Sketch party.

Went to sketch party to draw costumed models. Lots of fun. Used different materials. Soft pencils, ink, Ecoline brush pens.

Here I used ink. We had live jazz music, piano, it was really awesome to sketch and listen to music, my favorite things to do.

Pretty hard to sketch two models at once.

I like these Ecoline markers, colors a bit too bold, but water works with it.  I used Stillman and Birn sketchbook, it took washes nicely, very good paper. I really enjoyed it and since that went to a few different events.

That what happen today.

When life is not perfect, you just make every moment beautiful. 

Israeli.

Ink and mixed media. Shimmering stuff I used, doesn't scan and gold glitter also doesn't show, but it's here. I met this young guy and we had interesting conversations, he recommended me few pretty sharp music groups, which I added to my iPod playlist. He is a modern young boy, but he knows how to talk to G-d. Amazing. Modern and ancient. Young and wise. 

Cool bracelet is our future Iphone?

Interesting idea to use your skin instead of handheld.

Amazing bracelet!

Everyday is something exiting about life.  Yesterday saw a program on TV about dogs able to detect cancer cells at the very beginning of deadly disease. Dogs, able to feel level of blood sugar and worn people before it become too dangerous.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Couple of interesting links to Learn how to draw.

Drawing cherries. From UK.

Always curious and appreciate tips from others.

Wonderful tutorials from Cathy Johnson.

Admire Cathy Johnson's talent to draw and paint any subject so graciously and her way to explain and teach. Amazing artist.

Tip on brushes from the artist's blog.

Eunike Nugroho. Tips about taking care of watercolor brushes.

Learn from amazing artists.

Lesson on caricatures by Jason Seiler.

What a wonderful artist.

Awesome tutorial.

Annie Strack

Wonderful way to paint water with reflections and sun.

Vivian Maier.

Vivian Maier amazing photographer.

Discovered after her death, mystery figure. Her work was discovered an auction in Chicago.  It includes more than 100,000 negatives, thousands of prints and undeveloped rolls of film. I really like compositions and characters. What an amazing woman.

Interesting to read.

5 sketching secrets of Leonardo Da Vinci

Japanese artist drawing dragon.

Amazing artist in japanese print shop.
I was so impressed with his skills. Some of the tricks looks familiar from some techniques in faux paintings, for example woodgraining, imitating  some textures.

Axe-cut brushstrokes in Chinese painting.

Tutorial on Axe-cut brushstrokes
Very interesting. Now I want to get same water brush, it seems to work differently.
Here is a Link to it.

Amazing Lynne Chapman.

Lynne Chapman.
Interview on illustration by Lynne Chapman, how the process of creating a book for children going, advice and sharing her thoughts. Just wonderful to see how Master thinks.