amazing lilac bushes in Hidden Villa made me (almost) come in into someone's private garden :)

April 2014: Lilac Bushes in Hidden Villa

I picked up the idea of drawing with highlighters from Richard Câmara and now cannot stop using them :)

April 2014: Visiting Hidden Villa

How my January 2014 started :)

Jannuary 2014: Hidden Villa by apple-pine

My January started with very bright and clear sounds and colors :)

Christmas Day 2013

I had a wonderful Christmas Day in Hidden villa.

Piglets are getting pretty large and are harder to draw %) Chickens are still crazy. Life goes on :)

October 2013: Hidden Villa Trees and Leaves

October 2013: Hidden Villa Trees

I spent a lovely morning drawing in Hidden Villa with a friend. The water is gone so I was sitting on a boulder in the middle of a creek - next time I will remember to bring my chair!

How I started my 2012 :)

January 2012: Hidden Villa by apple-pine

January 2012: Hidden Villa, a photo by apple-pine on Flickr.

With pigs and chickens, with lots of light and fog on the shore line.

Light was changing very rapidly and I was not able to catch any of it in it's true color but I definitely had fun splashing colors on little card of watercolors (my resting place form a wonderful craft tone of my current sketchbook :)