Sketchbook #113: Trip to Bonaire - Sketching above water and some notes on underwater tools.

I drew some of my underwater subjects above water and just drew somethings around me too. The thing I always wanted to do and that did not work (again) is collecting all the colors I see on the island - it's an overwhelming task- and when you add it to the overwhelming of drawing everything I see underwater - one of them falls off the drawing board :)
As for the tools: I used the rite-in-the-rain paper and amazingly sleek and indestructible expedition sketchbooks from Field Notes.
Little PVC board for the support was very useful as it allowed me to pack my fish ID cards, sketching tools and magnifying glass all in one place - which is critical for descend and ascend as well as any situations when you need all your attention not on sketching but on your scuba diving skills or buddies. Having everything attached to the support board allowed me to stove it away in my pocket quickly.
I used all sorts of pencils, tried regular wax crayons (not happy with the results) and still believe that plain mechanical pencil is the best. But I lost my favorite one during one of the dives :( After that, I sewed a little wristband which helped me to hold my pencils in one place and was large enough to see if/when it started to float away from me. (I saw my mechanical pencil floating on the surface from the depth of 70 feet but it was just the beginning of the dive and it did not make any sense to drag my buddies up to catch it.

Trip to Bonaire - Underwater Adventures - Last Part - with another Underwater Sketching Process Photo

Trip to Bonaire - Underwater Adventures - Part 8 and Underwater Sketching Process Photo

Obviously two watercolor portraits of my favorite Bonaire fish friends were done at the table, based on the underwater sketches :)

Note how young grouper waiting for it's dinner inside the coral formation - holding it's position with the tail and pectoral fins.

Trip to Bonaire - Underwater Adventures - Part 8 and Coconut

Trip to Bonaire - Underwater Adventures - Part 7 and some Treasures

Trip to Bonaire - Underwater Adventures - Part 6

During some of the dives I used a new for me paper under water - it was a FIELD NOTES Expedition journal and this paper was amazing!
The usual #2 pencil was the best tool to use with it  and I got a much wider variety os tones out of it and sharper lines. (color pencils as you can see are a little fuzzy).

Trip to Bonaire - Underwater Adventures - Part 5

One of these sketches is very memorable for me as I managed to catch parrot fish in the actual action of biting a piece of coral reef off!

Other pages here are an example of little things that I keep track of under water and little things I see there. How a half-eaten carcass of Lion Fish attracted several scrawled filefish.
I tried filling grid with all kinds of coral patterns. Saw several nudibranchs.
Made notes about a Secretary Blenny that attempted to fight my finger.
I ranted about new tools (pen and pencil) I took with me that did not work.

I remember that while working on these pages I thought that I should bring an underwater magnifying glass with me next time to see more details, more little creatures and hopefully make a little bit more detailed studies.

Trip to Bonaire - Underwater Adventures - Part 4

On a second attempt I brought color pencils with me and enjoyed being able to add think and unruly lines of color. I started adding my diving companions to my sketches more often and tried to make more notes about movement of things.

Trip to Bonaire - Kayaking in Mangrove Forest

I got a captain's sit in a double kayak this time and had an apprentice to do the rowing for a while to draw. And then just stopped to do several views from the same shady spot in the middle of mangrove maze.
That PowerTank ballpoint pen from uni was amazing! (see photo of the process below). It worked on my completely wet, salty paper like a brush! I loved it so much that I even tried to take it with me scuba diving - but at 70 feet it refused to pump ink :( too bad - it would have been a great tool! But it survived the submersion and depth and my vigorous attempts to use it and still works fine on the surface.

Trip to Bonaire - Underwater Adventures - Part 3

I wanted to have color and tried taking some color pencils with me. On the first attempt only yellow made it with me to the bottom of the sea :) And it proved to be not enough - but still interesting.
I taped underwater sketches in my main album and drew some treasures on the surface to cap the day.

Trip to Bonaire - Underwater Adventures - Part 2.

On this dive we a quite large porcupine fish, several eels and a school of very interestingly-shaped Palometas (Trachinotus goodei).