How wind helped me sketch.

It was a super windy day and I am not a big fan of the wind. But I wanted to make a quick sketch and because of the wind, it was a super quick one. I am happy I did it and like this more after I had time to be apart from it. I do not think it would have been better without the wind. 

Thinking about putting a huge fan next to my work table to make myself stop earlier :)

A Story of a my Big Sketchbook Painting Disaster

I tried to paint in my A3 sketchbook while standing up. It was a disaster - here is how:

First I decided that I would hold both my sketchbook and a jar with water with one hand. This meant that after the first few minutes, my hand was so tired that I lost control of the jar with water and it flipped and drenched the whole spread with slightly green water. Like this:

After this I decided to not show my frustration to my companions and see if I can save this sketch by throwing everything at it at the same time and limiting the time that I would give it. I declared that I'll be done in 5 minutes and I used my fingers and whole palm to paint quickly. Like this:

Here are some process photos and results:

Sketchbook# 94: Winter Trees

Sketchbook #94: Process photos.

Three Landscapes

September 2014: Landscapes and Treasures

Liquid Watercolors

I've been playing with the liquid watercolors - enjoying brightness and purity of colors (which will probably fade pretty quickly as liquid watercolors are not lightfast) but the most intriguing for me thing is that I keep diluting them :) It's already 1/3 from the original (image below if painted with the original and I hope to scan some more recent images to share soon :)

Tuesday Before Halloween

The day was gray-ish bit I a gorgeous black cat with white whiskers kept me company :)

February 2012: Hakone Gardens

February 2012: Hakone Gardens, a photo by apple-pine on Flickr.

It was a wonderful day: warm and welcoming in the sun, chilly and windy in the shade. We enjoyed laughing when our little companion accidentally stepped in the pond, made boats out of wisteria seeds (they sink immediately so we called them fish food post-factum), visited bamboo garden dead ends multiple times, and sniffed all flowering trees. Great times!

Last Days of October

October 2011: Palo Alto Airport, a photo by apple-pine on Flickr.

Somehow scanning was not my thing during last few days of October - so here is a quick dump of all leftovers ;)

Weekend Reportage

Grandpa's Pumpkin Patch:

Grandpa's Pumpkin Patch, a photo by apple-pine on Flickr.

Waiting under a tree, counting birds and airplanes.

Pirate-Themed birthday party in the park:

October 2011: Lunch Run

October 2011: Lunch Run, a photo by apple-pine on Flickr.

Drawing after running is always a bit of a challenge - but always feels great :)

This was a very clear, winter-like morning - after first rains of the season. Even smog over the valley did not ruin the feeling - only made everything else look cleaner.

April 2011: Skiing

April 2011: Skiing, originally uploaded by apple-pine.

This was the coldest skiing this season. And coldest drawing too!

Jan. 11, 2011: Park

Jan. 11, 2011: Park, originally uploaded by apple-pine.

Great day - a little too wet for my taste :)

I found my favorite red hat just as soon as purchased a new one - guess which one A. is wearing?

October 2010: Park

October 2010: Park, originally uploaded by apple-pine.

I am trying to catch up on my posting again - this sketch is the last one form the book #49 - here is a link to a full (scanned and posted) sketchbook collection:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23173190@N07/sets/72157625221189072/with/5331930253/

December 23, 2010: Wunderlich Park

December 23, 2010: Wunderlich Park, originally uploaded by apple-pine.

December 2010: Alum Rock Park

We had a really great day in Alum Rock Park: throwing rocks in the water, painting together, lots of squirrels, very noisy blue jays attacking my backpack (which I left on a table for a minute), very quickly moving sun, amazing shapes of trees. And a lot of talking about all of the above :)

December 2010: Alum Rock - Lunch Time, originally uploaded by apple-pine.

November 28, 2010: Hiking

November 28, 2010: Hiking, originally uploaded by apple-pine.

My current book is large: Bee Paper Super Deluxe Aquabee 9" x 12" and I realized that it's too much to carry with me - especially in colder weather and with all the extra hats-gloves etc. that I keep in my backpack these days. As a result it's nice paper is being filled with post-it sketches from whatever paper was available... I used to have several books running at once bu it seems to be a much better resource when everything is under one cover.

Today was rather cold so I did these while waiting for my companions to finish lunch or to catch up with me - and finished some at home after a nice cup of tea ;)