Sketches in Moleskine, December 30.

Sketched people around me. This little boy with Mohawk noticed me drawing and  engaged me into adult like conversation about drawings, styles, favorite pencils, anime, comics, comic stories about fights with devils, etc. I usually avoid even eye contact to keep my freedom, but had to respond to his direct questions. Funny, I didn't feel that I am talking to a child, but to a fellow artist.

I usually remember people I sketched for a long time and hold myself from jumping at them with "Oh hi, we know each other." if I meet them somewhere.

Antique beauty.

One day I went to draw a backdrop for the play and down the street saw that beauty. Garbage truck was backing up passing few centimetres from me, unable to make a turn on narrow Brooklyn's street. I closed my eyes when it passed that elegant antique Jaguar.  I think it is Jaguar SS 100 from 1937, built in England.  I can't help it, being charmed by cars. Used ink and 2 Kuretake pens.

My old work.

Portrait of my daughter. I  was the best story teller, combining the fairy tales I read and world folklore, using my imagination and making up a happy ending, with good amount of horror. So I wanted to catch the expression of listening. I used watercolor, size is 20 inches.

One morning.

One summer morning we woke up at 5 and drove to the North Lake to see the sunrise. We were sitting on the Mountain House  cliff ledge above the clouds in silence and harmony with the world.

Green Apple.

I used my Sepia again, warm puddles with orange rims, medicine for my wounded soul. I would add a bit of cold grey Lexington ink, but it makes it stringy, some sort of chemical reaction. Bits of color with Kuretake, to appreciate pure green of apple, flowers on Albert's Royal, red on tomato and warm strokes on sardines. Main attention on negative panting of bouquet. I painted background cutting into brunches, what a twisted game.

New Kuretake pens.

New Kuretake pens I recently got online. Very happy to highlight my palette with this wonderful Kuretake Twins.

Sketches in Moleskine on the run.

I made this Federico Aubele's song my ringtone,"Despertar", for my ear it sounds "Desperate", but in Spanish it means "Awakening". So even when I  get calls from unpleasant recipients, like mortage companies, it still gives me warm vibe. Here used ink and Palomino Blackwing 602 pencil. Drew my lovable Fellini cat.

From Blackwing to Kuretake pens. This wine was really delicious, especially because was shared with a good friend. Also my reading (online) and memo list.

december 23.

I feel bad wasting my Moleskine pages on such casual sketches, collecting peoples faces and gestures, people, who I may never see again in my life, for a few minutes appreciating their inner beauty, admire their movements, shapes of their nostrils, respecting their moods, getting richer in feelings and forgetting it all when my Subway stop comes or my name called to go to the doctor. But what is better than pull out Moleskine and Palomino Blackwing 602?

My beautiful Brooklyn.

I took a photo from the window where I did a small job. This view really made my heart sing.

Morning melancholy.

Little table scene. Took me forever to bring to completion. I kept adding a stroke here, there. Find time and unwind.  Was not happy with ink colors, greys and brownish. Should leave it for quick sketches on a train, I think. I used my new Kuretake pens I got online.

New York.

View from the window. I did small work in Manhattan and took a photo.

Sketches.

Sketches at the doc office with pencil and bit of Noodler's ball pen.

Sketches on the run in December.

Spread in moleskine. Mackenzie-Childs tea kettle for fighting December melancholy. Ink, Kuretake pens, lists.

Blue cup.

"Memories of summer" it says in Japanese. It is reality, but it is how I remember it. All our morning breakfasts and conversations, our silence and laughs over coffee, playing with dogs and feeding birds blends into one material for my drawing. I used ink and few Kuretake pens.

Shadow Mountain Road.

This adorable little bridge we passed probably thousand times, it makes me smile, how cozy and intimate it looks. Somewhere here years ago we bought delicious Maple syrup. It was so good with Maggie's french pancakes.
I used ink and 2 Kuretake pens. I am falling in love with this Kuretake pens deeper and further.

Sketching with Blackwing and Noodler's pen

I was glad to have few minutes for myself to draw people in the waiting room.

Trees and Birds.

3 days on this mural with trees and birds. It goes all around the walls with branches, plants, rocks. I added transparent strokes of color and bits of gold outlines. So when you walk around the room some shapes of leafs and flowers and bird's feathers pops at you, reminiscence of Chinese pearl incrustation on a lacquer box. We had one in my early childhood, I use to scrape out beautiful parts of elegant mandarins.

Liza, mine.

:-)

Japanese trees on chocolate background. First day.

Sketched and painted first layer. For sketching I used Japanese dustless chalk I got at JetPens, love it. So comfortable to draw on the wall with this pen looking chalk holder. It comes with little special sponge-dust eraser and few color chalks. My love for pretty art tools pays off, very useful tool.

Detail. Pretty full first day, sketched few brunches on other walls too. Had horrible lunch. I have to make music disk for tomorrow to listen on the way because my Ipod not comfortable to operate when I am alone in the car. Zaz and Aubele.

ArtDeco mural sketch.

More subdued version. I use this printer for documents only because it doesn't reflect the color properly, but here tried for fun.

A bit brighter. I used my vintage Rowney watercolor in metal box, I got some time ago on Ebay and couple of pens to outline. I am thinking to add my Rembrandt watercolor from tubes to some almost empty pans. Here 28 half pans. Coolest box.

Tower with blue sky.

View from the Onteora church. This house overlooking Arboretum always half hidden by tall trees and I know nothing about this old tower. When we were little kids we made hidden treasures in the ground placing some objects behind colored glass, so this brings back same feelings of admiration of mystery looking at me from the other side of the blue glass.
I used ink and blue Kuretake pen on watercolor paper.

Preliminary sketch for mural.

Artdeco style.

December 1 in Moleskine.

Sketched on the way people on Subway, used  Palomino Blackwing 602 pencil, love this pencil, faithful helper.

Melon.

I like how pieces of melon ran on the plate creating interesting composition, so I decide to draw it before consuming in front of the TV. Used Sepia ink and few Kuretake pens. It says "sharing melon" in Japanese.

Gotta share this wonderful artist.

Inge Löök

She made me laugh the whole morning.
She is a Finnish artist who was a professional gardener and now she is famous for her Granny postcards. When she was a child she lived in a building in Helsinki and had two neighbors old ladies who later become the prototype of her wonderful mischievous grandmas.

Sketching in the doc office in Moleskine.

Didn't do anything productive today except cooking wonderful meal and this few sketches in the doctor's office highlighted my day. Palomino Blackwing 602 and Pentel Multi8 pencils in Moleskine.

Sketching in Moleskine.

I feel bad to waste Moleskine pages on such casual sketches, but honestly I was so happy to be out with pencil and sketchbook, so grabbed whatever I saw on the way: people on a train, little bar while waiting for the concert, my free glass of wine, ticket, my overprotected Blackwing 602 pencil. It got so short, I put on it point protector and little rubber cushion I ripped from ball pen. Very comfortable.

Haines Falls.

Main attraction for tourists in the Hunter area of the Catskills. Every time when we pass by we verify our moods with this beauty of nature. I misspelled the name on the drawing.
I used Dr.Martin's inks on Fabriano Studio paper. Scanner made color too black, in reality it is warm brown.

Onteora church.

Built in 188something, I think. It is not far from us, walking distance. Overlooking arboretum, breathtaking view of the mountains. Built from stone. Onteora is an indian name for Catskills.  In 1883 Onteora Park was founded by rich New Yorkers as a private summer retreat, many famous artists and writers been and sketched there. I found very interesting publication online, newspaper The Critic  from 1898, an illustrated monthly review of Arts, Literature and Life. So cool!

I used Dr. Martin's Ink and my newest invention portable brush, because my travel Windsor and Newton brush broke while finishing Aubele's drawing.

Published in Mexico!

Got this beautiful book from Mexico, Peninsula de Yucatan,   with my watercolor published  in it, super happy.

What a wonderful surprise. Thank you very much Adolfo. 

Typed in Google translator and this what came out:

Born in Russia and lives in New York.
In her works we see a constant search for technical improvement through the use of different pencils, inks and papers.
Makes detailed sketches and works of various aspects of everyday life.The sketch of the pitahaya did when she found the fruit on a market: bought to try it exotic flavor and with the idea of ​​drawing it. It is so delicious to eat yet is so beautiful.

Maggi.

Here is a little panegyric on Maggi-Würze, seasoning sauce, originally from Switzerland.  I discovered it in Honey store and fell in love with it, adding it everywhere in salads combining with sunflower oil and cooking wine and for meats and sauces, and soups. I like it's taste, smell and even bottle shape. Also drew here wonderful Frank's RedHot sauce.
Second joy is my first time mix from  Dr. Martin's India inks I bought in Woodstock this fall. It has some burning warmth and slides easily.  May be because of paper? It is old paper, don't know the brand.  For color I used Kuretake pens.

Federico Aubele in ink.

Did drawing of Federico Aubele in ink after my wonderful experience on his concert. I used ink and couple of Kuretake pens on hot pressed Arches paper, so smooth that I feel a bit weird out.  I tried to capture his boyish looks and soul of musician. It brings to mind amazing novel by Julio Cortazar about music and musician, from which many years ago I cut out sentence and had it on the wall in my room, felt related to that. Sorry,  its in Russian.
Художник, живущий в нем, всегда задыхался бы от
ярости,  слыша эту пародию на желанное самовыражение,  на  все  то,
что  ему  хотелось  сказать, когда он боролся,  раскачиваясь,  как
безумный, исходя слюной и музыкой, наедине, совсем наедине с  тем,
что  он  преследует, что ускользает от него, и  тем  быстрее,  чем
настойчивее он преследует.
 I relied  on my sketches I did during the concert, here is one of it.

Mural in the pool.

Touch ups on the mural painted few years ago. Bottom rocks made from big floor tiles cut out in different shapes and painted over to blend with the painting.

The other half of the pool. It was fun job. Worked with a small team then.

Federico Aubele.

Today I was so lucky to see  Federico Aubele live concert, amazing Argentinian singer, songwriter, musician. I fell in love with his music few years ago, I heard him somewhere online. I listen to him often while drawing or driving, I made Pandora radio station with his songs.
Today I sketched and listen and at the end asked him to sign my sketch, how cool is that! He liked my drawing. Wow! I am gonna do drawing in ink based on my sketches of him today. Here used Blackwing 602 (love this pencil) in Moleskine.
Postales

No one

Orange truck.

Ever since I met this trucks on mountain roads they impressed me with their happy sunny colors and muscular shapes, and when you hear their aggressive roaring it brings feeling that now it will be ok, problem fixed, safety restored, life will be better, somebody cares. Interesting that even drivers of this trucks look so enormously tall and manly, at list few I talked to after the Hurricane Irene damages.
I used ink and Kuretake pens.

Eggs over easy.

Pulled out my drying ink remix and fought with couple of stuffed water brushes (pierced my finger few times till it bled)  to draw this simple Sunday breakfast with eggs over easy. Bits of color with Kuretake pens.

Краски.

I was always interested in Payne's Gray color hearing so much about beautiful mixtures it could create.  Loving amazing palette of grays by Serov I was intrigued. A friend from Serbia mention this  great sale in London for Rembrandt watercolor, I tried and end up with this wonderful addition to my 24 colors pan set I got from Ebay some time ago. Now I may have to figure out what palette I will need for tubes, or I can get empty pans, or even wash pans from old paints and fill it with paint from tubes. In any case it is more inspiration now to experiment with color.
I also got filbert brush and 2 telescopic Da Vinci brushes with interesting idea to fold it without damaging shape.
My idea of cover protecting brush shape is simpler and better, I just don't know how to introduce it to the world, where to find people who can actually produce it. :-)
Here on the photo I compared bottoms of two pans: old which came with Ebay set and this new, different design.

Queens.

Got back to my Sepia drawings. Was a bit unreal atmosphere with that charming European village houses and pale moon. Finished at home with few Kuretake pens. Had a fight with big water brush, keeps clogging.

Painting apples.

 Quiet evening.

Apples.

My husband picked this bitten by the frost very energetic apples from the apple tree near our driveway. Last time he did 5 minutes fruit preserve recipe he learned as a teenager in sports camps. It was delicious with tea. Now he picked the whole box.
So I decide to draw it to appreciate its wild  tough beauty. And also I have a nostalgic memory about autumn apples from the book of Iris Murdoch I read many years ago. How I was longing in my Moscow apartment for that apple smell  and lonely walks on the seashore.

Painting snow.

Snapped process of painting with Rembrandt watercolor. Here is adorable filbert Midas Touch brush, telescopic Da Vinci and nice view.

First snow.

Mountains never fails to surprise me, different every day. It was too cold to draw outside, so I drew through the glass door. I used watercolor here. Tried my new interesting Da Vinci telescopic brushes, I like the system, but hair was a bit too soft for me. Snow melted everywhere but not here, strange, but I appreciate it. I saw here bear's footprints. May be couple of bears.

Tower.

Really quick sketch on the way to get chili. Pretty house with mysterious tower overlooking mountains and Arboretum.

Sketch in black.

Sketched while waiting.