Textures, who knows where it may end up.

Interesting, sort of woven texture. It could be for the focal point in the living room, combined with glazing, glass and leather.

Seems simple, but really cozy on the wall, also for main wall in the room.

Here is organic metallic texture with couple of glazes.

A little different, with grainy background.

3D Texture, pretty cool for a bar or a nice modern living room. Anything against it would look sleek and pleasant, but has to be simple, like metal, glass or leather.

This one still wet, but promising. Should be antiqued and glazed.
Really like to play with different materials, experiment and get inspired by nature.

Texture for the bathroom in Manhattan's apartment.

Texture with knives.

Fun to play with all this organic shapes.

Painting Sukkahs and a big challenge.

Painted few Sukkahs on panels for Holiday Sukkot. Here is Tomb of Mother Rahel, the Mother of Sorrows.  I spent a day for each painting, in one day I did 2 paintings, crazy long days. Panels are pretty big, walls for Sukkahs. On the top going bamboo branches, so you can see stars through the roof, while celebrating holiday.

The City of David, was pretty challenging, to build all this structures in perspective and in proportion.

Kotel was the first I did and I struggled a lot, to keep all this lines dancing on panels.

This was big and fiberglass bumpy, so paint was sliding like crazy and lines danced, pretty hard, so almost with my eyes closed I finished it.

Also on fiberglass panel. This and a previous one I did in one day. It was useful experience and big challenge. I had shawarma twice, it was not as amazing as in "Olympic Pita", our favorite shawarma and falafel place, also I ate it alone, but still it was a small  highlight of the day.

Charm City Burger. One of the electric nights in Florida.

I used ink and Kuretake. Used a lot of texture, trying to depict broken light from passing cars (it was outside), street lamps, moonlight, late meal, scattered conversation. It was one of the best burgers ever, I asked to go there twice.

Here is my little helper, Lucy, since she came to me from Moscow, she learned how to use scanner (she really likes the sound and blinking light), printer (printed my entire mailbox), she likes to watch me draw and thinks that I am coming to sit near computer just to be with her. She goes in front of the screen and stares at me.

Just like that. Isn't she adorable?

Breakfast in Naples.

Creating memory. Birthday breakfast in Naples, Florida. Experimenting with inks. Ink and Kuretake.
When I asked if it is Ok to stay and draw after the meal, the waiter said I will pay you a million dollars for the portrait of your daughter.

Sketching Upstate.

The weekend Upstate turned into learning and reading sessions. Had to be quick, before the dusk made everything black. Used this flat brush the most. Paper allows lots of water, but drying makes me impatient. 

I drew from the car, because I forgot the chair home. Was not sure that it is not private property. The farm, which we call "Children of the corn farm", after a scary movie, was across the road.

Far away young cattle was relaxing, black cows, but one young bull kept coming towards me and yelling, scaring me and echo was even more threatening. I was trying to capture big relationships of sky, ground and water, and different greens. Funny, I always include so much in composition, that it is hard to get to details and still I can't be satisfied with the result, I want it more simple or something more detailed. May be this why I felt the need to use a pen. 

Interesting, that this watercolor had a big respond on Facebook. Next time I want to paint sky wet-on-wet and be braver with it.

Mural in 3 days.

I had a task to complete mural in 3 days. Day 1.

In front will be furniture and on the sides bookcase and another hutch on the left.

Detail. The panoramic picture doesn't show the true color. Everyone is happy except me. I would still continue to work on it, but can't.

Musicante.

I guess, I forgot to post it, when finished. Scanning and etc. became not interesting, or may be too much to do or no energy for it. Sometimes simple things become to overwhelming. Ink and Kuretake. Subway musician.

This how we do it.

 Lucy and I. Working progress.

Sketching with Rembrandt watercolors.

Trying not to get lost in detailing, but keep big relationships alive. Hard, I think, I cover too much of a previous layer. Need more thinking and control.

Here worked mostly with 2 flat brushes, but, I guess, the subject was not right, should look for open landscape next time. It was a good time spent, wine, listening to music on Pandora,  conversation with the friend, good food, but my drawing suffered. I used Zeta sketchbook and felt like I am not using it to the full potential, leaving more paper exposed and not enough experimenting. 

Sketching in Morikami Japanese garden in Delray Beach, Florida, with 2 flat brushes and Rembrandt watercolor.

I finally got to try this 2 flat brushes, I wanted for a long time. Synthetic Da Vinci wash brushes. I used vintage Rembrandt watercolor in Zeta sketchbook, which was my companion on my trip to Florida.
Japanese garden was perfect place for it, every corner looked beautiful, I think, I could spend a month there sketching non-stop and learning.

Bamboo trees, small bridges, lake, waterfalls, rocks.

It takes around 2 hours to walk around, to look at the museum with clothes and examples of a life style from Japan at the beginning of the century.

Quick sketch in Zeta sketchbook, with beer and old squirrel brush.

Quick sketch before the dusk. Used big old flat squirrel brush in Zeta sketchbook, it got dark momentarily, but at least I didn't finish my beer with lemon and and a friend was still singing and playing guitar near the fire.

Another one from my daughter's balcony, also using this big brush and a bit of an outliner from my last butch of pens from JetPens. Mountains different every time I look at them. Magic.

Sketching table with vintage Rembrandt watercolor in Zeta sketchbook.

It was no time to go anywhere, so I looked at one of my favorite spots, wooden table in a shadow, where we had so many memorable breakfasts with friends and family. I used Zeta sketchbook by Stillman & Birn, paper is so strong and takes a lot of washes. It was wonderful to use real brushes: mop brush, Da Vinci Kolinsky, another tiny Da Vinci travel brush. The assignment I gave to myself was to start from big washes and layer it leaving some parts untouched, getting only big shapes. Also I was trying to use Marc Taro's advice to spend more time on drawing.

Scanner ate up blues, so it is more bold than in reality. It is time to get a new scanner, but I have other priorities now.
I love learning, so this conversations with myself, involving pencil and watercolor (in this case vintage Rembrandt, I got on UK Ebay), following particular decision, makes me happy and takes my mind off everyday's problems. I still overdid it, I should've finish more foliage on the top. I am totally avoiding to do a "pretty" picture, only following my own instruction.

Forth of July weekend.

I felt I overworked it a bit. Zeta sketchbook by Stillman & Birn, vintage Rembrandt watercolors, hot weather, Hunter Lake.

Flowers.

Wonderful day.

I miss drawing so much, that managed to draw in traffic coming back from the country. Just to hold the pencil is a happy moment.

A day Upstate.

Near the stream, accommodated by a friend.

Was trying to control myself not to slip into drawing details, but following the Artist's advice, Marc Holmes.
I was right, saving Stillman & Birn sketchbook for watercolor sketches, paper deserve to be used for more serious studies.

Was completely spoiled by my friend. :)

Sketches on NY Subway, few new tools and very uneasy day.

I was lucky to have a seat, so was able to relax unnoticed. This sketchbook is not laying as flat, as my previous one.

3 women, 3 different personalities. Even pencil felt it.

Awesome to have such different characteristics, not only ethnically, but different mood too. This is New York!

Here is my new tools from JetPens (the best shop in the world!), I decided to spoil myself, in secrecy, and got few amazing things, like sparkly brush pen "Wink of Stella", acrylic based watercolor by Rohrer & Klingner, few white pens, interlocking pencil caps, 2 mm lead sharpener, very thin black ink pen. All laying on the top of my drawing of a Subway musician, which is still in a process.

Andy for my friend.

I did this for my friend, who lost her beloved dog, a member of the family. I used ink and Kuretake.

 For me it was also a little bit coming back to myself. Somehow I didn't notice, how I am going further from the life around me, may be because it is hard to agree with something being so far from perfect. May be because I can't find an explanation for the happening in Ukraine, where regular people and their children dying in horrible deaths.  May be because I got into animal rescues, by befriending people who do it every day, and by adopting a little cat from Moscow (yes, she flew to me from Russia), who was in a death row, saved and terribly injured in a pot of boiling water and than nurtured back to life by a very brave woman, who became my friend?

Sample with metallic glazes.

Did few samples, among them this one, with metallic glazes, hopefully I will get to paint oriental motif there, in the show room.

In this studio, not mine, borrowed for a day. Its nice there.  Will have to use it for another 4 compositions, as soon as I will prepare it.